Effect of deposition temperature of a-Si:H layer on the performance of silicon heterojunction solar cell

Substrate temperature during intrinsic hydrogenated amorphous silicon (i-a-Si:H) passivation layer deposition by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) is found to be crucial for reaching high conversion efficiency (E_ff) in a silicon heterojunction (SHJ) solar cell. Measurements from Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and minority carrier lifetimes show that the good passivation properties of a-Si:H film deposited at lower substrate temperatures are achieved. The correlations between the optical and electrical properties of thin films and the performance of SHJ cells have been analyzed. Finally, a SHJ solar cell with an area of 242.5 cm² was prepared at 210 °C, yielding a maximum cell conversion efficiency up to 23.3% with V_OC of 741 mV, J_SC of 38.49 mA/cm² and FF of 82.0%.