Investigation of Low-Cost Surface Processing Techniques for Large-Size Multicrystalline Silicon Solar Cells

OpenAIRE

Cheng, Yuang-Tung; Ho, Jyh-Jier; Lee, William J.; Tsai, Song-Yeu; Lu, Yung-An; Liou, Jia-Jhe; Chang, Shun-Hsyung; Wang, Kang L.

2010-01-01

The subject of the present work is to develop a simple and effective method of enhancing conversion efficiency in large-size solar cells using multicrystalline silicon (mc-Si) wafer. In this work, industrial-type mc-Si solar cells with area of 125×125 mm2 were acid etched to produce simultaneously POCl3 emitters and silicon nitride deposition by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposited (PECVD). The study of surface morphology and reflectivity of different mc-Si etched surfaces has also been d...

Effect of the Phosphorus Gettering on Si Heterojunction Solar Cells

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Hyomin Park

2012-01-01

Full Text Available To improve the efficiency of crystalline silicon solar cells, should be collected the excess carrier as much as possible. Therefore, minimizing the recombination both at the bulk and surface regions is important. Impurities make recombination sites and they are the major reason for recombination. Phosphorus (P gettering was introduced to reduce metal impurities in the bulk region of Si wafers and then to improve the efficiency of Si heterojunction solar cells fabricated on the wafers. Resistivity of wafers was measured by a four-point probe method. Fill factor of solar cells was measured by a solar simulator. Saturation current and ideality factor were calculated from a dark current density-voltage graph. External quantum efficiency was analyzed to assess the effect of P gettering on the performance of solar cells. Minority bulk lifetime measured by microwave photoconductance decay increases from 368.3 to 660.8 μs. Open-circuit voltage and short-circuit current density increase from 577 to 598 mV and 27.8 to 29.8 mA/cm2, respectively. The efficiency of solar cells increases from 11.9 to 13.4%. P gettering will be feasible to improve the efficiency of Si heterojunction solar cells fabricated on P-doped Si wafers.

Improving the Quality of the Deteriorated Regions of Multicrystalline Silicon Ingots during General Solar Cell Processes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wu Shan-Shan; Wang Lei; Yang De-Ren

2011-01-01

The behavior of wafers and solar cells from the border of a multicrystalline silicon (mc-Si) ingot, which contain deteriorated regions, is investigated. It is found that the diffusion length distribution of minority carriers in the cells is uniform, and high efficiency of the solar cells (about 16%) is achieved. It is considered that the quality of the deteriorated regions could be improved to be similar to that of adjacent regions. Moreover, it is indicated that during general solar cell fabrication, phosphorus gettering and hydrogen passivation could significantly improve the quality of deteriorated regions, while aluminum gettering by RTP could not. Therefore, it is suggested that the border of a mc-Si ingot could be used to fabricate high efficiency solar cells, which will increase mc-Si utilization effectively. (condensed matter: structure, mechanical and thermal properties)

Electroluminescence of a-Si/c-Si heterojunction solar cells after high energy irradiation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ferrara, Manuela

2009-11-24

The crystalline silicon as absorber material will certainly continue to dominate the market for space applications of solar cells. In the contribution under consideration the applicability of a-Si:H/c-Si heterojunction solar cells in space has been tested by the investigation of the cell modification by high energy protons and comparing the results to the degradation of homojunction crystalline silicon reference cells. The investigated solar cells have been irradiated with protons of different energies and doses. For all investigated solar cells the maximum damage happens for an energy of about 1.7 MeV and is mainly due to the decrease of the effective minority carrier diffusion length in the crystalline silicon absorber. Simulations carried out by AFORS-HET, a heterojunction simulation program, also confirmed this result. The main degradation mechanism for all types of devices is the monotonically decreasing charge carrier diffusion length in the p-type monocrystalline silicon absorber layer. For the heterojunction solar cell an enhancement of the photocurrent in the blue wavelength region has been observed but only in the case of heterojunction solar cell with intrinsic a-Si:H buffer layer. Additionally to the traditional characterization techniques the electroluminescence technique used for monitoring the modifications of the heteroluminescence technique used for monitoring the modifications of the heterointerface between amorphous silicon and crystalline silicon in solar cells after proton irradiation. A direct relation between minority carrier diffusion length and electroluminescence quantum efficiency has been observed but also details of the interface modification could be monitored by this technique.

Simulating characteristics of Si/Ge tandem monolithic solar cell with Si1-xGex buffer layer

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Gnilenko A. B.

2015-12-01

Full Text Available In spite of many efforts to propose new semiconductor materials and sophisticated constructions of solar cells, crystalline silicone remains the main photovoltaic material widely used up to now. There are various methods to enhance the efficiency of silicone solar cells. One of them is to combine silicone with an additional semiconductor material with the different bandgap to form a tandem construction. For example, the germanium sub-cell used as the bottom cascade for the silicone sub-cell in the tandem monolithic solar cell makes it possible to utilize the "red" sub-band of solar spectra increasing overall solar cell efficiency. The problem of the 4.2% mismatch in lattice constant between Si and Ge can be resolved in such a case by the use of SiGe buffer layer. In the paper the results of the computer simulation for Si/Ge tandem monolithic solar cell with Si1-xGex buffer layer are presented. In the solar cell under consideration, the step graded Si1-xGex buffer layer is located between the top silicone and the bottom germanium cascades to reduce the threading dislocation density in mismatched materials. The cascades are commutated by the use of the germanium tunnel diode between the bottom sub-cell and the buffer layer. For the solar cell modeling, the physically-based device simulator ATLAS of Silvaco TCAD software is employed to predict the electrical behavior of the semiconductor structure and to provide a deep insight into the internal physical processes. The voltage-current characteristic, photovoltaic parameters and the distribution of basic physical values are obtained for the investigated tandem solar cell. The influence of layer thicknesses on the photovoltaic parameters is studied. The calculated efficiency of the tandem solar cell reaches 13% which is a quarter more than the efficiency of a simple silicone solar cell with the same constructive parameters and under the same illumination conditions.

Simulation of light-induced degradation of μc-Si in a-Si/μc-Si tandem solar cells by the diode equivalent circuit

Science.gov (United States)

Weicht, J. A.; Hamelmann, F. U.; Behrens, G.

2016-02-01

Silicon-based thin film tandem solar cells consist of one amorphous (a-Si) and one microcrystalline (μc-Si) silicon solar cell. The Staebler - Wronski effect describes the light- induced degradation and temperature-dependent healing of defects of silicon-based solar thin film cells. The solar cell degradation depends strongly on operation temperature. Until now, only the light-induced degradation (LID) of the amorphous layer was examined in a-Si/μc-Si solar cells. The LID is also observed in pc-Si single function solar cells. In our work we show the influence of the light-induced degradation of the μc-Si layer on the diode equivalent circuit. The current-voltage-curves (I-V-curves) for the initial state of a-Si/pc-Si modules are measured. Afterwards the cells are degraded under controlled conditions at constant temperature and constant irradiation. At fixed times the modules are measured at standard test conditions (STC) (AM1.5, 25°C cell temperature, 1000 W/m2) for controlling the status of LID. After the degradation the modules are annealed at dark conditions for several hours at 120°C. After the annealing the dangling bonds in the amorphous layer are healed, while the degradation of the pc-Si is still present, because the healing of defects in pc-Si solar cells needs longer time or higher temperatures. The solar cells are measured again at STC. With this laboratory measured I-V-curves we are able to separate the values of the diode model: series Rs and parallel resistance Rp, saturation current Is and diode factor n.

Characterization of μc-Si:H/a-Si:H tandem solar cell structures by spectroscopic ellipsometry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Murata, Daisuke; Yuguchi, Tetsuya; Fujiwara, Hiroyuki

2014-01-01

In order to perform the structural characterization of Si thin-film solar cells having submicron-size rough textured surfaces, we have developed an optical model that can be utilized for the spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) analysis of a multilayer solar cell structure consisting of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) and microcrystalline silicon (μc-Si:H) layers fabricated on textured SnO 2 :F substrates. To represent the structural non-uniformity in the textured structure, the optical response has been calculated from two regions with different thicknesses of the Si layers. Moreover, in the optical model, the interface layers are modeled by multilayer structures assuming two-phase composites and the volume fractions of the phases in the layers are controlled by the structural curvature factor. The polarized reflection from the μc-Si:H layer that shows extensive surface roughening during the growth has also been modeled. In this study, a state-of-the-art solar cell structure with the textured μc-Si:H (2000 nm)/ZnO (100 nm)/a-Si:H (200 nm)/SnO 2 :F/glass substrate structure has been characterized. The μc-Si:H/a-Si:H textured structure deduced from our SE analysis shows remarkable agreement with that observed by transmission electron microscopy. From the above results, we have demonstrated the high-precision characterization of highly-textured μc-Si:H/a-Si:H solar cell structures. - Highlights: • Characterization of textured μc-Si:H/a-Si:H solar cell structures by ellipsometry • A new optical model using surface area and multilayer models • High precision characterization of submicron-range rough interface structures

Enhanced blue responses in nanostructured Si solar cells by shallow doping

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Cheon, Sieun; Jeong, Doo Seok; Park, Jong-Keuk; Kim, Won Mok; Lee, Taek Sung; Lee, Heon; Kim, Inho

2018-03-01

Optimally designed Si nanostructures are very effective for light trapping in crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cells. However, when the lateral feature size of Si nanostructures is comparable to the junction depth of the emitter, dopant diffusion in the lateral direction leads to excessive doping in the nanostructured emitter whereby poor blue responses arise in the external quantum efficiency (EQE). The primary goal of this study is to find the correlation of emitter junction depth and carrier collection efficiency in nanostructured c-Si solar cells in order to enhance the blue responses. We prepared Si nanostructures of nanocone shape by colloidal lithography, with silica beads of 520 nm in diameter, followed by a reactive ion etching process. c-Si solar cells with a standard cell architecture of an Al back surface field were fabricated varying the emitter junction depth. We varied the emitter junction depth by adjusting the doping level from heavy doping to moderate doping to light doping and achieved greatly enhanced blue responses in EQE from 47%-92% at a wavelength of 400 nm. The junction depth analysis by secondary ion mass-spectroscopy profiling and the scanning electron microscopy measurements provided us with the design guide of the doping level depending on the nanostructure feature size for high efficiency nanostructured c-Si solar cells. Optical simulations showed us that Si nanostructures can serve as an optical resonator to amplify the incident light field, which needs to be considered in the design of nanostructured c-Si solar cells.

