Method for producing a thin-film solar cell by use of microcrystalline silicon and a layer sequence

A thin film solar cell comprising the following layers deposited on a substrate:

• a) a microcrystalline p- or n-layer,
• b) an intermediate microcrystalline silicon i-layer applied by a hot-wire chemical-vapor deposition (HWCVD) method on the microcrystalline p- or n-layer a),
• c) an additional i-layer of microcrystalline silicon, which is formed by depositing on the intermediate microcrystalline silicon i-layer, by a plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD), a sputtering process, or a photo-CVD method whereby layers b) and c) together form an i-layer, and
• d) if a p-layer is present as the layer of step a), an n-layer, and if an n-layer is present as the layer of step a), a p-layer that is either microcrystalline or amorphous

A thin-film solar cell having a pin or nip layer sequence prepared by a process comprising the steps of successively depositing the following layers on a substrate:

• a) a microcrystalline p- or n-layer,
• b) an intermediate microcrystalline silicon i-layer applied by a hot-wire chemical-vapor deposition (HWCVD) method on the microcrystalline p- or n-layer a),
• c) an additional i-layer of microcrystalline silicon, which is formed by depositing on the intermediate microcrystalline to silicon i-layer, by a plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD), a sputtering process, or a photo-CVD method whereby layers b) and c) together form an i-layer, and
• d) if a p-layer is present as the layer of step a), an n-layer, and if an n-layer is present as the layer of step a), a p-layer that is either microcrystalline or amorphous.

A layer sequence having a pin or nip layer sequence prepared by a process comprising the steps of forming the following layers:

• a) a microcrystalline p- or n-layer,
• b) an intermediate microcrystalline silicon i-layer applied by a hot-wire chemical-vapor deposition (HWCVD) method on the microcrystalline p- or n-layer a),
• c) an additional i-layer of microcrystalline silicon, which is formed by depositing on the intermediate microcrystalline silicon i-layer, by a plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD), a sputtering process, or a photo-CVD method whereby layers b) and c) together form an i-layer, and
• d) if a p-layer is present as the layer of step a), an n-layer, and if an n-layer is present as the layer of step a), a p-layer that is either microcrystalline or amorphous.