Abstract
The stability against light soaking of wide-gap hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) films and a-Si solar cells deposited by a newly developed inert gas plasma treatment method has been systematically investigated for the first time. The defect density (ND) of a-Si:H films with an optical gap (Eopt) of 1.64 eV deposited by the inert gas (He, Ar, Xe) plasma treatment method was measured by a constant photocurrent method (CPM). Eopt was determined by (αhν)1/3 versus hν plots. It was found that the inert gas plasma treatment method is capable of decreasing the initial and stabilized ND of the wide-gap a-Si:H films to a greater extent than that achieved by the 100% SiH4 process. In particular, the wide-gap a-Si:H film deposited using an Ar plasma treatment showed low initial and stabilized ND of about 8×1014 cm-3 and 9×1015 cm-3, respectively, which are comparable to those of our optimized a-Si:H with Eopt∼1.57 eV deposited from 100% SiH4. It was also found that this deposition method is able to improve the stability of a-Si solar cells with wide-gap i-layers when compared to the 100% SiH4 process. Experimental results indicate that this deposition method can suppress the fast light-induced degradation which is probably caused by the light-induced defects that are difficult to recover by thermal annealing at ∼150°C.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