Optimization of ITO layers for applications in a-Si/c-Si heterojunction solar cells

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pla, J.; Tamasi, M.; Rizzoli, R.; Losurdo, M.; Centurioni, E.; Summonte, C.; Rubinelli, F

2003-02-03

A detailed study of the properties of indium tin oxide (ITO) thin films used as antireflecting front electrodes in a-Si/c-Si heterojunction solar cells is presented. The deposition conditions of ITO layers by radiofrequency magnetron sputtering were optimized for heterojunction solar cells applications. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis of the deposited films allowed for a correlation between the film composition and the experimental parameters used in the sputtering process. The ITO thickness was optimized considering the thickness of the a-Si emitter layer, its optical characteristics and the heterojunction solar cell spectral response. In our devices, the optimal thickness calculated for the ITO film was in the range 80-95 nm, depending on the solar cell spectral response, and a thickness tolerance of {+-}10 nm was found to be suitable to limit the degradation of the device performance. Finally, device simulation results obtained by the 'Analysis of Microelectronic and Photonic Structures' code are reported.

SiNx layers on nanostructured Si solar cells: Effective for optical absorption and carrier collection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cho, Yunae; Kim, Eunah; Gwon, Minji; Kim, Dong-Wook; Park, Hyeong-Ho; Kim, Joondong

2015-01-01

We compared nanopatterned Si solar cells with and without SiN x layers. The SiN x layer coating significantly improved the internal quantum efficiency of the nanopatterned cells at long wavelengths as well as short wavelengths, whereas the surface passivation helped carrier collection of flat cells mainly at short wavelengths. The surface nanostructured array enhanced the optical absorption and also concentrated incoming light near the surface in broad wavelength range. Resulting high density of the photo-excited carriers near the surface could lead to significant recombination loss and the SiN x layer played a crucial role in the improved carrier collection of the nanostructured solar cells

Analysis of the High Conversion Efficiencies β-FeSi2 and BaSi2 n-i-p Thin Film Solar Cells

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Huang, J.Sh.; Lee, K.W.; Tseng, Y.H.

2014-01-01

Both β-FeSi 2 and BaSi 2 are silicides and have large absorption coefficients; thus they are very promising Si-based new materials for solar cell applications. In this paper, the dc I-V characteristics of n-Si/i-βFeSi 2 /p-Si and n-Si/i-BaSi 2 /p-Si thin film solar cells are investigated by solving the charge transport equations with optical generations. The diffusion current densities of free electron and hole are calculated first. Then the drift current density in the depletion regions is obtained. The total current density is the sum of diffusion and drift current densities. The conversion efficiencies are obtained from the calculated I-V curves. The optimum conversion efficiency of n-Si/i-βFeSi 2 /p-Si thin film solar cell is 27.8% and that of n-Si/i-BaSi 2 /p-Si thin film solar cell is 30.4%, both are larger than that of Si n-i-p solar cell (η is 20.6%). These results are consistent with their absorption spectrum. The calculated conversion efficiency of Si n-i-p solar cell is consistent with the reported researches. Therefore, these calculation results are valid in this work.

Analysis of the High Conversion Efficiencies β-FeSi2 and BaSi2 n-i-p Thin Film Solar Cells

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jung-Sheng Huang

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Both β-FeSi2 and BaSi2 are silicides and have large absorption coefficients; thus they are very promising Si-based new materials for solar cell applications. In this paper, the dc I-V characteristics of n-Si/i-βFeSi2/p-Si and n-Si/i-BaSi2/p-Si thin film solar cells are investigated by solving the charge transport equations with optical generations. The diffusion current densities of free electron and hole are calculated first. Then the drift current density in the depletion regions is obtained. The total current density is the sum of diffusion and drift current densities. The conversion efficiencies are obtained from the calculated I-V curves. The optimum conversion efficiency of n-Si/i-βFeSi2/p-Si thin film solar cell is 27.8% and that of n-Si/i-BaSi2/p-Si thin film solar cell is 30.4%, both are larger than that of Si n-i-p solar cell (η is 20.6%. These results are consistent with their absorption spectrum. The calculated conversion efficiency of Si n-i-p solar cell is consistent with the reported researches. Therefore, these calculation results are valid in this work.

Nanocatalytic growth of Si nanowires from Ni silicate coated SiC nanoparticles on Si solar cell.

Science.gov (United States)

Parida, Bhaskar; Choi, Jaeho; Ji, Hyung Yong; Park, Seungil; Lim, Gyoungho; Kim, Keunjoo

2013-09-01

We investigated the nanocatalytic growth of Si nanowires on the microtextured surface of crystalline Si solar cell. 3C-SiC nanoparticles have been used as the base for formation of Ni silicate layer in a catalytic reaction with the Si melt under H2 atmosphere at an annealing temperature of 1100 degrees C. The 10-nm thick Ni film was deposited after the SiC nanoparticles were coated on the microtextured surface of the Si solar cell by electron-beam evaporation. SiC nanoparticles form a eutectic alloy surface of Ni silicate and provide the base for Si supersaturation as well as the Ni-Si alloy layer on Si substrate surface. This bottom reaction mode for the solid-liquid-solid growth mechanism using a SiC nanoparticle base provides more stable growth of nanowires than the top reaction mode growth mechanism in the absence of SiC nanoparticles. Thermally excited Ni nanoparticle forms the eutectic alloy and provides collectively excited electrons at the alloy surface, which reduces the activation energy of the nanocatalytic reaction for formation of nanowires.

Back scattering involving embedded silicon nitride (SiN) nanoparticles for c-Si solar cells

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Ghosh, Hemanta; Mitra, Suchismita; Siddiqui, M. S.; Saxena, A. K.; Chaudhuri, Partha; Saha, Hiranmay; Banerjee, Chandan

2018-04-01

A novel material, structure and method of synthesis for dielectric light trapping have been presented in this paper. First, the light scattering behaviour of silicon nitride nanoparticles have been theoretically studied in order to find the optimized size for dielectric back scattering by FDTD simulations from Lumerical Inc. The optical results have been used in electrical analysis and thereby, estimate the effect of nanoparticles on efficiency of the solar cells depending on substrate thickness. Experimentally, silicon nitride (SiN) nanoparticles have been formed using hydrogen plasma treatment on SiN layer deposited by Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapour Deposition (PECVD). The size and area coverage of the nanoparticles were controlled by varying the working pressure, power density and treatment duration. The nanoparticles were integrated with partial rear contact c-Si solar cells as dielectric back reflector structures for the light trapping in thin silicon solar cells. Experimental results revealed the increases of current density by 2.7% in presence of SiN nanoparticles.

Tuning the colors of c-Si solar cells by exploiting plasmonic effects

Science.gov (United States)

Peharz, G.; Grosschädl, B.; Prietl, C.; Waldhauser, W.; Wenzl, F. P.

2016-09-01

The color of a crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cell is mainly determined by its anti-reflective coating. This is a lambda/4 coating made from a transparent dielectric material. The thickness of the anti-reflective coating is optimized for maximal photocurrent generation, resulting in the typical blue or black colors of c-Si solar cells. However, for building-integrated photovoltaic (BiPV) applications the color of the solar cells is demanded to be tunable - ideally by a cheap and flexible coating process on standard (low cost) c-Si solar cells. Such a coating can be realized by applying plasmonic coloring which is a rapidly growing technology for high-quality color filtering and rendering for different fields of application (displays, imaging,…). In this contribution, we present results of an approach for tuning the color of standard industrial c-Si solar cells that is based on coating them with metallic nano-particles. In particular, thin films (green and brownish/red. The position of the resonance peak in the reflection spectrum was found to be almost independent from the angle of incidence. This low angular sensitivity is a clear advantage compared to alternative color tuning methods, for which additional dielectric thin films are deposited on c-Si solar cells.

Realization of Quasi-Omnidirectional Solar Cells with Superior Electrical Performance by All-Solution-Processed Si Nanopyramids.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhong, Sihua; Wang, Wenjie; Tan, Miao; Zhuang, Yufeng; Shen, Wenzhong

2017-11-01

Large-scale (156 mm × 156 mm) quasi-omnidirectional solar cells are successfully realized and featured by keeping high cell performance over broad incident angles (θ), via employing Si nanopyramids (SiNPs) as surface texture. SiNPs are produced by the proposed metal-assisted alkaline etching method, which is an all-solution-processed method and highly simple together with cost-effective. Interestingly, compared to the conventional Si micropyramids (SiMPs)-textured solar cells, the SiNPs-textured solar cells possess lower carrier recombination and thus superior electrical performances, showing notable distinctions from other Si nanostructures-textured solar cells. Furthermore, SiNPs-textured solar cells have very little drop of quantum efficiency with increasing θ, demonstrating the quasi-omnidirectional characteristic. As an overall result, both the SiNPs-textured homojunction and heterojunction solar cells possess higher daily electric energy production with a maximum relative enhancement approaching 2.5%, when compared to their SiMPs-textured counterparts. The quasi-omnidirectional solar cell opens a new opportunity for photovoltaics to produce more electric energy with a low cost.

Fast determination of the current loss mechanisms in textured crystalline Si-based solar cells

Science.gov (United States)

Nakane, Akihiro; Fujimoto, Shohei; Fujiwara, Hiroyuki

2017-11-01

A quite general device analysis method that allows the direct evaluation of optical and recombination losses in crystalline silicon (c-Si)-based solar cells has been developed. By applying this technique, the current loss mechanisms of the state-of-the-art solar cells with ˜20% efficiencies have been revealed. In the established method, the optical and electrical losses are characterized from the analysis of an experimental external quantum efficiency (EQE) spectrum with very low computational cost. In particular, we have performed the EQE analyses of textured c-Si solar cells by employing the experimental reflectance spectra obtained directly from the actual devices while using flat optical models without any fitting parameters. We find that the developed method provides almost perfect fitting to EQE spectra reported for various textured c-Si solar cells, including c-Si heterojunction solar cells, a dopant-free c-Si solar cell with a MoOx layer, and an n-type passivated emitter with rear locally diffused solar cell. The modeling of the recombination loss further allows the extraction of the minority carrier diffusion length and surface recombination velocity from the EQE analysis. Based on the EQE analysis results, the current loss mechanisms in different types of c-Si solar cells are discussed.

InGaP solar cell on Ge-on-Si virtual substrate for novel solar power conversion

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, T. W.; Albert, B. R.; Kimerling, L. C.; Michel, J.

