Are amorphous silicon-based solar cells a good choice?

The use of amorphous silicon in the silicon-based solar cells is the most recent and an emerging technology these days. It is a cost-efficient approach and offers the great flexibility. The only disadvantage of amorphous silicon-based solar cells is the reduced efficiency and poor performance.

Do intrinsic amorphous silicon bilayers affect crystalline silicon heterojunction solar cells?

The impact of intrinsic amorphous silicon bilayers in amorphous silicon/crystalline silicon (a-Si:H/c-Si) heterojunction solar cells is investigated. Intrinsic a-Si:H films with a wide range of film densities and hydrogen contents are prepared via a plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) technique by modifying various process parameters.

How thick should a crystalline silicon layer be in a solar cell?

One of the parameters controlled during the fabrication of solar cell is the thickness of one or another layer of the structure ( , pp. 3519–3520). According to the researcher works, the thickness of the crystalline silicon layer in the HJT device should be 50–300 microns, depending on its structure.

How are amorphous silicon solar cells made?

Amorphous silicon solar cells are normally prepared by glow discharge, sputtering or by evaporation, and because of the methods of preparation, this is a particularly promising solar cell for large scale fabrication.

How do amorphous silicon cells work?

Instead, amorphous silicon cells use pin structures, where the i-layer is effectively undoped and provides an extended electric field between the p-i and i-n junctions. Long periods of illumination increase the dark current in these devices, as additional defects are generated.

Why do amorphous solar cells have a higher absorption than crystalline solar cells?

The amorphous silicon solar cell has a much higher absorption compared to the crystalline silicon solar cell because of its disorder in the atomic structure. The optical transitions are perceived as localized transitions, thus increasing the efficiency for optical transitions.