Plasma-chemical vapor deposited silicon nitride films for solar cells.

Amorphous silicon nitride antireflective (a-SiN-AR) coating film was formed at the top region of p-n silicon solar cells by P-CVD. The refractive index of a-SiN films was controlled easily by changing operation parameters of P-CVD so that the theoretically matched AR coating film could be formed.Silicon solar cells with AR coating formed by this technique showed a 46% improvement in practical conversion-efficiency and a 43% improvement in short circuit current in comparison with uncoated cells.