Author(s)

Sudip Adhikari, M. S. Kayastha, D. C. Ghimire, H. R. Aryal, S. Adhikary, T. Takeuchi, K. Murakami, Y. Kawashimo, H. Uchida, K. Wakita, M. Umeno

Department of Electronics and Information Engineering, Chubu University, Kasugai, Japan.
Department of Electronics and Information Engineering, Chubu University, Kasugai, Japan;.
Department of Hydrology and Meteo- rology, Tri-Chandra Campus, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal.
Shinko Seiki Co., Ltd., Kobe, Japan..

Amorphous carbon (a-C) thin films have been synthesized by microwave (MW) surface wave plasma (SWP) chemical vapor deposition (CVD) on n-type silicon and quartz substrates, aiming at the application of the films for photovoltaic solar cells. Argon, acetylene and trimethylboron were used as a carrier, source and dopant gases. Analytical methods such as X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Hall Effect measurement, JASCO V-570 UV/VIS/NIR spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Solar simulator were employed to investigate chemical, optical, structural and electrical properties of the a-C films. Two types of solar cells of configuration p-C/n-Si and p-C/i-C/n-Si have been fabricated and their current-voltage characteristics under dark and illumination (AM 1.5, 100 mW/cm²) have been studied. The two solar cells showed rectifying curves under the dark condition confirming the heterojunction carbon based solar cell between p-C and n-Si. When illuminated by the solar simulator light the devices showed photovoltaic behavior. The heterojunction device (p-C/i-C/n-Si) having inserted intrinsic carbon film between p-C and n-Si exhibited significant enhancement of the conversation efficiency (0.167% to 2.349%) over the device (p-C/n-Si).

Carbon; Photovoltaic Properties; Heterojunction Solar Cell

Adhikari, S. , Kayastha, M. , Ghimire, D. , Aryal, H. , Adhikary, S. , Takeuchi, T. , Murakami, K. , Kawashimo, Y. , Uchida, H. , Wakita, K. and Umeno, M. (2013) Improved Photovoltaic Properties of Heterojunction Carbon Based Solar Cell. Journal of Surface Engineered Materials and Advanced Technology, 3, 178-183. doi: 10.4236/jsemat.2013.33024.