Hydrogenated amorphous silicon-nitrogen alloys, a-Si,N:H: A candidate alloy for the wide band gap photo-active material in tandem photovoltaic (PV) devices

Abstract

a-Si,N:H alloys were prepared by remote plasma-enhanced chemical-vapor deposition (PECVD), and evaluated for applications as wide band gap, photo-active materials for PV devices. These alloys have been deposited using SiH 4 as the silicon-atom source gas, and either N 2 or NH 3 as the nitrogen-atom source gas to yield films with E 04 band gaps up to ∼2.2 eV. We have characterized the microstructure, and have studied selected optical and electrical, and transport properties, comparing films prepared from N 2 and NH 3 N-atom source gases.