Hydrogen dilution profiling for hydrogenated microcrystallinesilicon solar cells

Abstract

The structural properties of hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon solar cells are investigated using Raman, x-ray diffraction, and atomic force microscopy. The experimental results showed a significant increase of microcrystalline volume fraction and grain size with increasing film thickness. The correlation between the cell performance and the microstructure suggests that the increase of grain size and microcrystalline volume fraction with thickness is the main reason for the deterioration of cell performance as the intrinsic layer thickness increases. By varying the hydrogen dilution in the gas mixture during deposition, microstructure evolution has been controlled and cell performance significantly improved.