Crystalline silicon interface passivation improvement with a-Si1-xCx:H and its application in hetero-junction solar cells with intrinsic layer

Excellent passivation of an n-type Czochralski crystalline silicon surface is made possible by the deposition of hydrogenated silicon carbide (Si1-xCx:H) layers in the electron cyclotron resonance chemical vapor deposition. We investigate the structural effect with various CH4/SiH4 dilution ratios, and the lowest effective surface recombination velocity (21.03 cm/s) that can be obtained. We also demonstrate that the V-oc can be improved more than 200mV by inserting Si1-xCx:H layers to form hetero-junction with intrinsic thin layer (HIT) solar cells. The conversion efficiency of the planar HIT solar cell with mu c-Si emitter can reach 13%. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4770308]