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Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposited (Pecvd) Silicon-Rich-Nitride Thin Films for Improving Silicon Solar Cells Efficiency


Affiliations
1 Sensors and Nanotechnology Group, CSIR-Central Electronics Engineering Research Institute (CEERI), Pilani-333031, India
2 Electronics Science Department, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra-136119, India
 

Silicon-rich-nitride (SRN) films were deposited by plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition (PECVD) by changing the silane and ammonia flow rates. These films were thermally annealed for precipitation of silicon nanocrystals. Measurements of refractive indices and FTIR absorption spectra of these films indicated increase in the silicon content. Thermally annealed SRN films exhibited photoluminescence in visible region indicating their potential as down-conversion layer for efficiency improvement in solar cells. A significant relative improvement in conversion efficiency using SiOx/SRN layers in solar cells has been reported in our earlier work. In this paper, we present detailed synthesis process, characterization and analysis of SiN films. Characterization results and solar cell measurements indicate that the observed photoluminescence at 577nm in visible range in selected films along is responsible for improvement in conversion efficiency through down-conversion of high energy solar photons.

Keywords

Silicon-Rich-Nitride, Pecvd, Silicon-Nanostructures, Down-Conversion, Silicon Solar Cells, Photoluminescence.
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  • Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposited (Pecvd) Silicon-Rich-Nitride Thin Films for Improving Silicon Solar Cells Efficiency

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Authors

A. Kumar
Sensors and Nanotechnology Group, CSIR-Central Electronics Engineering Research Institute (CEERI), Pilani-333031, India
W. R. Taube
Sensors and Nanotechnology Group, CSIR-Central Electronics Engineering Research Institute (CEERI), Pilani-333031, India
R. Sarvanan
Sensors and Nanotechnology Group, CSIR-Central Electronics Engineering Research Institute (CEERI), Pilani-333031, India
P. B. Agarwal
Sensors and Nanotechnology Group, CSIR-Central Electronics Engineering Research Institute (CEERI), Pilani-333031, India
P. Kothari
Sensors and Nanotechnology Group, CSIR-Central Electronics Engineering Research Institute (CEERI), Pilani-333031, India
D. Kumar
Electronics Science Department, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra-136119, India

Abstract


Silicon-rich-nitride (SRN) films were deposited by plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition (PECVD) by changing the silane and ammonia flow rates. These films were thermally annealed for precipitation of silicon nanocrystals. Measurements of refractive indices and FTIR absorption spectra of these films indicated increase in the silicon content. Thermally annealed SRN films exhibited photoluminescence in visible region indicating their potential as down-conversion layer for efficiency improvement in solar cells. A significant relative improvement in conversion efficiency using SiOx/SRN layers in solar cells has been reported in our earlier work. In this paper, we present detailed synthesis process, characterization and analysis of SiN films. Characterization results and solar cell measurements indicate that the observed photoluminescence at 577nm in visible range in selected films along is responsible for improvement in conversion efficiency through down-conversion of high energy solar photons.

Keywords


Silicon-Rich-Nitride, Pecvd, Silicon-Nanostructures, Down-Conversion, Silicon Solar Cells, Photoluminescence.