Heterojunction Amorphous Silicon Solar Cells with n-Type Microcrystalline Cubic Silicon Carbide as a Window Layer

The application of phosphorus doped hydrogenated microcrystalline cubic silicon carbide (µc-3C–SiC:H) as a window layer of amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) solar cells is demonstrated. The µc-3C–SiC:H thin films were deposited by hot-wire chemical vapor deposition technique using monomethylsilane gas diluted with hydrogen. The deposition of µc-3C–SiC:H on a transparent conducting electrode (TCO) was realized by the use of titanium dioxide (TiO2) covered on the TCO. Using this covering technique, the µc-3C–SiC:H was applied to the n-layer of an n–i–p-type a-Si:H solar cell. An efficiency of 4.61% with an open circuit voltage of 0.947 V was obtained. This result indicated that the use of µc-3C–SiC:H for an n-layer will realize to achieve a higher Voc in the photovoltaic characteristic.