High Efficiency Solar Cells with Intrinsic Microcrystalline Silicon Absorbers Deposited at High Rates by VHF-PECVD

Intrinsic microcrystalline silicon (μc-Si:H ) was prepared at high deposition rates (RD) by very high frequency plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) working at high-pressure high-power (hphP). The material has similar electrical and optical properties as μc-Si:H material deposited at low rates by low-pressure low-power PECVD, apart from a more pronounced structure in-homogeneity along the growth axis for material deposited on glass substrates. With optimized deposition conditions high efficiency solar cells can be grown with deposition rates of up to 15 Å/s without deterioration of the performance as a function of RD. A high conversion efficiency of 9.8 % was obtained for a single junction μc-Si:H p-i-n solar cell at a deposition rate of RD = 11 Å/s.