Microcrystalline silicon absorber layers prepared at high deposition rates for thin-film tandem solar cells

Institute of Energy and Climate Research 5 – Photovoltaik, Forschungszentrum Jülich, 52425 Jülich, Germany

^a e-mail: ma.meier@fz-juelich.de

Received: 24 July 2013
Accepted: 8 October 2013
Published online: 6 December 2013

Abstract

We have investigated high deposition rate processes for the fabrication of thin-film silicon tandem solar cells. Microcrystalline silicon absorber layers were prepared under high pressure depletion conditions at an excitation frequency of 81.36 MHz. The deposition rate was varied in the range of 0.2 nm/s to 3.2 nm/s by varying the deposition pressure and deposition power for given electrode spacings. The silane-to-hydrogen process gas mixture was adjusted in each case to prepare optimum phase mixture material. The performance of these tandem solar cells was investigated by external quantum efficiency and current-voltage measurements under AM1.5 illumination before and after 1000 h of light degradation. Up to deposition rates of 0.8 nm/s for the microcrystalline silicon absorber layer high quality tandem solar cells with an initial efficiency of 10.9% were obtained (9.9% stabilized efficiency after 1000 h of light degradation).