Amorphous and microcrystalline silicon solar cells prepared at high deposition rates using RF (13.56 MHz) plasma excitation frequencies

This paper presents a-Si:H and muc-Si:H p-i-n solar cells prepared at high deposition rates using RF (13.56 MHz) excitation frequency. A high deposition pressure was found as the key parameter to achieve high efficiencies at high growth rates for both cell types. Initial efficiencies of 7.1% and 11.1% were achieved for a muc-Si:H cell and an a-Si:H/muc-Si:H tandem cell, respectively, at a deposition rate of 6 Angstrom /s for the muc-Si i-layers. A muc-Si:H cell prepared at 9 Angstrom /s exhibited an efficiency of 6.2%. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.