2018-02-01

InGaP single-junction solar cells are grown on lattice-matched Ge-on-Si virtual substrates using metal-organic chemical vapor deposition. Optoelectronic simulation results indicate that the optimal collection length for InGaP single-junction solar cells with a carrier lifetime range of 2-5 ns is wider than approximately 1 μm. Electron beam-induced current measurements reveal that the threading dislocation density (TDD) of InGaP solar cells fabricated on Ge and Ge-on-Si substrates is in the range of 104-3 × 107 cm-2. We demonstrate that the open circuit voltage (Voc) of InGaP solar cells is not significantly influenced by TDDs less than 2 × 106 cm-2. Fabricated InGaP solar cells grown on a Ge-on-Si virtual substrate and a Ge substrate exhibit Voc in the range of 0.96 to 1.43 V under an equivalent illumination in the range of ˜0.5 Sun. The estimated efficiency of the InGaP solar cell fabricated on the Ge-on-Si virtual substrate (Ge substrate) at room temperature for the limited incident spectrum spanning the photon energy range of 1.9-2.4 eV varies from 16.6% to 34.3%.

GaAsP solar cells on GaP/Si with low threading dislocation density

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yaung, Kevin Nay; Vaisman, Michelle; Lang, Jordan; Lee, Minjoo Larry

2016-01-01

GaAsP on Si tandem cells represent a promising path towards achieving high efficiency while leveraging the Si solar knowledge base and low-cost infrastructure. However, dislocation densities exceeding 10"8 cm"−"2 in GaAsP cells on Si have historically hampered the efficiency of such approaches. Here, we report the achievement of low threading dislocation density values of 4.0–4.6 × 10"6 cm"−"2 in GaAsP solar cells on GaP/Si, comparable with more established metamorphic solar cells on GaAs. Our GaAsP solar cells on GaP/Si exhibit high open-circuit voltage and quantum efficiency, allowing them to significantly surpass the power conversion efficiency of previous devices. The results in this work show a realistic path towards dual-junction GaAsP on Si cells with efficiencies exceeding 30%.

Research on ZnO/Si heterojunction solar cells

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Chen, Li; Chen, Xinliang; Liu, Yiming; Zhao, Ying; Zhang, Xiaodan

2017-06-01

We put forward an n-ZnO/p-Si heterojunction solar cell model based on AFORS-HET simulations and provide experimental support in this article. ZnO:B (B-doped ZnO) thin films deposited by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) are planned to act as electrical emitter layer on p-type c-Si substrate for photovoltaic applications. We investigate the effects of thickness, buffer layer, ZnO:B affinity and work function of electrodes on performances of solar cells through computer simulations using AFORS-HET software package. The energy conversion efficiency of the ZnO:B(n)/ZnO/c-Si(p) solar cell can achieve 17.16% ({V}{oc}: 675.8 mV, {J}{sc}: 30.24 mA/cm2, FF: 83.96%) via simulation. On a basis of optimized conditions in simulation, we carry out some experiments, which testify that the ZnO buffer layer of 20 nm contributes to improving performances of solar cells. The influences of growth temperature, thickness and diborane (B2H6) flow rates are also discussed. We achieve an appropriate condition for the fabrication of the solar cells using the MOCVD technique. The obtained conversion efficiency reaches 2.82% ({V}{oc}: 294.4 mV, {J}{sc}: 26.108 mA/cm2, FF: 36.66%). Project supported by the State Key Development Program for Basic Research of China (Nos. 2011CBA00706, 2011CBA00707), the Tianjin Applied Basic Research Project and Cutting-Edge Technology Research Plan (No. 13JCZDJC26900), the Tianjin Major Science and Technology Support Project (No. 11TXSYGX22100), the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (No. 2013AA050302), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. 65010341).

Modeling Three-Terminal III-V/Si Tandem Solar Cells: Preprint

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Warren, Emily L.; Deceglie, Michael G.; Stradins, Paul; Tamboli, Adele C.

2017-06-27

Three-terminal (3T) tandem cells fabricated by combining an interdigitated back contact (IBC) Si device with a wider bandgap top cell have the potential to provide a robust operating mechanism to efficiently capture the solar spectrum without the need to current match sub-cells or fabricate complicated metal interconnects between cells. Here we develop a two dimensional device physics model to study the behavior of IBC Si solar cells operated in a 3T configuration. We investigate how different cell designs impact device performance and discuss the analysis protocol used to understand and optimize power produced from a single junction, 3T device.

A review on solar cells from Si-single crystals to porous materials and quantum dots.

Science.gov (United States)

Badawy, Waheed A

2015-03-01

Solar energy conversion to electricity through photovoltaics or to useful fuel through photoelectrochemical cells was still a main task for research groups and developments sectors. In this article we are reviewing the development of the different generations of solar cells. The fabrication of solar cells has passed through a large number of improvement steps considering the technological and economic aspects. The first generation solar cells were based on Si wafers, mainly single crystals. Permanent researches on cost reduction and improved solar cell efficiency have led to the marketing of solar modules having 12-16% solar conversion efficiency. Application of polycrystalline Si and other forms of Si have reduced the cost but on the expense of the solar conversion efficiency. The second generation solar cells were based on thin film technology. Thin films of amorphous Si, CIS (copper-indium-selenide) and t-Si were employed. Solar conversion efficiencies of about 12% have been achieved with a remarkable cost reduction. The third generation solar cells are based on nano-crystals and nano-porous materials. An advanced photovoltaic cell, originally developed for satellites with solar conversion efficiency of 37.3%, based on concentration of the solar spectrum up to 400 suns was developed. It is based on extremely thin concentration cells. New sensitizer or semiconductor systems are necessary to broaden the photo-response in solar spectrum. Hybrids of solar and conventional devices may provide an interim benefit in seeking economically valuable devices. New quantum dot solar cells based on CdSe-TiO2 architecture have been developed.

A review on solar cells from Si-single crystals to porous materials and quantum dots

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Waheed A. Badawy

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Solar energy conversion to electricity through photovoltaics or to useful fuel through photoelectrochemical cells was still a main task for research groups and developments sectors. In this article we are reviewing the development of the different generations of solar cells. The fabrication of solar cells has passed through a large number of improvement steps considering the technological and economic aspects. The first generation solar cells were based on Si wafers, mainly single crystals. Permanent researches on cost reduction and improved solar cell efficiency have led to the marketing of solar modules having 12–16% solar conversion efficiency. Application of polycrystalline Si and other forms of Si have reduced the cost but on the expense of the solar conversion efficiency. The second generation solar cells were based on thin film technology. Thin films of amorphous Si, CIS (copper–indium–selenide and t-Si were employed. Solar conversion efficiencies of about 12% have been achieved with a remarkable cost reduction. The third generation solar cells are based on nano-crystals and nano-porous materials. An advanced photovoltaic cell, originally developed for satellites with solar conversion efficiency of 37.3%, based on concentration of the solar spectrum up to 400 suns was developed. It is based on extremely thin concentration cells. New sensitizer or semiconductor systems are necessary to broaden the photo-response in solar spectrum. Hybrids of solar and conventional devices may provide an interim benefit in seeking economically valuable devices. New quantum dot solar cells based on CdSe–TiO2 architecture have been developed.

Design guideline for Si/organic hybrid solar cell with interdigitated back contact structure

Science.gov (United States)

Bimo Prakoso, Ari; Rusli; Li, Zeyu; Lu, Chenjin; Jiang, Changyun

2018-03-01

We study the design of Si/organic hybrid (SOH) solar cells with interdigitated back contact (IBC) structure. SOH solar cells formed between n-Si and poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene): polystyrenesulphonate (PEDOT:PSS) is a promising concept that combines the excellent electronic properties of Si with the solution-based processing advantage of an organic polymer. The IBC cell structure is employed to minimize parasitic absorption losses in the organic polymer, eliminate grid shadowing losses, and allow excellent passivation of the front Si surface in one step over a large area. The influence of Si thickness, doping concentration and contact geometry are simulated in this study to optimize the performance of the SOH-IBC solar cell. We found that a high power conversion efficiency of >20% can be achieved for optimized SOH-IBC cell based on a thin c-Si substrate of 40 μm thickness.

Comprehensive Study of SF_6/O_2 Plasma Etching for Mc-Silicon Solar Cells

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li Tao; Zhou Chun-Lan; Wang Wen-Jing

2016-01-01

The mask-free SF_6/O_2 plasma etching technique is used to produce surface texturization of mc-silicon solar cells for efficient light trapping in this work. The SEM images and mc-silicon etching rate show the influence of plasma power, SF_6/O_2 flow ratios and etching time on textured surface. With the acidic-texturing samples as a reference, the reflection and IQE spectra are obtained under different experimental conditions. The IQE spectrum measurement shows an evident increase in the visible and infrared responses. By using the optimized plasma power, SF_6/O_2 flow ratios and etching time, the optimal efficiency of 15.7% on 50 × 50 mm"2 reactive ion etching textured mc-silicon silicon solar cells is achieved, mostly due to the improvement in the short-circuit current density. The corresponding open-circuit voltage, short-circuit current density and fill factor are 611 mV, 33.6 mA/cm"2, 76.5%, respectively. It is believed that such a low-cost and high-performance texturization process is promising for large-scale industrial silicon solar cell manufacturing. (paper)

Tandem Solar Cells Using GaAs Nanowires on Si: Design, Fabrication, and Observation of Voltage Addition.

Science.gov (United States)

Yao, Maoqing; Cong, Sen; Arab, Shermin; Huang, Ningfeng; Povinelli, Michelle L; Cronin, Stephen B; Dapkus, P Daniel; Zhou, Chongwu

2015-11-11

Multijunction solar cells provide us a viable approach to achieve efficiencies higher than the Shockley-Queisser limit. Due to their unique optical, electrical, and crystallographic features, semiconductor nanowires are good candidates to achieve monolithic integration of solar cell materials that are not lattice-matched. Here, we report the first realization of nanowire-on-Si tandem cells with the observation of voltage addition of the GaAs nanowire top cell and the Si bottom cell with an open circuit voltage of 0.956 V and an efficiency of 11.4%. Our simulation showed that the current-matching condition plays an important role in the overall efficiency. Furthermore, we characterized GaAs nanowire arrays grown on lattice-mismatched Si substrates and estimated the carrier density using photoluminescence. A low-resistance connecting junction was obtained using n(+)-GaAs/p(+)-Si heterojunction. Finally, we demonstrated tandem solar cells based on top GaAs nanowire array solar cells grown on bottom planar Si solar cells. The reported nanowire-on-Si tandem cell opens up great opportunities for high-efficiency, low-cost multijunction solar cells.

