Nitrogen Doping of Amorphous Carbon by Aerosol-Assisted Chemical Vapor Deposition for Carbon-Based Solar Cell Applications

Abstract

A novel self-prepared Aerosol-Assisted Chemical Vapor Deposition (AACVD) system was developed to deposit the amorphous carbon (a-C) thin films for the carbon-based solar cell applications. The nitrogen doping was applied towards the a-C thin films at deposition temperature of 600°C and 650°C. The samples gave the photoresponse characteristic for the electrical measurement by using the solar simulator system in under illumination condition. FESEM images signify the nanostructured sized a-C:N (<100nm) and EDX spectrum clarify the presence of N content in the N doped a-C. Solar cell efficiency was also obtained with the value of 0.001648% for 650°C and 0.000124% for 600°C when the a-C:N were deposited on p-Si substrate. The presence of the rectifying curves at the a-C:N/p-Si junction indicates the hetero-junction behavior between the p-n structure and thus proves the successful doping of N doped a-C using the AACVD technique.