Στην εργασία αυτή μελετήθηκε η μεταβολή της ειδικής ηλεκτρικής αγωγιμότητας συναρτήσει της θερμοκρασίας για την πολυπυρρόλη, την πολυανιλίνη καθώς και συνθέτων αυτών εμπλουτισμένων με οξείδιο του ψευδαργύρου και ατμούς μεταλλικού ιωδίου με σκοπό την εφαρμογή των παραπάνω υλικών ως υποστρώματα σε φωτοβολταϊκές κυψελίδες (solar cells). Τα παραπάνω υλικά ανήκουν στην κατηγορία των οργανικών ημιαγωγών και αποτελούν τη λεγόμενη "τέταρτη γενιά" πολυμερών. / In this work the thermal aging of conducting polyaniline and polypyrrole and their blends with ZnO : (PPy/ZnO (x% w/w) with x =10, 20, 30, 40),PANI/ZnO (20% w/w) and iodine has been investigated for the application of these materials as substrates in photovoltaic cells. Today, research is focused on the organic solar cells, in which the electrical current flow is due to molecules, which play the role of donors or acceptors of electrical charge. Organic PV cells have the advantages of easy construction, low cost and they are friendly to the environment. Indium tin oxide is used as anode in organic PVs, which is characterized by high concentration of charge carriers and is used for the injection of positive charge carriers (holes) in the organic active layer. For all the samples conductivity followed one of the models: 1. FIT (Fluctuation Induced Tunneling), in the case that we have a granular metal structure, in which conductive grains are separated by insulating barriers. These insulating barriers are narrow enough for the carriers to tunnel through small areas where the grains are closest together and the conductivity is dominated by the thermal fluctuations of the carriers in these areas. The relationship σ=f(T) is given by σ=σ0 exp[-T1/T0+T]. From T1 and T0 the distance s between the grains can be determined. In this work the FIT model applied to the sample of pure polypyrrole throughout the duration of thermal degradation. 2. CELT (Charging Energy Limited Tunneling), in the case that we have a granular metal structure, through which the carriers move by tunneling effect. T0 is related directly to the ratio s/d, where s is the main separation and d is the mean diameter of the grains and can give informations about the shrinking of the grains during aging. The relationship between σ and T is given by: σ=σ0 exp[-(Τ0/Τ)γ] where σ0 and T0 are indepedent factors of the temperature and 0 < γ < 0,25. In this work the CELT model applied for the samples of pure polyaniline, PPy/ZnO (10% w/w), PPy/ZnO (20 %w/w), PANI/ZnO (20% w/w) and PPy/I throughout the duration of thermal degradation. 3. Mott (Variable range hopping model), in the case of heterogeneous structures of amorphous materials. The conductivity takes place by thermally activated electron hopping between localized states near Fermi energy. The localization is due to the randomly distributed atoms or molecules in the material. The relationship describing the change in conductivity with T is similar to that of the CELT model, with the exponent γ is roughly equal to 0,25. In this work the Mott model applied for the samples PPy/ZnO(40% w/w) and PPy/I (sublimation with iodine vapour for 24 h). The degreasing of conductivity σ, with thermal aging time t for a substance with a granular metal structure follows the law: σ=σαρχ exp[-(t/τ)0,5] where τ is the time which characterizes the aging. All our composites followed this relation, ensuring a granular metal structure. It also became apparent that heating greatly reduces the electrical conductivity of our composites. The thermal degradation of PANI at room temperature (300K) gives τ = (350 ± 50) h, though at 120 0C PANI gives τ = (18 ± 4) h, indicating a much faster degradation as it is expected. The characteristic parameter τ has been calculated for all the materials used in this work.

