Characterisation of sputtering deposited amorphous silicon films for silicon heterojunction solar cells

Abstract

This work investigates intrinsic and doped amorphous silicon films deposited by RF sputtering. The correlation between surface passivation and the a-Si:H film properties are explored. It has been found that the passivation depends on both the incorporated hydrogen concentration and the bonding configuration. Furthermore, conductivity measurement are performed on the doped a-Si:H by sputtering for the first time. It has been confirmed that p and n-type doping can be achieved by using boron or phosphorus doped Si targets. However, further work on dopant activation is required to achieve the higher doping levels necessary for high efficiency devices.