Improved performance of microcrystalline silicon solar cell with graded-band-gap silicon oxide buffer layer**Project supported by the Key Basic Research Project of Hebei Province, China (Grant Nos. 12963930D and 12963929D), the Natural Science Foundation of Hebei Province, China (Grant Nos. F2013201250 and E2012201059), and the Science and Technology Research Projects of the Education Department of Hebei Province, China (Grant No. ZH2012030).

Abstract

Microcrystalline silicon (μc-Si:H) solar cell with graded band gap microcrystalline silicon oxide (μc-SiOx:H) buffer layer is prepared by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition and exhibits improved performance compared with the cell without it. The buffer layer moderates the band gap mismatch by reducing the barrier of the p/i interface, which promotes the nucleation of the i-layer and effectively eliminates the incubation layer, and then enhances the collection efficiency of the cell in the short wavelength region of the spectrum. The p/i interface defect density also decreases from 2.2 × 1012 cm−2 to 5.0 × 1011 cm−2. This graded buffer layer allows to simplify the deposition process for the μc-Si:H solar cell application.