Balance of optical, structural, and electrical properties of textured liquid phase crystallized Si solar cells

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Preidel, V., E-mail: veit.preidel@helmholtz-berlin.de; Amkreutz, D.; Haschke, J.; Wollgarten, M.; Rech, B.; Becker, C. [Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie GmbH, Division Renewable Energy, Kekuléstr. 5, 12489 Berlin (Germany)

2015-06-14

Liquid phase crystallized Si thin-film solar cells on nanoimprint textured glass substrates exhibiting two characteristic, but distinct different surface structures are presented. The impact of the substrate texture on light absorption, the structural Si material properties, and the resulting solar cell performance is analyzed. A pronounced periodic substrate texture with a vertical feature size of about 1 μm enables excellent light scattering and light trapping. However, it also gives rise to an enhanced Si crystal defect formation deteriorating the solar cell performance. In contrast, a random pattern with a low surface roughness of 45 nm allows for the growth of Si thin films being comparable to Si layers on planar reference substrates. Amorphous Si/crystalline Si heterojunction solar cells fabricated on the low-roughness texture exhibit a maximum open circuit voltage of 616 mV and internal quantum efficiency peak values exceeding 90%, resulting in an efficiency potential of 13.2%. This demonstrates that high quality crystalline Si thin films can be realized on nanoimprint patterned glass substrates by liquid phase crystallization inspiring the implementation of tailor-made nanophotonic light harvesting concepts into future liquid phase crystallized Si thin film solar cells on glass.

Influence of air exposure duration and a-Si capping layer thickness on the performance of p-BaSi2/n-Si heterojunction solar cells

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ryota Takabe

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Fabrication of p-BaSi2(20nm/n-Si heterojunction solar cells was performed with different a-Si capping layer thicknesses (da-Si and varying air exposure durations (tair prior to the formation of a 70-nm-thick indium-tin-oxide electrode. The conversion efficiencies (η reached approximately 4.7% regardless of tair (varying from 12–150 h for solar cells with da-Si = 5 nm. In contrast, η increased from 5.3 to 6.6% with increasing tair for those with da-Si = 2 nm, in contrast to our prediction. For this sample, the reverse saturation current density (J0 and diode ideality factor decreased with tair, resulting in the enhancement of η. The effects of the variation of da-Si (0.7, 2, 3, and 5 nm upon the solar cell performance were examined while keeping tair = 150 h. The η reached a maximum of 9.0% when da-Si was 3 nm, wherein the open-circuit voltage and fill factor also reached a maximum. The series resistance, shunt resistance, and J0 exhibited a tendency to decrease as da-Si increased. These results demonstrate that a moderate oxidation of BaSi2 is a very effective means to enhance the η of BaSi2 solar cells.

Study on the Fabrication of Paint-Type Si Quantum Dot-Sensitized Solar Cells

Science.gov (United States)

Seo, Hyunwoong; Son, Min-Kyu; Kim, Hee-Je; Wang, Yuting; Uchida, Giichiro; Kamataki, Kunihiro; Itagaki, Naho; Koga, Kazunori; Shiratani, Masaharu

2013-10-01

Quantum dots (QDs) have attracted much attention with their quantum characteristics in the research field of photochemical solar cells. Si QD was introduced as one of alternatives to conventional QD materials. However, their large particles could not penetrate inside TiO2 layer. Therefore, this work proposed the paint-type Si QD-sensitized solar cell. Its heat durability was suitable for the fabrication of paint-type solar cell. Si QDs were fabricated by multihollow discharge plasma chemical vapor deposition and characterized. The paste type, sintering temperature, and Si ratio were controlled and analyzed for better performance. Finally, its performance was enhanced by ZnS surface modification and the whole process was much simplified without sensitizing process.

Low cost sol–gel derived SiC–SiO{sub 2} nanocomposite as anti reflection layer for enhanced performance of crystalline silicon solar cells

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jannat, Azmira [School of Semiconductor and Chemical Engineering, Solar Energy Research Center, Chonbuk National University, Jeonju, Jeonbuk 54896 (Korea, Republic of); Solar Energy Engineering, Chonbuk National University, Jeonju, Jeonbuk 54896 (Korea, Republic of); Lee, Woojin [School of Semiconductor and Chemical Engineering, Solar Energy Research Center, Chonbuk National University, Jeonju, Jeonbuk 54896 (Korea, Republic of); Akhtar, M. Shaheer, E-mail: shaheerakhtar@jbnu.ac.kr [School of Semiconductor and Chemical Engineering, Solar Energy Research Center, Chonbuk National University, Jeonju, Jeonbuk 54896 (Korea, Republic of); New & Renewable Energy Materials Development Center (NewREC), Chonbuk National University, Jeonbuk (Korea, Republic of); Li, Zhen Yu [School of Semiconductor and Chemical Engineering, Solar Energy Research Center, Chonbuk National University, Jeonju, Jeonbuk 54896 (Korea, Republic of); Yang, O.-Bong, E-mail: obyang@jbnu.ac.kr [School of Semiconductor and Chemical Engineering, Solar Energy Research Center, Chonbuk National University, Jeonju, Jeonbuk 54896 (Korea, Republic of); New & Renewable Energy Materials Development Center (NewREC), Chonbuk National University, Jeonbuk (Korea, Republic of)

2016-04-30

Graphical abstract: - Highlights: • Sol–gel derived SiC–SiO{sub 2} nanocomposite was prepared. • It effectively coated as AR layer on p-type Si-wafer. • SiC–SiO{sub 2} layer on Si solar cells exhibited relatively low reflectance of 7.08%. • Fabricated Si solar cell attained highly comparable performance of 16.99% to commercial device. - Abstract: This paper describes the preparation, characterizations and the antireflection (AR) coating application in crystalline silicon solar cells of sol–gel derived SiC–SiO{sub 2} nanocomposite. The prepared SiC–SiO{sub 2} nanocomposite was effectively applied as AR layer on p-type Si-wafer via two step processes, where the sol–gel of precursor solution was first coated on p-type Si-wafer using spin coating at 2000 rpm and then subjected to annealing at 450 °C for 1 h. The crystalline, and structural observations revealed the existence of SiC and SiO{sub 2} phases, which noticeably confirmed the formation of SiC–SiO{sub 2} nanocomposite. The SiC–SiO{sub 2} layer on Si solar cells was found to be an excellent AR coating, exhibiting the low reflectance of 7.08% at wavelengths ranging from 400 to 1000 nm. The fabricated crystalline Si solar cell with SiC–SiO{sub 2} nanocomposite AR coating showed comparable power conversion efficiency of 16.99% to the conventional Si{sub x}N{sub x} AR coated Si solar cell. New and effective sol–gel derived SiC–SiO{sub 2} AR layer would offer a promising technique to produce high performance Si solar cells with low-cost.

Passivation of Si solar cells by hetero-epitaxial compound semiconductor coatings

Science.gov (United States)

Vernon, S. M.; Spitzer, M. B.; Keavney, C. J.; Haven, V. E.; Sekula, P. A.

1986-01-01

A development status evaluation is made for high efficiency Si solar cells, with emphasis on the suppression of the deleterious effects of surface recombination. ZnS(0.9)Se(0.1) and GaP are identified as candidates for the reduction of surface recombination. Attention is given to methods developed for the deposition of heteroepitaxial compounds designed to block minority carrier transport to the Si solar cell surface without interfering with the majority carrier flow.

Characteristics of photocurrent generation in the near-ultraviolet region in Si quantum-dot sensitized solar cells

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Uchida, Giichiro; Sato, Muneharu; Seo, Hyunwoong; Kamataki, Kunihiro; Itagaki, Naho; Koga, Kazunori; Shiratani, Masaharu

2013-01-01

We have studied photocurrent generation in Si quantum-dot (QD) sensitized solar cells, where QD thin films composed of Si nanoparticles were deposited using the double multi-hollow discharge plasma chemical vapor deposition process in an SiH 4 /H 2 and CH 4 or N 2 gas mixture. The short-circuit current density of the Si QD sensitized solar cells increases by a factor of 2.5 by using Si nanoparticles prepared by irradiation of CH 4 or N 2 plasma onto the Si nanoparticle surface. We have measured incident photon-to-current conversion efficiency (IPCE) in the near-ultraviolet range using quartz-glass front panels of the QD sensitized solar cells. With decreasing the wavelength of irradiation light, IPCE gradually increases upon light irradiation in a wavelength range less than about 600 nm, and then steeply increases below 300 nm, corresponding to 2.2 times the optical band-gap energy of Si QD film. - Highlights: • We have developed on Si quantum-dot sensitized solar cells using Si particles. • Current of solar cells increases by surface-termination of Si particles. • Incident photo-to-current conversion efficiency increases below 300 nm

Three-dimensional imaging for precise structural control of Si quantum dot networks for all-Si solar cells

Science.gov (United States)

Kourkoutis, Lena F.; Hao, Xiaojing; Huang, Shujuan; Puthen-Veettil, Binesh; Conibeer, Gavin; Green, Martin A.; Perez-Wurfl, Ivan

2013-07-01

All-Si tandem solar cells based on Si quantum dots (QDs) are a promising approach to future high-performance, thin film solar cells using abundant, stable and non-toxic materials. An important prerequisite to achieve a high conversion efficiency in such cells is the ability to control the geometry of the Si QD network. This includes the ability to control both, the size and arrangement of Si QDs embedded in a higher bandgap matrix. Using plasmon tomography we show the size, shape and density of Si QDs, that form in Si rich oxide (SRO)/SiO2 multilayers upon annealing, can be controlled by varying the SRO stoichiometry. Smaller, more spherical QDs of higher densities are obtained at lower Si concentrations. In richer SRO layers ellipsoidal QDs tend to form. Using electronic structure calculations within the effective mass approximation we show that ellipsoidal QDs give rise to reduced inter-QD coupling in the layer. Efficient carrier transport via mini-bands is in this case more likely across the multilayers provided the SiO2 spacer layer is thin enough to allow coupling in the vertical direction.All-Si tandem solar cells based on Si quantum dots (QDs) are a promising approach to future high-performance, thin film solar cells using abundant, stable and non-toxic materials. An important prerequisite to achieve a high conversion efficiency in such cells is the ability to control the geometry of the Si QD network. This includes the ability to control both, the size and arrangement of Si QDs embedded in a higher bandgap matrix. Using plasmon tomography we show the size, shape and density of Si QDs, that form in Si rich oxide (SRO)/SiO2 multilayers upon annealing, can be controlled by varying the SRO stoichiometry. Smaller, more spherical QDs of higher densities are obtained at lower Si concentrations. In richer SRO layers ellipsoidal QDs tend to form. Using electronic structure calculations within the effective mass approximation we show that ellipsoidal QDs give rise to

