Phosphorous Catalytic-Doping of Silicon Alloys for the Use in Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cells

Abstract

Herein, the effectiveness of post-deposition catalytic-doping (cat-doping) on various doped silicon alloys, i.e., microcrystalline silicon (μc-Si:H), nanocrystalline silicon oxide (nc-SiOx:H), and microcrystalline silicon carbide (μc-SiC:H), for the use in silicon heterojunction solar cells is investigated. Phosphorous (P) profiles by secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) reveal the P distribution and its difference in these three silicon alloy films. Conductivity and effective charge carrier lifetime of different samples are found to increase to different extents after cat-doping process. Coexistence of thermal annealing, hydrogenation, and phosphorus doping is confirmed by using different gases during the cat-doping process.