Higher conversion efficiencies while reducing costs at the same time is the ultimate goal driving the development of solar cells. Multi-crystalline silicon has attracted considerable attention because of its high stability against light soaking. In case of solar grade multi-crystalline silicon the rigorous control of metal impurities is desirable for solar cell fabrication. It is the aim of this thesis to develop a new manufacturing process optimized for solar-grade multi-crystalline silicon solar cells. In this work the goal is to form solar cell emitters in silicon substrates by plasma immersion ion implantation of phosphine and posterior millisecond-range flash lamp annealing. These techniques were chosen as a new approach in order to decrease the production cost by reducing the amount of energy needed during fabrication. Therefore, this approach is called “Low Thermal Budget” process. After ion implantation the silicon surface is strongly disordered or amorphous up to the depth of the projected ion range. Therefore, subsequent annealing is required to remove the implantation damage and activate the doping element. Flash lamp annealing in the millisecond-range is demonstrated here as a very promising technique for the emitter formation at an overall low thermal budget. During flash lamp annealing, only the wafer surface is heated homogeneously to high temperatures at a time scales of ms. Thereby, implantation damages are annealed and phosphorous is electrically activated. The variation of pulse time allows to modify the degree of annealing of the bulk region to some extent as well. This can have an influence on the gettering behavior of metallic impurities. Ion implantation doping got in distinct consideration for doping of single-crystalline solar cells very recently. The efficient doping of multi-crystalline silicon remains the main challenge to reduce costs. The influence of different annealing techniques on the optical and electrical properties of multi-crystalline silicon solar cells was investigated. The Raman spectroscopy showed that the silicon surface is amorphous after ion implantation. It could be demonstrated that flash lamp annealing at 1000 °C for 3 ms even without preheating is sufficient to recrystallize implanted silicon. The sheet resistance of flash lamp annealed samples is in the range of about 60 Ω/□. Without surface passivation the minority carrier diffusion length in the flash lamp annealed samples is in the range of 85 µm. This is up to one order of magnitude higher than that observed for rapid thermal or furnace annealed samples. The highest carrier concentration and efficiency as well as the lowest resistivity were obtained after annealing at 1200 °C for 20 ms for both, single- and multi-crystalline silicon wafers. Photoluminescence results point towards phosphorous cluster formation at high annealing temperatures which affects metal impurity gettering within the emitter. Additionally, in silicon based solar cells, hydrogen plays a fundamental role due to its excellent passivation properties. The optical and electrical properties of the fabricated emitters were studied with particular interest in their dependence on the hydrogen content present in the samples. The influence of different flash lamp annealing parameters and a comparison with traditional thermal treatments such as rapid thermal and furnace annealing are presented. The samples treated by flash lamp annealing at 1200 °C for 20 ms in forming gas show sheet resistance values in the order of 60 Ω/□, and minority carrier diffusion lengths in the range of ~200 µm without the use of a capping layer for surface passivation. These results are significantly better than those obtained from rapid thermal or furnace annealed samples. The simultaneous implantation of hydrogen during the doping process, combined with optimal flash lamp annealing parameters, gave promising results for the application of this technology in replacing the conventional phosphoroxychlorid deposition and diffusion.

Passivation of silicon surfaces remains a critical factor in achieving high conversion efficiency in solar cells, particularly in future generations of rear contact cells -the best performing cell geometry to date. In this thesis, passivation is characterised as either intrinsic or extrinsic, depending on the origin of the chemical and field effect passivation components in dielectric layers. Extrinsic passivation, obtained after film deposition or growth, has been shown to improve significantly the passivation quality of dielectric films. Record passivation has been achieved leading to surface recombination velocities below 1.5 cm/s for 1 &Omega;cm n-type silicon covered with thermal oxide, and 0.15 cm/s in the same material covered with a thermal SiO2/PECVD SiNx double layer. Extrinsic field effect passivation, achieved by means of corona charge and/or ionic species, has been shown to decrease by 3 to 10 times the amount of carrier recombination at a silicon surface. A new parametrisation of interface charge, and electron and hole recombination velocities in a Shockley-Read-Hall extended formalism has been used to model accurately silicon surface recombination without the need to incorporate a term relating to space-charge or surface damage recombination. Such a term is unrealistic in the case of an oxide/silicon interface. A new method to produce extrinsic field effect passivation has been developed in which charge is introduced into dielectric films at high temperature and then permanently quenched in place by cooling to room temperature. This approach was investigated using charge due to one or more of the following species: ions produced by corona discharge, Na⁺, K⁺, Cs⁺, Mg²⁺ and Ca²⁺. It was implemented on both single SiO₂ and double SiO₂/SiN_x dielectric layers which were then measured for periods of up to two years. The decay of the passivation was very slow and time constants of the order of 10,000 days were inferred for two systems: 1) corona-charge-embedded into oxide grown on textured FZ-Si, and 2) potassium ions driven into an oxide on planar FZ-Si. The extrinsic field effect passivation methods developed in this work allow more flexibility in the combined optimisation of the optical properties and the chemical passivation properties of dielectric films on semiconductors. Increases in cell Voc, Jsc and &eta; parameters have been observed in simulations and obtained experimentally when extrinsic field effect passivation is applied to the front surface of silicon solar cells. The extrinsic passivation reported here thus represents a major advancement in controlled and stable passivation of silicon surfaces, and shows great potential as a scalable and cost effective passivation technology for solar cells.

