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• Popular Technical Papers

  • Overview of automation in the photovoltaic industry
  • Understanding moisture ingress and packaging requirements for photovoltaic modules
  • Evaluation of encapsulant materials for PV applications
  • Inline processing of crystalline silicon solar cells: the holy grail for large-scale manufacturing?
  • PV sector outlook: an analyst’s perspective

• Featured Technical Papers

  • Transparent conducting oxide deposition techniques for thin-film photovoltaics
  • Comprehensive and advanced quality assurance measures for optimal yields from PV power plants
  • Surface passivation of silicon solar cells using industrially relevant Al2O3 deposition techniques
  • Influence of a-Si:H deposition temperature on thermal stability of a-Si:H/SiNx:H stacks
  • Integrated loops: a prerequisite for sustainable and environmentally-friendly polysilicon production

A hydrogenated amorphous Si (a-Si:H) film, combined with a silicon nitride (SiN_x:H) capping layer and a postdeposition anneal, can hugely enhance the surface passivation on crystalline silicon wafers. In this work, the influence of various deposition temperatures of a-Si:H films on the thermal stability of a-Si:H/SiN_x:H stacks and a possible mechanism are discussed. Both minority carrier lifetime measurement and grazing-angle XRD were employed to study the thermal stability of a-Si:H/SiN_x:H stacks, and the results are interpreted in terms of dihydrides concentration and epitaxial crystallization. With an appropriate thermal treatment, the a-Si:H film deposited at 130°C and capped by SiN_x:H showed better passivation performance than 200°C-deposited a-Si:H/SiN_x:H stacks, but under an excessive thermal budget the former showed more severe degradation of carrier lifetime. The more dihydride-rich composition within 130°C-deposited a-Si:H/SiN_x:H stacks could be regarded as providing more effective intermediates for hydrogen interchanges, but on the other hand, it is also more susceptible to epitaxial crystallization.

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