Realizing a facile and environmental-friendly fabrication of high-performance multi-crystalline silicon solar cells by employing ZnO nanostructures and an Al2O3 passivation layer

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Hong-Yan; Lu, Hong-Liang; Sun, Long; Ren, Qing-Hua; Zhang, Hao; Ji, Xin-Ming; Liu, Wen-Jun; Ding, Shi-Jin; Yang, Xiao-Feng; Zhang, David Wei

2016-01-01

Nowadays, the multi-crystalline silicon (mc-Si) solar cells dominate the photovoltaic industry. However, the current acid etching method on mc-Si surface used by firms can hardly suppress the average reflectance value below 25% in the visible light spectrum. Meanwhile, the nitric acid and the hydrofluoric contained in the etching solution is both environmental unfriendly and highly toxic to human. Here, a mc-Si solar cell based on ZnO nanostructures and an Al2O3 spacer layer is demonstrated. The eco-friendly fabrication is realized by low temperature atomic layer deposition of Al2O3 layer as well as ZnO seed layer. Moreover, the ZnO nanostructures are prepared by nontoxic and low cost hydro-thermal growth process. Results show that the best passivation quality of the n+ -type mc-Si surface can be achieved by balancing the Si dangling bond saturation level and the negative charge concentration in the Al2O3 film. Moreover, the average reflectance on cell surface can be suppressed to 8.2% in 400–900 nm range by controlling the thickness of ZnO seed layer. With these two combined refinements, a maximum solar cell efficiency of 15.8% is obtained eventually. This work offer a facile way to realize the environmental friendly fabrication of high performance mc-Si solar cells. PMID:27924911

Rear-Sided Passivation by SiNx:H Dielectric Layer for Improved Si/PEDOT:PSS Hybrid Heterojunction Solar Cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Yiling; Gao, Pingqi; He, Jian; Zhou, Suqiong; Ying, Zhiqin; Yang, Xi; Xiang, Yong; Ye, Jichun

2016-12-01

Silicon/organic hybrid solar cells have recently attracted great attention because they combine the advantages of silicon (Si) and the organic cells. In this study, we added a patterned passivation layer of silicon nitride (SiNx:H) onto the rear surface of the Si substrate in a Si/poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) ( PSS) hybrid solar cell, enabling an improvement of 0.6 % in the power conversion efficiency (PCE). The addition of the SiNx:H layer boosted the open circuit voltage (V oc) from 0.523 to 0.557 V, suggesting the well-passivation property of the patterned SiNx:H thin layer that was created by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition and lithography processes. The passivation properties that stemmed from front PSS, rear-SiNx:H, front PSS/rear-SiNx:H, etc. are thoroughly investigated, in consideration of the process-related variations.

Characteristics of photocurrent generation in the near-ultraviolet region in Si quantum-dot sensitized solar cells

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Uchida, Giichiro, E-mail: uchida@ed.kyushu-u.ac.jp [Graduate School of Information Science and Electrical Engineering, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 819-0395 (Japan); Sato, Muneharu; Seo, Hyunwoong [Graduate School of Information Science and Electrical Engineering, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 819-0395 (Japan); Kamataki, Kunihiro [Faculty of Arts and Science, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 819-0395 (Japan); Itagaki, Naho [Graduate School of Information Science and Electrical Engineering, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 819-0395 (Japan); PRESTO, Japan Science and Technology Agency, Tokyo 102-0075 (Japan); Koga, Kazunori; Shiratani, Masaharu [Graduate School of Information Science and Electrical Engineering, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 819-0395 (Japan)

2013-10-01

We have studied photocurrent generation in Si quantum-dot (QD) sensitized solar cells, where QD thin films composed of Si nanoparticles were deposited using the double multi-hollow discharge plasma chemical vapor deposition process in an SiH{sub 4}/H{sub 2} and CH{sub 4} or N{sub 2} gas mixture. The short-circuit current density of the Si QD sensitized solar cells increases by a factor of 2.5 by using Si nanoparticles prepared by irradiation of CH{sub 4} or N{sub 2} plasma onto the Si nanoparticle surface. We have measured incident photon-to-current conversion efficiency (IPCE) in the near-ultraviolet range using quartz-glass front panels of the QD sensitized solar cells. With decreasing the wavelength of irradiation light, IPCE gradually increases upon light irradiation in a wavelength range less than about 600 nm, and then steeply increases below 300 nm, corresponding to 2.2 times the optical band-gap energy of Si QD film. - Highlights: • We have developed on Si quantum-dot sensitized solar cells using Si particles. • Current of solar cells increases by surface-termination of Si particles. • Incident photo-to-current conversion efficiency increases below 300 nm.

18.4%-Efficient Heterojunction Si Solar Cells Using Optimized ITO/Top Electrode.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Namwoo; Um, Han-Don; Choi, Inwoo; Kim, Ka-Hyun; Seo, Kwanyong

2016-05-11

We optimize the thickness of a transparent conducting oxide (TCO) layer, and apply a microscale mesh-pattern metal electrode for high-efficiency a-Si/c-Si heterojunction solar cells. A solar cell equipped with the proposed microgrid metal electrode demonstrates a high short-circuit current density (JSC) of 40.1 mA/cm(2), and achieves a high efficiency of 18.4% with an open-circuit voltage (VOC) of 618 mV and a fill factor (FF) of 74.1% as result of the shortened carrier path length and the decreased electrode area of the microgrid metal electrode. Furthermore, by optimizing the process sequence for electrode formation, we are able to effectively restore the reduction in VOC that occurs during the microgrid metal electrode formation process. This work is expected to become a fundamental study that can effectively improve current loss in a-Si/c-Si heterojunction solar cells through the optimization of transparent and metal electrodes.

Performance Improvement of Microcrystalline p-SiC/i-Si/n-Si Thin Film Solar Cells by Using Laser-Assisted Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hsin-Ying Lee

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The microcrystalline p-SiC/i-Si/n-Si thin film solar cells treated with hydrogen plasma were fabricated at low temperature using a CO2 laser-assisted plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (LAPECVD system. According to the micro-Raman results, the i-Si films shifted from 482 cm−1 to 512 cm−1 as the assisting laser power increased from 0 W to 80 W, which indicated a gradual transformation from amorphous to crystalline Si. From X-ray diffraction (XRD results, the microcrystalline i-Si films with (111, (220, and (311 diffraction were obtained. Compared with the Si-based thin film solar cells deposited without laser assistance, the short-circuit current density and the power conversion efficiency of the solar cells with assisting laser power of 80 W were improved from 14.38 mA/cm2 to 18.16 mA/cm2 and from 6.89% to 8.58%, respectively.

Enhancement of photovoltaic properties of multicrystalline silicon solar cells by combination of buried metallic contacts and thin porous silicon

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ben Rabha, M.; Bessais, B. [Laboratoire de Photovoltaique, Centre de Recherches et des Technologies de l' Energie, Technopole de Borj-Cedria, BP 95, 2050 Hammam-Lif (Tunisia)

2010-03-15

Photovoltaic properties of buried metallic contacts (BMCs) with and without application of a front porous silicon (PS) layer on multicrystalline silicon (mc-Si) solar cells were investigated. A Chemical Vapor Etching (CVE) method was used to perform front PS layer and BMCs of mc-Si solar cells. Good electrical performance for the mc-Si solar cells was observed after combination of BMCs and thin PS films. As a result the current-voltage (I-V) characteristics and the internal quantum efficiency (IQE) were improved, and the effective minority carrier diffusion length (Ln) increases from 75 to 110 {mu}m after BMCs achievement. The reflectivity was reduced to 8% in the 450-950 nm wavelength range. This simple and low cost technology induces a 12% conversion efficiency (surface area = 3.2 cm{sup 2}). The obtained results indicate that the BMCs improve charge carrier collection while the PS layer passivates the front surface. (author)

Above-CMOS a-Si and CIGS Solar Cells for Powering Autonomous Microsystems

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lu, J.; Liu, W.; van der Werf, C.H.M.; Kovalgin, A.Y.; Sun, Y.; Schropp, R.E.I.; Schmitz, J.

2010-01-01

Two types of solar cells are successfully grown on chips from two CMOS generations. The efficiency of amorphous-silicon (a-Si) solar cells reaches 5.2%, copperindium-gallium-selenide (CIGS) cells 7.1%. CMOS functionality is unaffected. The main integration issues: adhesion, surface topography, metal

Limiting efficiency of generalized realistic c-Si solar cells coupled to ideal up-converters

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, Craig M.; Conibeer, Gavin J.

2012-11-01

The detailed balance model of photovoltaic up-conversion is revised for the specific case of a c-Si solar cell under the AM1.5G solar spectrum. The limiting efficiency of an ideal solar cell with a band gap of 1.117 eV may be increased from approximately 33% to 40% with ideal up-conversion. However, real solar cells do not demonstrate the step-function absorption characteristic assumed in the standard detailed balance model. Here, we use tabulated Si refractive index data to develop a generalized model of a realistic conventional c-Si solar cell. The model incorporates optical design and material parameters such as free carrier absorption that have a non-trivial impact on the operation of the up-conversion layer. While these modifications are shown to decrease the absolute limiting efficiency, the benefit of up-conversion is shown to be relatively greater.

