Preparation and Properties of Amorphous Silicon Produced by a Consecutive, Separated Reaction Chamber Method

Abstract

A new method of preparing a-Si film, in which each of the p, i, and n layers are deposited in consecutive, separated reaction chambers, is presented. It was confirmed experimentally that, in the conventional single reaction chamber method for a-Si film, the residual dopant gases which remain in the reaction chamber cause undesirable doping of the film, resulting in deterioration of the film quality. This undesirable doping can be avoided in the separated reaction chamber method. The photoconductivity of the i-layer prepared by this method was about 1×10 -3 (Ω -1 cm -1 ) in sunlight of AM–1 100 mW/cm -2 . The best conversion efficiency of p-i-n a-Si solar cells prepared by this method was 6.91%.