Amorphous silicon solar cells on anodically oxidized aluminum substrate

Abstract

Abstract Hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) solar cells were made by using as a substrate anodically oxidized thin aluminum plates. On top of the aluminum plates, two types of electrically insulating oxide films were prepared: a porous type with four representative films made from phosphoric, chromic, sulfuric and oxalic acid solutions, and a homogenous type made by a hard anodization process. SEM analysis clearly showed that porous oxide films formed in phosphoric acid solutions have a spheroidal shaped top layer surface morphology, and that other oxide films have a sharper top layer structure (both porous and hard anodized films). The n-i-p a-Si:H films were deposited on Al/Al2O3 substrates by a capacitive radio frequency (r.f.) glow discharge deposition process. The best Al/Al2O3/Al-n-i-p-ITO solar cells had conversion efficiencies of 5.9%.