Influence of intermediate layers on the surface condition of laser crystallized silicon thin films and solar cell performance

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Höger, Ingmar, E-mail: ingmar.hoeger@ipht-jena.de; Gawlik, Annett; Brückner, Uwe; Andrä, Gudrun [Leibniz-Institut für Photonische Technologien, PF 100239, 07702 Jena (Germany); Himmerlich, Marcel; Krischok, Stefan [Institut für Mikro-und Nanotechnologien, Technische Universität Ilmenau, PF 100565, 98684 Ilmenau (Germany)

2016-01-28

The intermediate layer (IL) between glass substrate and silicon plays a significant role in the optimization of multicrystalline liquid phase crystallized silicon thin film solar cells on glass. This study deals with the influence of the IL on the surface condition and the required chemical surface treatment of the crystallized silicon (mc-Si), which is of particular interest for a-Si:H heterojunction thin film solar cells. Two types of IL were investigated: sputtered silicon nitride (SiN) and a layer stack consisting of silicon nitride and silicon oxide (SiN/SiO). X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements revealed the formation of silicon oxynitride (SiO{sub x}N{sub y}) or silicon oxide (SiO{sub 2}) layers at the surface of the mc-Si after liquid phase crystallization on SiN or SiN/SiO, respectively. We propose that SiO{sub x}N{sub y} formation is governed by dissolving nitrogen from the SiN layer in the silicon melt, which segregates at the crystallization front during crystallization. This process is successfully hindered, when additional SiO layers are introduced into the IL. In order to achieve solar cell open circuit voltages above 500 mV, a removal of the formed SiO{sub x}N{sub y} top layer is required using sophisticated cleaning of the crystallized silicon prior to a-Si:H deposition. However, solar cells crystallized on SiN/SiO yield high open circuit voltage even when a simple wet chemical surface treatment is applied. The implementation of SiN/SiO intermediate layers facilitates the production of mesa type solar cells with open circuit voltages above 600 mV and a power conversion efficiency of 10%.

Impacts of Post-metallisation Processes on the Electrical and Photovoltaic Properties of Si Quantum Dot Solar Cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Di, Dawei; Perez-Wurfl, Ivan; Gentle, Angus; Kim, Dong-Ho; Hao, Xiaojing; Shi, Lei; Conibeer, Gavin; Green, Martin A

2010-08-01

As an important step towards the realisation of silicon-based tandem solar cells using silicon quantum dots embedded in a silicon dioxide (SiO(2)) matrix, single-junction silicon quantum dot (Si QD) solar cells on quartz substrates have been fabricated. The total thickness of the solar cell material is 420 nm. The cells contain 4 nm diameter Si quantum dots. The impacts of post-metallisation treatments such as phosphoric acid (H(3)PO(4)) etching, nitrogen (N(2)) gas anneal and forming gas (Ar: H(2)) anneal on the cells' electrical and photovoltaic properties are investigated. The Si QD solar cells studied in this work have achieved an open circuit voltage of 410 mV after various processes. Parameters extracted from dark I-V, light I-V and circular transfer length measurement (CTLM) suggest limiting mechanism in the Si QD solar cell operation and possible approaches for further improvement.

Efficiency improvement of multicrystalline silicon solar cells after surface and grain boundaries passivation using vanadium oxide

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Derbali, L., E-mail: rayan.slat@yahoo.fr [Photovoltaiec Laboratory, Research and Technology Center of Energy, Technopole de Borj-Cedria, BP 95, Hammam-Lif 2050 (Tunisia); Ezzaouia, H. [Photovoltaiec Laboratory, Research and Technology Center of Energy, Technopole de Borj-Cedria, BP 95, Hammam-Lif 2050 (Tunisia)

2012-08-01

Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Evaporation of vanadium pentoxide onto the front surface leads to reduce the surface reflectivity considerably. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer An efficient surface passivation can be obtained after thermal treatment of obtained films. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Efficiency of the obtained solar cells has been improved noticeably after thermal treatment of deposited thin films. - Abstract: The aim of this work is to investigate the effect of vanadium oxide deposition onto the front surface of multicrystalline silicon (mc-Si) substrat, without any additional cost in the fabrication process and leading to an efficient surface and grain boundaries (GBs) passivation that have not been reported before. The lowest reflectance of mc-Si coated with vanadium oxide film of 9% was achieved by annealing the deposited film at 600 Degree-Sign C. Vanadium pentoxide (V{sub 2}O{sub 5}) were thermally evaporated onto the surface of mc-Si substrates, followed by a short annealing duration at a temperature ranging between 600 Degree-Sign C and 800 Degree-Sign C, under O{sub 2} atmosphere. The chemical composition of the films was analyzed by means of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Surface and cross-section morphology were determined by atomic force microscope (AFM) and a scanning electron microscope (SEM), respectively. The deposited vanadium oxide thin films make the possibility of combining in one processing step an antireflection coating deposition along with efficient surface state passivation, as compared to a reference wafer. Silicon solar cells based on untreated and treated mc-Si wafers were achieved. We showed that mc-silicon solar cells, subjected to the above treatment, have better short circuit currents and open-circuit voltages than those made from untreated wafers. Thus, the efficiency of obtained solar cells has been improved.

Efficiency improvement of multicrystalline silicon solar cells after surface and grain boundaries passivation using vanadium oxide

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Derbali, L.; Ezzaouia, H.

2012-01-01

Highlights: ► Evaporation of vanadium pentoxide onto the front surface leads to reduce the surface reflectivity considerably. ► An efficient surface passivation can be obtained after thermal treatment of obtained films. ► Efficiency of the obtained solar cells has been improved noticeably after thermal treatment of deposited thin films. - Abstract: The aim of this work is to investigate the effect of vanadium oxide deposition onto the front surface of multicrystalline silicon (mc-Si) substrat, without any additional cost in the fabrication process and leading to an efficient surface and grain boundaries (GBs) passivation that have not been reported before. The lowest reflectance of mc-Si coated with vanadium oxide film of 9% was achieved by annealing the deposited film at 600 °C. Vanadium pentoxide (V 2 O 5 ) were thermally evaporated onto the surface of mc-Si substrates, followed by a short annealing duration at a temperature ranging between 600 °C and 800 °C, under O 2 atmosphere. The chemical composition of the films was analyzed by means of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Surface and cross-section morphology were determined by atomic force microscope (AFM) and a scanning electron microscope (SEM), respectively. The deposited vanadium oxide thin films make the possibility of combining in one processing step an antireflection coating deposition along with efficient surface state passivation, as compared to a reference wafer. Silicon solar cells based on untreated and treated mc-Si wafers were achieved. We showed that mc-silicon solar cells, subjected to the above treatment, have better short circuit currents and open-circuit voltages than those made from untreated wafers. Thus, the efficiency of obtained solar cells has been improved.

Influence of air exposure duration and a-Si capping layer thickness on the performance of p-BaSi{sub 2}/n-Si heterojunction solar cells

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Takabe, Ryota; Yachi, Suguru; Tsukahara, Daichi; Takeuchi, Hiroki; Toko, Kaoru; Suemasu, Takashi, E-mail: suemasu@bk.tsukuba.ac.jp [Institute of Applied Physics, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8573 (Japan); Du, Weijie [Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Material and Device, College of Mathematics and Science, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai 200234 (China)

2016-08-15

Fabrication of p-BaSi{sub 2}(20 nm)/n-Si heterojunction solar cells was performed with different a-Si capping layer thicknesses (d{sub a-Si}) and varying air exposure durations (t{sub air}) prior to the formation of a 70-nm-thick indium-tin-oxide electrode. The conversion efficiencies (η) reached approximately 4.7% regardless of t{sub air} (varying from 12–150 h) for solar cells with d{sub a-Si} = 5 nm. In contrast, η increased from 5.3 to 6.6% with increasing t{sub air} for those with d{sub a-Si} = 2 nm, in contrast to our prediction. For this sample, the reverse saturation current density (J{sub 0}) and diode ideality factor decreased with t{sub air}, resulting in the enhancement of η. The effects of the variation of d{sub a-Si} (0.7, 2, 3, and 5 nm) upon the solar cell performance were examined while keeping t{sub air} = 150 h. The η reached a maximum of 9.0% when d{sub a-Si} was 3 nm, wherein the open-circuit voltage and fill factor also reached a maximum. The series resistance, shunt resistance, and J{sub 0} exhibited a tendency to decrease as d{sub a-Si} increased. These results demonstrate that a moderate oxidation of BaSi{sub 2} is a very effective means to enhance the η of BaSi{sub 2} solar cells.

Three-dimensional imaging for precise structural control of Si quantum dot networks for all-Si solar cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Kourkoutis, Lena F; Hao, Xiaojing; Huang, Shujuan; Puthen-Veettil, Binesh; Conibeer, Gavin; Green, Martin A; Perez-Wurfl, Ivan

2013-08-21

All-Si tandem solar cells based on Si quantum dots (QDs) are a promising approach to future high-performance, thin film solar cells using abundant, stable and non-toxic materials. An important prerequisite to achieve a high conversion efficiency in such cells is the ability to control the geometry of the Si QD network. This includes the ability to control both, the size and arrangement of Si QDs embedded in a higher bandgap matrix. Using plasmon tomography we show the size, shape and density of Si QDs, that form in Si rich oxide (SRO)/SiO2 multilayers upon annealing, can be controlled by varying the SRO stoichiometry. Smaller, more spherical QDs of higher densities are obtained at lower Si concentrations. In richer SRO layers ellipsoidal QDs tend to form. Using electronic structure calculations within the effective mass approximation we show that ellipsoidal QDs give rise to reduced inter-QD coupling in the layer. Efficient carrier transport via mini-bands is in this case more likely across the multilayers provided the SiO2 spacer layer is thin enough to allow coupling in the vertical direction.

Variation in the Optical Properties of the SiC-SiO2 Composite Antireflection Layer in Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells by Annealing

Science.gov (United States)

Jannat, Azmira; Li, Zhen Yu; Akhter, M. Shaheer; Yang, O.-Bong

2017-11-01

This study showed the effects of annealing on a sol-gel-derived SiC-SiO2 composite antireflection (AR) layer and investigated the optical and photovoltaic properties of crystalline silicon (Si) solar cells. The SiC-SiO2 composite AR coating showed a considerable decrease in reflectance from 7.18% to 3.23% at varying annealing temperatures of 450-800°C. The refractive indices of the SiC-SiO2 composite AR layer were tuned from 2.06 to 2.45 with the increase in annealing temperature. The analysis of the current density-voltage characteristics indicated that the energy conversion efficiencies of the fabricated Si solar cells gradually increased from 16.99% to 17.73% with increasing annealing temperatures of 450-800°C. The annealing of the SiC-SiO2 composite AR layer in Si solar cells was crucial to improving the optical, morphological, and photovoltaic properties.

