TITLE:
Improved Photovoltaic Properties of Heterojunction Carbon Based Solar Cell
AUTHORS:
Sudip Adhikari, M. S. Kayastha, D. C. Ghimire, H. R. Aryal, S. Adhikary, T. Takeuchi, K. Murakami, Y. Kawashimo, H. Uchida, K. Wakita, M. Umeno
KEYWORDS:
Carbon; Photovoltaic Properties; Heterojunction Solar Cell
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Surface Engineered Materials and Advanced Technology,
Vol.3 No.3,
July
10,
2013
ABSTRACT: 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/cm2) 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).