High-deposition rate a-Si : H n-i-p solar cells grown by HWCVD

We grow hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) solar cells in a device str ucture denoted as SS/n-i-p/ITO. We grow all the a-Si:H layers by hot-wire c hemical vapor deposition (HWCVD) and the indium-tin-oxide (ITO) by reactive evaporation. We axe able to grow HWCVD i-layer materials that maintain an AM1.5 photoconductivity-to-dark-conductivity ratio of 10(5) at deposition r ates up to 130 Angstrom /s. We have put these high-deposition rate i-layer materials into SS/n-i-p/ITO devices and light-soaked them for greater than or equal to 1000 h under AM1.5 conditions. We obtain stabilized solar cell efficiencies of 5.5% at 18 Angstrom /s, 4.8% at 35 Angstrom /s, 4.1% at 83 Angstrom /s and 3.8% at 127 Angstrom /s. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.