Improved short-circuit current density of a-Si:H thin film solar cells with n-type silicon carbide layer

In this work, the performance of p–i–n hydrogenated amorphous silicon thin film solar cells by adopting n-type silicon carbide (n-SiC x :H) layer was investigated. By varying CH 4 /SiH 4 gas flow ratio, refractive index and electrical conductivity of n-SiC x :H thin films were changed in the range of 3.4 to 3.8 and 1.48E−5 to 1.24 S/cm, respectively. Compared with solar cells with n-Si:H/Ag configuration, short-circuit current density ( J sc ) of solar cells with n-SiC x :H/Ag configuration was improved up to 8.4%, which was comparable with that of solar cells with n-Si:H/ZnO/Ag configuration. Improved J sc was related with enhanced spectral response at long wavelength of 500–800 nm. It was supposed that the decreased refractive index of n-SiC x :H layer resulted in the increased back reflectance, which contributed to the improved J sc . Our experiments demonstrated that n-SiC x :H thin films were attractive choice because they functioned both as n-layer and interlayer in back reflector, and their deposition method was compatible with preparation process of solar cells.