The Cadmium Telluride thin film solar cell is one of the leading photovoltaic technologies. Efficiency improvements in the past decade made it a very attractive and practical source of renewable energy. Considering the theoretical limit, there is still room for improvement, especially the cell’s open circuit voltage (VOC). To improve VOC, the p-type carrier concentration and minority carrier lifetime of the CdTe absorber needs to be improved. Both these parameters are directly related to the point defect distribution of the semiconductor, which is a function of deposition stoichiometry, dopant incorporation and post-deposition treatments. CdTe films were deposited by the Elemental Vapor Transport (EVT) deposition method, which allowed in situ control of the vapor phase stoichiometry (Cd/Te ratio). Extrinsic doping of polycrystalline CdTe by in situ incorporation of antimony (Sb) and phosphorus (P) was investigated. The structural and electrical properties of CdTe thin films and solar cells were studied. Sb and P incorporation were found to increase the net p-doping concentration. Cl and Sb improved the minority carrier lifetime of polycrystalline CdTe, while lower lifetime with Cu and P doped films were indicated. Deep Level Transient Spectroscopy (DLTS) was performed on devices fabricated with different deposition stoichiometry, post-deposition treatments, and phosphorus dopant dose. Several majority and minority carrier traps were identified, and assigned to different point defects based on first principle studies in the literature and experimental conditions used for the deposition and processing of the thin films.

abstract: Achieving high efficiency in solar cells requires optimal photovoltaics materials for light absorption and as with any electrical device—high-quality contacts. Essentially, the contacts separate the charge carriers—holes at one terminal and electrons at the other—extracting them to an external circuit. For this purpose, the development of passivating and carrier-selective contacts that enable low interface defect density and efficient carrier transport is critical for making high-efficiency solar cells. The recent record-efficiency n-type silicon cells with hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) contacts have demonstrated the usefulness of passivating and carrier-selective contacts. However, the use of a-Si:H contacts should not be limited in just n-type silicon cells. In the present work, a-Si:H contacts for crystalline silicon and cadmium telluride (CdTe) solar cells are developed. First, hydrogen-plasma-processsed a-Si:H contacts are used in n-type Czochralski silicon cell fabrication. Hydrogen plasma treatment is used to increase the Si-H bond density of a-Si:H films and decrease the dangling bond density at the interface, which leads to better interface passivation and device performance, and wider temperature-processing window of n-type silicon cells under full spectrum (300–1200 nm) illumination. In addition, thickness-varied a-Si:H contacts are studied for n-type silicon cells under the infrared spectrum (700–1200 nm) illumination, which are prepared for silicon-based tandem applications. Second, the a-Si:H contacts are applied to commercial-grade p-type silicon cells, which have much lower bulk carrier lifetimes than the n-type silicon cells. The approach is using gettering and bulk hydrogenation to improve the p-type silicon bulk quality, and then applying a-Si:H contacts to enable excellent surface passivation and carrier transport. This leads to an open-circuit voltage of 707 mV in p-type Czochralski silicon cells, and of 702 mV, the world-record open-circuit voltage in p-type multi-crystalline silicon cells. Finally, CdTe cells with p-type a-Si:H hole-selective contacts are studied. As a proof of concept, p-type a-Si:H contacts enable achieving the highest reported open-circuit voltages (1.1 V) in mono-crystalline CdTe devices. A comparative study of applying p-type a-Si:H contacts in poly-crystalline CdTe solar cells is performed, resulting in absolute voltage gain of 53 mV over using the standard tellurium contacts. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Electrical Engineering 2018

