AMORPHOUS HYDROGENATED SILICON SOLAR CELLS WITH THE HOMOGENEOUS CHEMICAL VAPOR DEPOSITION TECHNIQUE.

The homogeneous chemical vapor deposition technique is a new method to deposit a-Si with separate control of growth rate and hydrogen content of the film. The a-Si has excellent electrical and optical properties. Platinum-Schottky barrier structures were made to investigate the photovoltaic possibilities of this material. A short-circuit current-density at AM1 conditions of 10. 4 mA/cm**2 (100% light transmission) was found for films made with a substrate temperature of 250 degree C. The minority carrier diffusion length was estimated to be around 0. 4 mu m.