Solar cells consist of n-Si wafer and p-Si polycrystalline thin film, which was solely fabricated by magnetron sputtering, and aluminium induced crystallization, are presented in this paper. Firstly, the material and electrical properties of the fabricated p-Si thin films including the crystallization ratio, grain size, morphology, carrier density and mobility were studied by Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy and Hall Effect measurement, respectively. The p-Si polycrystalline thin film formed under optimal process conditions had the crystallization ratio of ~ 99% and the grain size of ~ 64.6 nm, determined from the data of Raman spectroscopy and XRD. The hole concentration in the fabricated p-Si polycrystalline thin films was mainly in the order of 1017 cm−3 to 1019 cm−3, and their corresponding mobility values ranged from 15 cm2/V s to 65 cm2/V s. Then solar cells with the device structure of Al electrode/n-Si wafer/p-Si thin film/Al electrode were fabricated, and their electrical properties were measured both under dark and illumination conditions by the semiconductor performance tester and solar simulator. The measured J-V curves under dark condition confirmed the creation of a p-n junction with the ideality factor of 1.55, rectification ratio of 410 at ± 1 V, and the reverse saturation current of 246 nA/cm2. The efficiency of 2.19%, with an open circuit voltage of 448 mV and a short circuit current density of 11.2 mA/cm2, was achieved under AM1.5G standard illuminations.

•Non-match seal between borosilicate 3.3 glass and stainless steel, which have excellent durable outdoor performance and big difference between their thermal expansions, is analyzed for metal–glass solar evacuated tubes.•The maximum magnitude of the hazardous tensile stresses occurs at a few millimeters above the sealing area, not in the contact position.•The thickness of stainless steel is the most important parameter of the seal. To avoid the breakage of seal, the thickness should be less than 40 μm.•Samples of non-match seal between borosilicate 3.3 glass and stainless steel are successfully fabricated according to our proposed parameters, the simulation results are in a good accordance with the experiment.The residual stress of mismatch seal between borosilicate glass 3.3 and stainless steel is analyzed for metal–glass solar evacuated tubes in this paper. As borosilicate glass has a much lower limit of stress than metal, a tube model with different sizes and shapes of metal and glass is simulated to determine the magnitude and profile of the residual stress in the glass region. The simulation results show that the maximum magnitude of the hazardous tensile stresses occurs at a few millimeters above the sealing area, not in the contact position; and the thickness of metal is the most important parameter of the seal which affects the stress level. The stress magnitude increases dramatically when the thickness of stainless steel increases from 10 to 60 µm. Therefore, to avoid breakage of the seal, the thickness of metal should be less than 40 µm. In addition, it is shown that both the cross-section shape of the metal ring and the contact length in the glass have a considerable impact on the stress. The stress level increases significantly with the increase of depth of the metal ring embedded in the glass. Comparison between a metal ring with trapezoidal cross-section and one with rectangular cross-section of equivalent mean thickness reveals that the former leads to smaller residual stress. Furthermore, the results show that variation in the glass tube dimensions, in compare to the metal ring parameters, has less effect on the residual stress level in the seal area. An increase in the thickness of the glass tube decreases the stress noticeably, whereas an increase in tube radius has a negligible impact. Finally, it is shown that the simulation results are in good accordance with results of experiments using samples of mismatch seal between borosilicate glass 3.3 and stainless steel successfully fabricated according to our proposed parameters.