SBIR Phase I: Novel Microcrystalline Silicon Solar Cell Devices Prepared Using Unique Microwave/Electron Beam (EM) Gas Jet Deposition Technique

*9760805 Jones这个小型企业创新研究第一阶段项目将测试使用新型微波/电子束(EM)气体喷射技术在高沉积速率下制备高稳定效率微晶硅电池的可行性。这些具有光吸收微晶层的电池被提议作为非晶硅电池的替代品，因为与非晶态电池相比，效率不会随着长期的光暴露而降低。虽然已经获得了11%稳定效率的微晶电池，但用于制备微晶电池的技术要求微晶形成所需的沉积速率低到令人无法接受的1-3A/S。这项拟议的技术是独特的，因为它利用了微波源、电子束和气体射流，可以产生接近超音速的气体速度。微波有效地分解硅烷气体以产生高沉积速率，并在大量氢稀释的情况下产生大量原子氢通量，这对微晶的形成非常重要。需要电子束来稳定等离子体，同时气体射流产生的高气体速度将任何有害的气相相互作用降至最低。作者将在这个项目中展示用这种新的沉积技术可以高速率地制备高质量的微晶硅材料和太阳能电池。该计划的成功最终将导致光伏(PV)产品的更广泛使用，从而减少对化石燃料能源的依赖。开发高沉积速率技术以制备高质量的微晶硅也可以应用于其他行业，如薄膜晶体管、光电探测器和光电传感器。***

*** 9760805 Jones This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will test the feasibility of using a novel Microwave/Electron Beam (EM) Gas Jet technique to prepare high stable efficiency microcrystalline silicon cells at high deposition rates. These cells, with light absorbing microcrystalline layers, have been proposed as an alternative to amorphous silicon based cells because, in contrast to the amorphous cells, the efficiencies do not degrade with long term light exposure. While microcrystalline cells with 11% stable efficiencies have been obtained, the technique used to prepare these cells requires unacceptably low deposition rates of 1-3 A/s for microcrystalline formation. The proposed technique is unique in that it utilizes a microwave source, an electron beam and a Gas Jet that produces near supersonic gas speeds. The microwaves efficiently decompose the silane gas to create high deposition rates and with large amounts of hydrogen dilution generate large atomic hydrogen fluxes that are important for microcrystalline formation. The electron beam is required to stabilize the plasma while high gas speeds created by the Gas Jet minimize any detrimental gas phase interactions. The proposer will demonstrate in this program that high quality microcrystalline silicon materials and solar cells can be prepared at high rates with this novel deposition technique. The success of this program will ultimately lead to a wider use of Photovoltaic (PV) products thereby reducing the dependency on fossil fuel energy sources. Development of a high deposition rate technique to prepare high quality microcrystalline silicon could also be applied in other industries such as thin film transistors, photodetectors, and photosensors. ***