Orientadores: Ana Flávia Nogueira, Valtencir Zucolotto / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Química / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-22T02:59:18Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Almeida_LuizCarlosPimentel_D.pdf: 6880507 bytes, checksum: f7a2c24853f25411226ae9b66a2de97b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012 / Resumo: Neste trabalho foram estudados filmes finos multicamadas baseados em polímeros condutores, nanotubos de carbono e um derivado de fulereno. Esses filmes foram depositados pela técnica de deposição camada por camada (LbL) via interações eletrostáticas. Esse trabalho está dividido em duas partes: 1-) Filmes LbL baseados no polímero conjugado poli(p-fenilenovinileno) (PPV) e nanotubos de carbono de parede única funcionalizados com grupos carboxílicos (SWNTCOOH) foram preparados em arquitetura de bloco, caracterizados e aplicados como fotoeletrodos em células solares fotoeletroquímicas. A morfologia desses filmes foi avaliada por microscopia de força atômica (AFM) e de epifluorescência, as quais indicaram uma variação morfológica significativa dos filmes após adição de camadas de nanotubos de carbono. A transferência de carga fotoinduzida do polímero condutor PPV para o SWNT-COOH foi analisada por supressão de fotoluminescência (PL). A caracterização fotoeletroquímica foi realizada sob irradiação de luz branca e os fotoeletrodos contendo SWNT-COOH apresentaram valores de fotocorrente de até 7,5 mA cm. A fotocorrente aumentou e tornou-se mais estável quando uma camada do polímero poli(3,4-etilenodioxitiofeno) dopado com poli(4-sulfonato de estireno) (PEDOT:PSS) foi depositada entre o eletrodo ITO e o filme LbL. 2-) Foram preparados filmes LbL baseados no polímero conjugado poli[2-(3-tienil)-etoxi-4-butilsulfonato] de sódio (PTEBS) e no derivado de fulereno C60-F. A caracterizacao fotofísica mostrou a ocorrência de transferência fotoinduzida de carga do PTEBS para o C60-F, a qual foi também demonstrada por meio da geração de fotocorrente obtida quando os filmes (PTEBS/C60-F) foram aplicados como fotoeletrodos em células solares fotoeletroquímicas. Os resultados obtidos fazem dos filmes LbL baseados em semicondutores orgânicos candidatos promissores para conversão de energia solar. / Abstract: In this work, multilayer thin films based on conducting polymers, carbon nanotubes and fullerene derivatives were studied. These films were fabricated by layer-by-layer deposition technique (LbL) through electrostatic interactions. This work is divided in two parts: 1-) LbL films composed of a conducting polymer poly(p-phenylenevinylene) (PPV) and carboxylic acid functionalized singlewalled carbon nanotubes (SWNT-COOH) were prepared in a block architecture, characterized and applied as electrodes in photoelectrochemical solar cells. Film morphology was evaluated by atomic force and epifluorescence microscopies, showing remarkable changes after incorporation of SWNT-COOH layers. The photoinduced charge transfer from the conducting polymer to SWNT-COOH was analyzed by photoluminescence (PL) quenching. Photoelectrochemical characterization was performed under white light and the films containing SWNTCOOH displayed photocurrent values up to 7.5 mA cm. Photocurrent generation was enhanced and became more stable when an intermediate layer of poly(3,4- ethylenedioxythiophene)¿poly(4-styrenesulfonic acid) (PEDOT:PSS) was interposed between the ITO electrode and LbL films. 2-) LbL films based on the conducting polymer sodium poly[2-(3-thienyl)-ethoxy-4-butylsulfonate] (PTEBS) and fullerene derivative C60-F were fabricated. Photophysical characterization shows the occurrence of photoinduced charge transfer from PTEBS to C60-F, which was also demonstrated by photocurrent generation obtained when (PTEBS/C60-F) multilayer films were applied as electrodes of photoelectrochemical solar cells. All these results make the LbL films based on organic semiconductors promising canditates towards solar energy conversion. / Doutorado / Físico-Química / Doutor em Ciências

Orientadores: Marco-Aurelio De Paoli, Claudia Longo / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Quimica / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-04T15:23:29Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Nogueira_VivianeCarvalho_M.pdf: 7956042 bytes, checksum: 3497431ee35a85b9d6ad28d95b6055c0 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2005 / Resumo: As células solares de TiO2 sensibilizadas por corante, DSSC, são constituídas por um filme nanoporoso de TiO2 modificado por um corante fotosensibilizador, um eletrólito no qual está presente o par redox I¨/I3¨, e um contra-eletrodo de platina. Desde 1996 o Laboratório de Polímeros Condutores e Reciclagem (LPCR) do Instituto de Química da Unicamp vem se dedicando ao desenvolvimento de células solares de TiO2/corante de estado sólido, através do emprego de eletrólitos poliméricos. A substituição do eletrólito líquido por um eletrólito polimérico visa minimizar os problemas decorrentes de vazamento ou evaporação do solvente, além de facilitar a montagem dos dispositivos. Estudos anteriores mostraram que as DSSC com eletrólito polimérico apresentam uma baixa estabilidade. Como a durabilidade de um dispositivo é um fator fundamental visando sua produção e uso em larga escala, o objetivo desta dissertação foi investigar as possíveis causas da baixa estabilidade das DSSC e otimizar a composição do eletrólito polimérico baseado em poli(epicloridrina-co-óxido de etileno), P(EO-EPI)84:16, NaI