Characterization of Nanocrystalline SiGe Thin Film Solar Cell with Double Graded-Dead Absorption Layer

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chao-Chun Wang

2012-01-01

Full Text Available The nanocrystalline silicon-germanium (nc-SiGe thin films were deposited by high-frequency (27.12 MHz plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (HF-PECVD. The films were used in a silicon-based thin film solar cell with graded-dead absorption layer. The characterization of the nc-SiGe films are analyzed by scanning electron microscopy, UV-visible spectroscopy, and Fourier transform infrared absorption spectroscopy. The band gap of SiGe alloy can be adjusted between 0.8 and 1.7 eV by varying the gas ratio. For thin film solar cell application, using double graded-dead i-SiGe layers mainly leads to an increase in short-circuit current and therefore cell conversion efficiency. An initial conversion efficiency of 5.06% and the stabilized efficiency of 4.63% for an nc-SiGe solar cell were achieved.

Impact of porous SiC-doped PVA based LDS layer on electrical parameters of Si solar cells

Science.gov (United States)

Kaci, S.; Rahmoune, R.; Kezzoula, F.; Boudiaf, Y.; Keffous, A.; Manseri, A.; Menari, H.; Cheraga, H.; Guerbous, L.; Belkacem, Y.; Chalal, R.; Bozetine, I.; Boukezzata, A.; Talbi, L.; Benfadel, K.; Ouadfel, M.-A.; Ouadah, Y.

2018-06-01

Nowadays, the advanced photon management is regarded as an area of intensive research investment. Ever since the most widely used commercial photovoltaic cells are fabricated with single gap semiconductors like silicon, photon management has offered opportunities to make better use of the photons, both inside and outside the single junction window. In this study, the impact of new down shifting layer on the photoelectrical parameters of silicon based solar cell was studied. An effort to enhance the photovoltaic performance of textured silicon solar cells through the application of porous SiC particles-doped polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) layers using the spin-coating technique, is reported. Current-voltage curves under artificial illumination were used to confirm the contribution of LDS (SiC-PVA) thin layers. Experiment results revealed that LDS based on SiC particles which were etched in HF/K2S2O8 solution at T = 80 °C under UV light of 254 nm exhibited the best solar cell photoelectrical parameters due to its strong photoluminescence.

Fast Pulling of n-Type Si Ingots for Enhanced Si Solar Cell Production

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Kwanghun; Park, Sanghyun; Park, Jaechang; Pang, Ilsun; Ryu, Sangwoo; Oh, Jihun

2018-03-01

Reducing the manufacturing costs of silicon substrates is an important issue in the silicon-based solar cell industry. In this study, we developed a high-throughput ingot growth method by accelerating the pulling speed in the Czochralski process. By controlling the heat flow of the ingot growth chamber and at the solid-liquid interfaces, the pulling speed of an ingot could be increased by 15% compared to the conventional method, while retaining high quality. The wafer obtained at a high pulling speed showed an enhanced minority carrier lifetime compared with conventional wafers, due to the vacancy passivation effect, and also demonstrated comparable bulk resistivity and impurities. The results in this work are expected to open a new way to enhance the productivity of Si wafers used for Si solar cells, and therefore, to reduce the overall manufacturing cost.

Tuning back contact property via artificial interface dipoles in Si/organic hybrid solar cells

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wang, Dan [Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningbo 315201 (China); Department of Physics and Institute of Solid-state electronics physical, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211 (China); Sheng, Jiang, E-mail: shengjiang@nimte.ac.cn; Wu, Sudong; Zhu, Juye; Chen, Shaojie; Gao, Pingqi; Ye, Jichun, E-mail: jichun.ye@nimte.ac.cn [Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningbo 315201 (China)

2016-07-25

Back contact property plays a key role in the charge collection efficiency of c-Si/poly(3,4-ethylthiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) hybrid solar cells (Si-HSCs), as an alternative for the high-efficiency and low-cost photovoltaic devices. In this letter, we utilize the water soluble poly (ethylene oxide) (PEO) to modify the Al/Si interface to be an Ohmic contact via interface dipole tuning, decreasing the work function of the Al film. This Ohmic contact improves the electron collection efficiency of the rear electrode, increasing the short circuit current density (J{sub sc}). Furthermore, the interface dipoles make the band bending downward to increase the total barrier height of built-in electric field of the solar cell, enhancing the open circuit voltage (V{sub oc}). The PEO solar cell exhibits an excellent performance, 12.29% power conversion efficiency, a 25.28% increase from the reference solar cell without a PEO interlayer. The simple and water soluble method as a promising alternative is used to develop the interfacial contact quality of the rear electrode for the high photovoltaic performance of Si-HSCs.

Investigation of the characteristics of multicrystalline silicon for solar cell production: Defects in crystalline silicon (DIXSI). Final report; Verbesserung des Materialverstaendnisses von multikristallinem Silicium fuer Solarzellen: Defekte in kristallinem Silicium (DIXSI). Abschlussbericht

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Eyer, A. [Fraunhofer-Institut fuer Solare Energiesysteme (ISE), Freiburg im Breisgau (Germany); Kittler, M. [Institut fuer Halbleiterphysik GmbH, Frankfurt an der Oder (Germany); Wolf, E. [Institut fuer Kristallzuechtung im Forschungsverbund Berlin e.V. (IKZ) (Germany); Breitenstein, O. [Max-Planck-Institut fuer Mikrostrukturphysik, Halle/Saale (Germany); Schulz, M.; Pensl, G.; Strunk, H.P. [Erlangen-Nuernberg Univ., Erlangen (Germany). Inst. fuer Werkstoffwissenschaften; Schroeter, W. [Goettingen Univ. (Germany). 4. Physikalisches Inst. - Halbleiterphysik; Gottschalk, H. [Koeln Univ. (Germany). 2. Physikalisches Inst.; Moeller, H.J. [Technische Univ. Bergakademie Freiberg (Germany). Inst. fuer Experimentelle Physik

1997-02-01

The report describes trends and advances in the fabrication of solar cells from silicon. The investigations were restricted to mc-Si and GZ-Si wafers from German producers and on solar cells made from these. (HW) [Deutsch] Der Bericht beschreibt die Entwicklung und die Fortschritte bei der Fabrikation von Siliziumsolarzellen. Die Untersuchungen wurden auf mc-Si und GZ-Si-Scheiben deutscher Hersteller und auf daraus von der deutschen Industrie gefertigte Solarzellen beschraenkt. (HW)

High-Performance Black Multicrystalline Silicon Solar Cells by a Highly Simplified Metal-Catalyzed Chemical Etching Method

KAUST Repository

Ying, Zhiqin

2016-05-20

A wet-chemical surface texturing technique, including a two-step metal-catalyzed chemical etching (MCCE) and an extra alkaline treatment, has been proven as an efficient way to fabricate high-efficiency black multicrystalline (mc) silicon solar cells, whereas it is limited by the production capacity and the cost cutting due to the complicated process. Here, we demonstrated that with careful control of the composition in etching solution, low-aspect-ratio bowl-like nanostructures with atomically smooth surfaces could be directly achieved by improved one-step MCCE and with no posttreatment, like alkali solution. The doublet surface texture of implementing this nanobowl structure upon the industrialized acidic-textured surface showed concurrent improvement in optical and electrical properties for realizing 18.23% efficiency mc-Si solar cells (156 mm × 156 mm), which is sufficiently higher than 17.7% of the solely acidic-textured cells in the same batch. The one-step MCCE method demonstrated in this study may provide a cost-effective way to manufacture high-performance mc-Si solar cells for the present photovoltaic industry. © 2016 IEEE.

The influence of passivation and photovoltaic properties of α-Si:H coverage on silicon nanowire array solar cells

Science.gov (United States)

2013-01-01

Silicon nanowire (SiNW) arrays for radial p-n junction solar cells offer potential advantages of light trapping effects and quick charge collection. Nevertheless, lower open circuit voltages (Voc) lead to lower energy conversion efficiencies. In such cases, the performance of the solar cells depends critically on the quality of the SiNW interfaces. In this study, SiNW core-shell solar cells have been fabricated by growing crystalline silicon (c-Si) nanowires via the metal-assisted chemical etching method and by depositing hydrogenated amorphous silicon (α-Si:H) via the plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) method. The influence of deposition parameters on the coverage and, consequently, the passivation and photovoltaic properties of α-Si:H layers on SiNW solar cells have been analyzed. PMID:24059343

Structural studies of n-type nc-Si-QD thin films for nc-Si solar cells

Science.gov (United States)

Das, Debajyoti; Kar, Debjit

2017-12-01

A wide optical gap nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si) dielectric material is a basic requirement at the n-type window layer of nc-Si solar cells in thin film n-i-p structure on glass substrates. Taking advantage of the high atomic-H density inherent to the planar inductively coupled low-pressure (SiH4 + CH4)-plasma, development of an analogous material in P-doped nc-Si-QD/a-SiC:H network has been tried. Incorporation of C in the Si-network extracted from the CH4 widens the optical band gap; however, at enhanced PH3-dilution of the plasma spontaneous miniaturization of the nc-Si-QDs below the dimension of Bohr radius (∼4.5 nm) further enhances the band gap by virtue of the quantum size effect. At increased flow rate of PH3, dopant induced continuous amorphization of the intrinsic crystalline network is counterbalanced by the further crystallization promoted by the supplementary atomic-H extracted from PH3 (1% in H2) in the plasma, eventually holding a moderately high degree of crystallinity. The n-type wide band gap (∼1.93 eV) window layer with nc-Si-QDs in adequate volume fraction (∼52%) could furthermore be instrumental as an effective seed layer for advancing sequential crystallization in the i-layer of nc-Si solar cells with n-i-p structure in superstrate configuration.

Low-temperature grown indium oxide nanowire-based antireflection coatings for multi-crystalline silicon solar cells

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wang, Yu-Cian; Chen, Chih-Yao; Chen, I Chen [Institute of Materials Science and Engineering, National Central University, Taoyuan (China); Kuo, Cheng-Wen; Kuan, Ta-Ming; Yu, Cheng-Yeh [TSEC Corporation, Hsinchu (China)

2016-08-15

Light harvesting by indium oxide nanowires (InO NWs) as an antireflection layer on multi-crystalline silicon (mc-Si) solar cells has been investigated. The low-temperature growth of InO NWs was performed in electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) plasma with an O{sub 2}-Ar system using indium nanocrystals as seed particles via the self-catalyzed growth mechanism. The size-dependence of antireflection properties of InO NWs was studied. A considerable enhancement in short-circuit current (from 35.39 to 38.33 mA cm{sup -2}) without deterioration of other performance parameters is observed for mc-Si solar cells coated with InO NWs. (copyright 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

Carrier loss mechanisms in textured crystalline Si-based solar cells

OpenAIRE

Nakane, Akihiro; Fujimoto, Shohei; Fujiwara, Hiroyuki

2017-01-01

A quite general device analysis method that allows the direct evaluation of optical and recombination losses in crystalline silicon (c-Si)-based solar cells has been developed. By applying this technique, the optical and physical limiting factors of the state-of-the-art solar cells with ~20% efficiencies have been revealed. In the established method, the carrier loss mechanisms are characterized from the external quantum efficiency (EQE) analysis with very low computational cost. In particula...

