A Novel Silicon Photovoltaic Cell Using a Low-Temperature Quasi-Epitaxial Silicon Emitter

A new silicon solar cell fabricated using a low-temperature process is demonstrated with a highly conductive (n+) quasi-epitaxial (qEpi-Si) silicon emitter deposited on silicon substrates, without using transparent conductive oxides. The emitter was formed by a plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition process on granular multicrystalline silicon (mc-Si) substrates at a substrate temperature of 250 . The new qEpi-Si/(p)mc-Si junction was found to be of good quality for photovoltaic applications. Solar cells of 1- area and conversion efficiencies exceeding 10% have been fabricated in a simple fabrication process and device structure.