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Research Progresses on High Efficiency Amorphous and Microcrystalline Silicon-Based Thin Film Solar Cells

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2011

Xinhua Geng,
Ying Zhao,
Xiandan Zhang,
Guofu Hou,
Huizhi Ren,
Hong Ge and
Xinliang Chen
Xinhua Geng
Affiliation:
zhaoygds@nankai.edu.cn, Nankai University, The Institute of Photoelectronic Thin Film Devices and Technology, Tianjin, China
Ying Zhao
Affiliation:
xdzhang@nankai.edu.cn, Nankai University, The Institute of Photoelectronic Thin Film Devices and Technology, Tianjin, China
Xiandan Zhang
Affiliation:
guofu_hou@yahoo.com.cn, Nankai University, The Institute of Photoelectronic Thin Film Devices and Technology, Tianjin, China
Guofu Hou
Affiliation:
hzren@nankai.edu.cn, Nankai University, The Institute of Photoelectronic Thin Film Devices and Technology, Tianjin, China
Huizhi Ren
Affiliation:
gehong@mail.nankai.edu.cn, Nankai University, The Institute of Photoelectronic Thin Film Devices and Technology, Tianjin, China
Hong Ge
Affiliation:
chenxinliang@nankai.edu.cn, Nankai University, The Institute of Photoelectronic Thin Film Devices and Technology, Tianjin, China
Xinliang Chen
Affiliation:
xinhuageng@nankai.edu.cn, Nankai University, The Institute of Photoelectronic Thin Film Devices and Technology, Tianjin, China
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Abstract

This paper reviews our research progresses of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) and microcrystalline (μc-Si:H) based thin film solar cells. It coves the three areas of high efficiency, low cost process, and large-area proto-type multi-chamber system design and solar module deposition. With an innovative VHF power profiling technique, we have effectively controlled the crystalline evolution and made uniform μc-Si:H materials along the growth direction, which was used as the intrinsic layers of pin solar cells. We attained a 9.36% efficiency with a μc-Si:H single-junction cell structure. We have successfully resolved the cross-contamination issue in a single-chamber system and demonstrated the feasibility of using single-chamber process for manufacturing. We designed and built a large-area multi-chamber VHF system, which is used for depositing a-Si:H/μc-Si:H micromorph tandem modules on 0.79-m2 glass substrates. Preliminary module efficiency has exceeded 8%.

Keywords

plasma-enhanced CVD (PECVD) (deposition)thin filmtransparent conductor

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