Fabrication of thin film nanocrystalline silicon solar cell with low light-induced degradation

Nanocrystalline silicon thin films have been deposited at different total gas flow rates and plasma excitation frequencies and samples with similar crystalline volume fraction have been compared. In hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon solar cells, amorphous component is not necessarily the only determining factor for light-induced degradation. Smaller grain size less than 3 nm diameter and intermediate range order provide a better stability in the i-layer near the p/i interface, thus improving the overall stability of the solar cell. Light-induced degradation (LID) of efficiency of the cell mainly depends on the light-induced degradation of short-circuit current density and light-induced degradation of fill factor (FF). Degradation of open-circuit voltage is less than 1%. Minimum degradation of efficiency obtained in this work is 2%.