Fabrication of poly-crystalline silicon films using plasma spray method

We have developed a new fabrication technique of poly-crystalline silicon (poly-Si) sheet for solar cells, namely the DC-RF hybrid plasma spray method. It has some advantages such as high deposition rate of more than 10 μm/s and large grain size of the obtained poly-Si films. Poly-Si films with a grain size of more than 20 μm and a defect density of 10⁶–10⁷ cm⁻² have been obtained at the initial stage trial. The solar cell conversion efficiency of 4.3% has been obtained using the plasma sprayed poly-Si. It is considered that the reasons for the low conversion efficiency are metallic impurity contamination, regions of micro grain due to rapid nucleation, and many defects in the films due to thermal stress.