A stacked photovoltaic device comprises at least three p-i-n junction constituent devices superposed in layers, each having a p-type layer, an i-type layer and an n-type layer which are formed of silicon non-single crystal semiconductors. An amorphous silicon layer is used as the i-type layer of a first p-i-n junction, a microcrystalline silicon layer is used as the i-type layer of a second p-i-n junction and a microcrystalline silicon layer is used as the i-type layer of a third p-i-n junction, the first to third layers being in order from the light incident side. In this way, a stacked photovoltaic device can be provided which is practical and low-cost and yet has high reliability and high photoelectric conversion efficiency.
This application is a division of application Ser. No. 10/422,171, filed Apr. 23, 2003, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,835,888, which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 10/137,347, filed May 3, 2002, now abandoned, which is a division of application Ser. No. 09/257,054, filed Feb. 25, 1999, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,399,873.
Chemical vapor deposition processes utilize chemical precursors that allow for the deposition of thin films to be conducted at or near the mass transport limited regime. The processes have high deposition rates yet produce more uniform films, both compositionally and in thickness, than films prepared using conventional chemical precursors. In preferred embodiments, a higher order silane is employed to deposit thin films containing silicon that are useful in the semiconductor industry in various applications such as transistor gate electrodes.
