Hydrogenated amorphous silicon (а-Si:H) layers deposited by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) are investigated for use in silicon hetero-junction solar cells employing n-type crystalline silicon (c-Si) substrates. The optical and structural properties of silicon hetero-junction devices have been characterized using spectroscopy ellipsometry and high resolution cross-sectional transmission electron micrograph (HRTEM). In addition, the effective carrier lifetime is measured by the quasi-steady-state photocoductance (QSSPC) method. We have studied on the correlation between the order of а-Si:H and the passivation quality at the interface of а-Si:H/c-Si. Base on the result, we have fabricated a silicon hetero-junction solar cell incorporating the а-Si:H passivation layer with on open circuit voltage (Voc) of 637 mV.