We report the fabrication of film c-Si solar cells on Si wafer templates by hot wire chemical vapor deposition. These devices, grown at glass-compatible temperatures 750°C, demonstrate open-circuit voltages 500 mV and efficiencies upward of 5%. Analysis of the device characteristics and quantum efficiency provides important information about the epitaxial c-Si absorber material quality as a function of growth temperature.

The thin-film solar cell comprises an a-SiGe:H (1.6 eV) n-i-p solar cell having a deposition rate of at least ten ...Ang.../second for the a-SiGe:H intrinsic layer by hot wire chemical vapor deposition. A method for fabricating a thin film solar cell is also provided. The method comprises depositing a n-i-p layer at a deposition rate of at least ten ...Ang.../second for the a-SiGe:H intrinsiclayer.

Epitaxial Silicon Technology is a single-volume, in-depth review of all the silicon epitaxial growth techniques. This technology is being extended to the growth of epitaxial layers on insulating substrates by means of a variety of lateral seeding approaches. This book is divided into five chapters, and the opening chapter describes the growth of silicon layers by vapor-phase epitaxy, considering both atmospheric and low-pressure growth. The second chapter discusses molecular-beam epitaxial growth of silicon, providing a unique ability to grow very thin layers with precisely controlled doping characteristics. The third chapter introduces the silicon liquid-phase epitaxy, in which the growth of silicon layers arose from a need to decrease the growth temperature and to suppress autodoping. The fourth chapter addresses the growth of silicon on sapphire for improving the radiation hardness of CMOS integrated circuits. The fifth chapter deals with the advances in the application of silicon epitaxial growth. This chapter also discusses the formation of epitaxial layers of silicon on insulators, such as silicon dioxide, which do not provide a natural single crystal surface for growth. Each chapter begins with a discussion on the fundamental transport mechanisms and the kinetics governing the growth rate, followed by a description of the electrical properties that can be achieved in the layers and the restrictions imposed by the growth technique upon the control over its electrical characteristics. Each chapter concludes with a discussion on the applications of the particular growth technique. This reference material will be useful for process technologists and engineers who may need to apply epitaxial growth for device fabrication.

We report our progress toward low-temperature hot wire chemical vapor deposition (HWCVD) epitaxial film silicon solar cells on inexpensive seed layers, with a focus on the junction transport physics exhibited by our devices. Heterojunctions of i/p hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si) on our n-type epitaxial crystal Si on n++ Si wafers show space-charge-region recombination, tunneling or diffusive transport depending on both epitaxial Si quality and the applied forward voltage.