Productivity potential of an inline deposition system for amorphous and microcrystalline silicon solar cells

Amorphous and microcrystalline silicon single layers and p-i-n solar cells were produced dynamically using an inline deposition system called "line source". A highly uniform deposition of thin-film silicon layers with layer-thickness variations of less than +/- 5% was achieved. Amorphous and microcrystalline silicon single junction solar cells were dynamically fabricated with initial efficiencies of 8.3% and 6.3%, respectively. The dynamic deposition rate of these solar cells is 6.75 nm m/min in case of a-Si:H and 3.3 nm m/min for mu c-Si:H. In this work it will be shown that an enhancement of the deposition rate up to 15,6 nm m/min during the i-layer deposition of a-Si:H solar cells has only a weak negative influence on the initial efficiencies of the cells. Further on, the effect of substrate velocity on solar cell characteristics of a-Si: H solar cells is investigated. Finally, a productivity estimation of the line source concept is presented. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.