Crystallization and Optoelectronic Properties of a-SiGe/a-Si Solar Cell

Volume 7 Issue 2 December - February 2017

Research Paper

Crystallization and Optoelectronic Properties of a-SiGe/a-Si Solar Cell

Wagah F. Mohamad*, Munther N. Al-Tikriti**, Bilal Altrabsheh***

* Professor, Department of Communications & Electronic Engineering, Philadelphia University, Jordan.

** Professor, Faculty of Engineering, Philadelphia University, Jordan.

*** Assistant Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering, Philadelphia University, Jordan.

Mohamad, W.F., Al-Tikriti, M.N., and Altrabsheh, B. (2017). Crystallization and Optoelectronic Propertiesof a-SiGe/a-Si Solar Cell. i-manager’s Journal on Electronics Engineering, 7(2), 1-7. https://doi.org/10.26634/jele.7.2.11407

Abstract

Many samples of amorphous silicon germanium thin films had been fabricated using vacuum thermal deposition technique. Some of the samples are deposited on glass substrates; the others are on Si wafers. The effect of annealing temperature and germanium quantity on the structural and optoelectronic properties are studied and explained. The results obtained from X-ray diffraction show that films are deposited as amorphous structure. The films deposited on glass o substrate start polycrystalline transformation at annealing temperature around 600 C, while the others deposited on Si o o wafer start the transformation near to 655 C and with best results at 830 C. Increasing the germanium quantity from x= 0 to x= 0.3 leads to the reduction of optical energy gap. The behavior of x=0.3 germanium sample gives, somewhat, better quantum efficiency, higher photogenerated current with reasonable output voltage, but higher leakage current. The quantum efficiency tends to decrease with the increase of the wavelength λ and the absorption coefficient α increases with the increase of the quantity of Ge.