e l2, visando obter células solares com maior eficiência e estabilidade. Os resultados obtidos mostraram que a baixa estabilidade destas células está relacionada com a elevada quantidade de solvente residual presente no dispositivo após o término de sua montagem. A primeira parte do trabalho consistiu em eliminar esta interferência. O eletrólito polimérico foi otimizado através da adição do plastificante poli(etileno glicol) metil éter, P(EGME), que levou a uma redução significativa da temperatura de transição vítrea (Tg) do material polimérico, aumentando a flexibilidade das cadeias poliméricas e também participando na coordenação dos cátions Na, levando ao aumento da condutividade do eletrólito polimérico (s = 1,7 x 10 S cm, para 13 % m/m NaI). O coeficiente de difusão estimado para os íons no eletrólito polimérico com plastificante foi de 2 x 10 cms, aproximadamente 5 vezes maior do que para o eletrólito sem plastificante. A adição do plastificante não comprometeu as estabilidades térmicas, eletroquímicas e dimensionais dos filmes de eletrólito polimérico. A DSSC preparada com o eletrólito de P(EO-EPI) : P(EGME) (1:1) e 13 % (m/m) de NaI/I2 apresentou uma corrente de curto-circuito (ISC) de 1,88 mA cm e eficiência de conversão de energia (h) de 0,52 % (100 mW cm). Sob 10 mW cm, ISC = 0,60 mA cm e h = 1,75 %. Estes resultados mostram que a adição do plastificante contribuiu para melhorar o desempenho da célula solar e o estudo de estabilidade desta DSSC mostrou uma redução de menos de 15 % na eficiência de conversão de energia após 30 dias de irradiação. / Abstract: Dye sensitized solar cells, DSSC, consist of a nanoporous TiO2 electrode modified by a Ru-complex dye, an electrolyte containing the redox couple I¨/I3¨and a Pt counter electrode. Since 1996 the Conductive Polymers and Recycling Laboratory (LPCR) of the Chemistry Institute at Unicamp is developing solid state dye sensitized solar cells through the use of polymer electrolytes. The substitution of the liquid electrolyte by a polymeric one, eliminates the need of perfect sealing and avoids many problems caused by leakage or evaporation of the solvent, besides making the assembly of the cells much easier. Previous works showed that the DSSC assembled with polymer electrolytes present a poor stability. The durability of a device is a very important parameter when considering practical interests for application of DSSC, so the aim of this dissertation was to investigate the major causes of the poor stability ofthe DSSC and to optimize the composition of the polymer electrolyte based on poly(epichlorohydrin-co-ethylene oxide), P(EO-EPI)84:16, NaI and I2, in order to obtain solar cells with improved efficiency and stability. The results showed that the poor stability of the solar cells could be assigned to the presence of a large amounts of residual solvent in the assembled devices. The first step of the work consisted in eliminating this interference. The polymer electrolyte was optimized through the addition of the plasticizer, poly(ethylene glycol methyl ether), P(EGME), leading to a significant reduction of the copolymer glass transition temperature (Tg), increasing the chains flexibility, and also coordinating the Nacations, enhancing the ionic conductivity of the polymer electrolyte (s = 1.7 X 10 S cm, with 13 wt. % NaI). The diffusion coefficient estimated for the polymer electrolyte with the plasticizer was 2 x 10 cm s, about 5 times larger than for the electrolyte without plasticizer. The plasticizer did not affeet the thermal, electrochemical and dimensional stabilities of the polymer electrolyte films. The DSSC assembled with the polymer electrolyte based on P(EO-EPI) : P(EGME) (1:1) and 13 wt. % of NaI/I2 showed short circuit current (ISC) of 1.88 mA cm and overall conversion efficiency (h) of 0.52 % (100 mW cm). At 10 mW cm, ISC = 0.60 mA cm and h = 1.75 %. These results show that the plasticizer enhanced the performance of the solar cell. The stability test showed a reduction of less than 15 % in the efficiency of energy conversion after irradiating the DSSC for 30 days. / Mestrado / Quimica Inorganica / Mestre em Química

Interligand electron transfer (ILET) may be an essential parameter for the injection ofan electron from the dye into the semiconductor surface of a dye sensitized solar cell(DSSC). Without an efficient injection, competing recombination paths may become apparent. For the future development and design of DSSCs, with the hope of increased energy conversion efficiencies, the ILET dynamics is of great importance. For a long time, the most impressive DSSCs were sensitized with polypyridyl ruthenium dyes for which injection has shown to vary from sub-ps to ns duration. It may therefore be crucial to find means of studying the underlying reasons for the slow injection and in this thesis such an attempt has been made. ILET dynamics has