Highly transparent microcrystalline silicon carbide grown with hot wire chemical vapor deposition as window layers in n-i-p microcrystalline silicon solar cells

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Microcrystalline silicon carbide (μc-SiC) films were prepared using hot wire chemical vapor deposition at low substrate temperature. The μc-SiC films were employed as window layers in microcrystalline silicon (μc-Si:H) n-i-p solar cells. Quantum efficiency (QE) and short circuit current density (JSC) in these n-side illuminated n-i-p cells were significantly higher than in standard p-i-n cells. A high QE current density of 26.7mA∕cm2 was achieved in an absorber layer thickness of 2μm. The enhanced JSC was attributed to the wide band gap of the μc-SiC layer and a sufficiently high hole drift mobility in μc-Si:H absorber layer.