CuOx/a-Si:H heterojunction thin-film solar cell with an n-type μc-Si:H depletion-assisting layer

We showed that thin n-type CuOx films can be deposited by radio-frequency magnetron reactive sputtering and demonstrated the fabrication of n-CuOx/intrinsic hydrogenated amorphous silicon (i-a-Si:H) heterojunction solar cells (HSCs) for the first time. A highly n-doped hydrogenated microcrystalline Si (n-mu c-Si:H) layer was introduced as a depletion-assisting layer to further improve the performance of n-CuOx/i-a-Si:H HSCs. An analysis of the external quantum efficiency and energy-band diagram showed that the thin depletion-assisting layer helped establish sufficient depletion and increased the built-in potential in the n-CuOx layer. The fabricated HSC exhibited a high open-circuit voltage of 0.715V and an efficiency of 4.79%. Copyright (c) 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.