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Annealing Effects of Microstructure in Thin-film Silicon Solar Cell Materials Measured by Effusion of Implanted Rare Gas Atoms

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 June 2011

W. Beyer ,
D. Lennartz ,
P. Prunici  and
H. Stiebig
W. Beyer
Affiliation:
Malibu GmbH & Co. KG, Böttcherstr. 7, D-33609 Bielefeld, Germany IEK5-Photovoltaik, Forschungszentrum Jülich, D-52425 Jülich, Germany
D. Lennartz
Affiliation:
IEK5-Photovoltaik, Forschungszentrum Jülich, D-52425 Jülich, Germany
P. Prunici
Affiliation:
Malibu GmbH & Co. KG, Böttcherstr. 7, D-33609 Bielefeld, Germany
H. Stiebig
Affiliation:
Malibu GmbH & Co. KG, Böttcherstr. 7, D-33609 Bielefeld, Germany
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Abstract

In thin film silicon solar cell technology, annealing (heat treatment) effects are of interest since (i) annealing of underlying films often cannot be avoided during deposition and (ii) heat treatment (e.g. by laser) may be actively used for improvement of as-deposited material. Changes in the microstructure of several thin film silicon solar cell materials like hydrogenated amorphous silicon, microcrystalline silicon and zinc oxide by heat treatment were investigated by effusion measurements of hydrogen and implanted helium. Densification is observed for all materials studied, i.e. interconnected voids disappear or are transformed to isolated voids. We attribute the observed annealing effects primarily to an incomplete polymerization during growth. Important for solar cell processing is the result that the annealing effects involving structural changes set in at temperatures close to the temperature of deposition.

Keywords

thin filmSiannealing
Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 1321: Symposium A – Amorphous and Polycrystalline Thin-Film Silicon Science and Technology , 2011 , mrss11-1321-a17-14
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2011

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References

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