Thickness dependence of microcrystalline silicon solar cell properties

This paper addresses the performance of pin and nip solar cells with microc rystalline silicon (muc-Si:H) absorber layers of different thickness. Despi te the reverse deposition sequence, the behavior of both types of solar cel ls is found to be similar. Thicker absorber layers yield higher short-circu it currents, which can be fully attributed to an enhanced optical absorptio n. Open-circuit voltage V-OC and fill factor FF decrease with increasing th ickness, showing limitations of the bulk material. As a result of these two contrary effects the efficiency II varies only weakly for absorber layers of similar to 1 to - 4 mum thickness, yielding maximum values up to 8.1 %. For a-Si:H/muc-Si:H stacked solar cells an initial efficiency of 12% has be en obtained. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.