Improved Photovoltaic Properties of Heterojunction Carbon Based Solar Cell

Amorphous carbon (a-C) thin films have been synthesized by microwave (MW) surface wave plasma (SWP) chemical vapor deposition (CVD) on n-type silicon and quartz substrates, aiming at the application of the films for photovoltaic solar cells. Argon, acetylene and trimethylboron were used as a carrier, source and dopant gases. Analytical methods such as X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Hall Effect measurement, JASCO V-570 UV/VIS/NIR spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Solar simulator were employed to investigate chemical, optical, structural and electrical properties of the a-C films. Two types of solar cells of configuration p-C/n-Si and p-C/i-C/n-Si have been fabricated and their current-voltage characteristics under dark and illumination (AM 1.5, 100 mW/cm) have been studied. The two solar cells showed rectifying curves under the dark condition confirming the heterojunction carbon based solar cell between p-C and n-Si. When illuminated by the solar simulator light the devices showed photovoltaic behavior. The heterojunction device (p-C/i-C/n-Si) having inserted intrinsic carbon film between p-C and n-Si exhibited significant enhancement of the conversation efficiency (0.167% to 2.349%) over the device (p-C/n-Si).