High-efficiency heterojunction solar cells on crystalline germanium substrates

We report stand-alone heterojunction (HJ) solar cells with conversion efficiencies of 5.9 and 7.2 on n-type and p-type crystalline germanium (c-Ge) substrates, respectively. The emitter of the HJ solar cells is formed by growing thin layers of highly doped hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon using plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition at temperatures close to 200 °C. The conversion efficiencies of the HJ solar cells are well-comparable with conventional devices fabricated at temperatures as high as 600 °C. We also study the surface passivation of c-Ge with hydrogenated amorphous and microcrystalline Si and correlate the passivation quality with the electrical performance of the HJ solar cells. © 2012 American Institute of Physics.