Remote plasma chemical vapor deposition for high-efficiency ultra-thin ∼25-microns crystalline Si solar cells

For the first time, a remote plasma chemical vapor deposition (RPCVD) based c-Si/a-Si heterojunction solar cell process was developed on thin crystalline silicon semiconductor-on-metal (SOM) substrate. In RPCVD systems, deposition temperature, deposition rate, and the distance of the sample from the plasma source can be varied to minimize the surface damage and enhance passivation quality. A silicon heterojunction (HJ) cell without intrinsic a-Si layer passivation was fabricated on an exfoliated ∼25µm c-Si SOM foil, with an efficiency of 13.4% and open-circuit voltage of 645mV. Losses in these devices were analyzed by numerical simulations and optimum device structure was designed and performance predicted.