been examined using fs Transient Absorption Anisotropy Spectroscopy in both the IR and Visible. This was done for two ruthenium dye complexes: N712 (cis-diisothiocyanato-bis(2,2’-bipyridyl-4,4’-dicarboxylate)ruthenium(II)) and RuL3 (tris(2,2’-bipyridyl-4,4’-dicarboxylate) ruthenium(II)) which are among the best performing dyes in DSSCs. The initial anisotropy was used to determine whether the excitation is localized on the photoselected ligand or delocalized over the available bipyridyl ligands. The depolarization dynamics of the anisotropy decay showed that the ILET must occur on the sub-ps time scale, resulting in rapid loss of the memory of which ligand was photoselected in the absorption process. This means formation of a metal-to-ligand-charge-transfer state that is randomized over the bipyridyl ligands. These results indicate that ILET dynamics should not limit the injection in DSSCs.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / When the amorphous silicon (a-Si) dangling bonds are bonded to hydrogen the concentration of the dangling bond is decreased. The resulting film is called hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H). The reduction in the dangling bonds concentration improves the optoelectrical properties of the film. The improved properties of a-Si:H makes it possible to manufacture electronic devices including a solar cell. A solar cell device based on the hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) was fabricated using the Hot-Wire Chemical Vapour Deposition (HWCVD). When an n-i-p solar cell configuration is grown, the norm is that the p-doped layer is deposited from a mixture of silane (SiH4) gas with diborane (B2H6). The boron atoms from diborane bonds to the silicon atoms and because of the number of the valance electrons, the grown film becomes a p-type film. Aluminium is a group 3B element and has the same valence electrons as boron, hence it will also produce a p-type film when it bonds with silicon. In this study the p-doped layer is grown from the co-deposition of a-Si:H from SiH4 with aluminium evaporation resulting in a crystallized, p-doped thin film. When this thin film is used in the n-i-p cell configuration, the device shows photo-voltaic activity. The intrinsic layer and the n-type layers for the solar cell were grown from SiH4 gas and Phosphine (PH3) gas diluted in SiH4 respectively. The individual layers of the solar cell device were characterized for both their optical and electrical properties. This was done using a variety of experimental techniques. The analyzed results from the characterization techniques showed the films to be of device quality standard. The analysed results of the ptype layer grown from aluminium showed the film to be successfully crystallized and doped. A fully functional solar cell was fabricated from these layers and the cell showed photovoltaic activity. / South Africa

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / When the amorphous silicon (a-Si) dangling bonds are bonded to hydrogen the concentration of the dangling bond is decreased. The resulting film is called hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H). The reduction in the dangling bonds concentration improves the optoelectrical properties of the film. The improved properties of a-Si:H makes it possible to manufacture electronic devices including a solar cell.A solar cell device based on the hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) was fabricated using the Hot-Wire Chemical Vapour Deposition (HWCVD). When an n-i-p solar cell configuration is grown, the norm is that the p-doped layer is deposited from a mixture of silane (SiH4) gas with diborane (B2H6). The boron atoms from diborane bonds to the silicon atoms and because of the number of the valance electrons, the grown film becomes a p-type film. Aluminium is a group 3B element and has the same valence electrons as boron, hence it will also produce a p-type film when it bonds with silicon.In this study the p-doped layer is grown from the co-deposition of a-Si:H from SiH4 with aluminium evaporation resulting in a crystallized, p-doped thin film. When this thin film is used in the n-i-p cell configuration, the device shows photo-voltaic activity.The intrinsic layer and the n-type layers for the solar cell were grown from SiH4 gas and Phosphine (PH3) gas diluted in SiH4 respectively. The individual layers of the solar cell device were characterized for both their optical and electrical properties. This was done using a variety of experimental techniques. The analyzed results from the characterization techniques showed the films to be of device quality standard. The analysed results of the ptype layer grown from aluminium showed the film to be successfully crystallized and doped.A fully functional solar cell was fabricated from these layers and the cell showed photovoltaic activity.