Effect of porous silicon on the performances of silicon solar cells during the porous silicon-based gettering procedure

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nouri, H.; Bessais, B. [Laboratoire de Nanomateriaux et des Systemes pour l' Energie, Centre de Recherches et des Technologies de l' Energie, Technopole de Borj-Cedria, BP 95, 2050 Hammam-Lif (Tunisia); Bouaicha, M. [Laboratoire de Photovoltaique, des Semi-conducteurs et des Nanostructures, Centre de Recherches et des Technologies de l' Energie, Technopole de Borj-Cedria, BP 95, 2050 Hammam-Lif (Tunisia)

2009-10-15

In this work we analyse the effect of porous silicon on the performances of multicrystalline silicon (mc-Si) solar cells during the porous silicon-based gettering procedure. This procedure consists of forming PS layers on both front and back sides of the mc-Si wafers followed by an annealing in an infrared furnace under a controlled atmosphere at different temperatures. Three sets of samples (A, B and C) have been prepared; for samples A and B, the PS films were removed before and after annealing, respectively. In order to optimize the annealing temperature, we measure the defect density at a selected grain boundary (GB) using the dark current-voltage (I-V) characteristics across the GB itself. The annealing temperature was optimized to 1000 C. The effect of these treatments on the performances of mc-Si solar cells was studied by means of the current-voltage characteristic (at AM 1.5) and the internal quantum efficiency (IQE). The results obtained for cell A and cell B were compared to those obtained on a reference cell (C). (author)

Characterization of β-FeSi II films as a novel solar cell semiconductor

Science.gov (United States)

Fukuzawa, Yasuhiro; Ootsuka, Teruhisa; Otogawa, Naotaka; Abe, Hironori; Nakayama, Yasuhiko; Makita, Yunosuke

2006-04-01

β-FeSi II is an attractive semiconductor owing to its extremely high optical absorption coefficient (α>10 5 cm -1), and is expected to be an ideal semiconductor as a thin film solar cell. For solar cell use, to prepare high quality β-FeSi II films holding a desired Fe/Si ratio, we chose two methods; one is a molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) method in which Fe and Si were evaporated by using normal Knudsen cells, and occasionally by e-gun for Si. Another one is the facing-target sputtering (FTS) method in which deposition of β-FeSi II films is made on Si substrate that is placed out of gas plasma cloud. In both methods to obtain β-FeSi II films with a tuned Fe/Si ratio, Fe/Si super lattice was fabricated by varying Fe and Si deposition thickness. Results showed significant in- and out-diffusion of host Fe and Si atoms at the interface of Si substrates into β-FeSi II layers. It was experimentally demonstrated that this diffusion can be suppressed by the formation of template layer between the epitaxial β-FeSi II layer and the substrate. The template layer was prepared by reactive deposition epitaxy (RDE) method. By fixing the Fe/Si ratio as precisely as possible at 1/2, systematic doping experiments of acceptor (Ga and B) and donor (As) impurities into β-FeSi II were carried out. Systematical changes of electron and hole carrier concentration in these samples along variation of incorporated impurities were observed through Hall effect measurements. Residual carrier concentrations can be ascribed to not only the remaining undesired impurities contained in source materials but also to a variety of point defects mainly produced by the uncontrolled stoichiometry. A preliminary structure of n-β-FeSi II/p-Si used as a solar cell indicated a conversion efficiency of 3.7%.

Research on ZnO/Si heterojunction solar cells

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Chen, Li; Chen, Xinliang; Liu, Yiming

2017-01-01

We put forward an n-ZnO/p-Si heterojunction solar cell model based on AFORS-HET simulations and provide experimental support in this article. ZnO: B (B-doped ZnO) thin films deposited by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) are planned to act as electrical emitter layer on p-type c...

Investigation of InGaN/Si double junction tandem solar cells | Bouzid ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

In this work, the solar power conversion efficiency of InGaN/Si double junction tandem solar cells was investigated under 1-sun AM1.5 illumination, using realistic material parameters. With this intention, the current-voltage curves are calculated for different front recombination velocities and the influence of the bottom cell ...

Development of n-ZnO/p-Si single heterojunction solar cell with and without interfacial layer

Science.gov (United States)

Hussain, Babar

The conversion efficiency of conventional silicon (Si) photovoltaic cells has not been improved significantly during last two decades but their cost decreased dramatically during this time. However, the higher price-per-watt of solar cells is still the main bottleneck in their widespread use for power generation. Therefore, new materials need to be explored for the fabrication of solar cells potentially with lower cost and higher efficiency. The n-type zinc oxide (n-ZnO) and p-type Si (p-Si) based single heterojunction solar cell (SHJSC) is one of the several attempts to replace conventional Si single homojunction solar cell technology. There are three inadequacies in the literature related to n-ZnO/p-Si SHJSC: (1) a detailed theoretical analysis to evaluate potential of the solar cell structure, (2) inconsistencies in the reported value of open circuit voltage (VOC) of the solar cell, and (3) lower value of experimentally achieved VOC as compared to theoretical prediction based on band-bending between n-ZnO and p-Si. Furthermore, the scientific community lacks consensus on the optimum growth parameters of ZnO. In this dissertation, I present simulation and experimental results related to n-ZnO/p-Si SHJSC to fill the gaps mentioned above. Modeling and simulation of the solar cell structure are performed using PC1D and AFORS-HET software taking practical constraints into account to explore the potential of the structure. Also, unnoticed benefits of ZnO in solar cells such as an additional antireflection (AR) effect and low temperature deposition are highlighted. The growth parameters of ZnO using metal organic chemical vapor deposition and sputtering are optimized. The structural, optical, and electrical characterization of ZnO thin films grown on sapphire and Si substrates is performed. Several n-ZnO/p-Si SHJSC devices are fabricated to confirm the repeatability of the VOC. Moreover, the AR effect of ZnO while working as an n-type layer is experimentally verified

EELS measurements of boron concentration profiles in p-a-Si and nip a-Si solar cells

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Van Aken, Bas B.; Duchamp, Martial; Boothroyd, Chris

2012-01-01

The p-type Si layer in a-Si and μc-Si solar cells on foil needs to fulfil several important requirements. The layer is necessary to create the electric field that separates the photo-generated charge carriers; the doping also increases the conductivity to conduct the photocurrent to the front......-3, using core-loss EELS combined with numerical analysis. We control the band gap and activation energy of p-a-SiC by varying the B2H6 and CH4 flow during deposition in the process chamber. We have found a linear relation between the activation energy of the dark conductivity Eact and the optical...... band gap E04. Modelling shows that the optimum efficiency in nip solar cells is obtained when the p-a-SiC band gap is slightly larger than the band gap of the absorber layer. We have assessed the potential of core-loss EELS for detecting B and C concentrations as low as 1020cm-3 in a spatially resolved...

Efficiency Improvement of Crystalline Solar Cells: Final Subcontract Report, 1 January 2002 - 30 September 2006

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Weber, E. R.

2007-11-01

UC-Berkeley study of transition metal related defects in PV-grade mc-Si to understand their pathways into solar cells; chemical state/distribution; interaction with structural defects; defect engineering.

Effect of p-Layer and i-Layer Properties on the Electrical Behaviour of Advanced a-Si:H/a-SiGe:H Thin Film Solar Cell from Numerical Modeling Prospect

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Peyman Jelodarian

2012-01-01

Full Text Available The effect of p-layer and i-layer characteristics such as thickness and doping concentration on the electrical behaviors of the a-Si:H/a-SiGe:H thin film heterostructure solar cells such as electric field, photogeneration rate, and recombination rate through the cell is investigated. Introducing Ge atoms to the Si lattice in Si-based solar cells is an effective approach in improving their characteristics. In particular, current density of the cell can be enhanced without deteriorating its open-circuit voltage. Optimization shows that for an appropriate Ge concentration, the efficiency of a-Si:H/a-SiGe solar cell is improved by about 6% compared with the traditional a-Si:H solar cell. This work presents a novel numerical evaluation and optimization of amorphous silicon double-junction (a-Si:H/a-SiGe:H thin film solar cells and focuses on optimization of a-SiGe:H midgap single-junction solar cell based on the optimization of the doping concentration of the p-layer, thicknesses of the p-layer and i-layer, and Ge content in the film. Maximum efficiency of 23.5%, with short-circuit current density of 267 A/m2 and open-circuit voltage of 1.13 V for double-junction solar cell has been achieved.

Application of rapid thermal processing on SiNx thin film to solar cells

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Youjie LI; Peiqing LUO; Zhibin ZHOU; Rongqiang CUI; Jianhua HUANG; Jingxiao WANG

2008-01-01

Rapid thermal processing (RTP) of SiNx thin films from PECVD with low temperature was investigated. A special processing condition of this technique which could greatly increase the minority lifetime was found in the experiments. The processing mechanism and the application of the technique to silicon solar cells fabrication were dis-cussed. A main achievement is an increase of the minority lifetime in silicon wafer with SiNx thin film by about 200% after the RTP was reached. PC-1D simulation results exhibit an enhancement of the efficiency of the solar cell by 0.42% coming from the minority lifetime improvement. The same experiment was also conducted with P-diffusion silicon wafers, but the increment of minority lifetime is just about 55%. It could be expected to improve the solar cell efficiency if it would be used in silicon solar cells fabrication with the combination of laser firing contact technique.

Mechanism on radiation degradation of Si space solar cells

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yamaguchi, Masafumi; Taylor, S.J.; Hisamatsu, Tadashi; Matsuda, Sumio

1998-01-01

Radiation testing of Si n + -p-p + structure space solar cells has revealed an anomalous increase in short-circuit current Isc, followed by an abrupt decrease and cell failure, induced by high fluence electron and proton irradiations. A model to explain these phenomena by expressing the change in carrier concentration p of the base region is proposed in addition to the well-known model where Isc is decreased by minority-carrier lifetime reduction with irradiation. Change in carrier concentration causes broadening the depletion layer to contribute increase in the generated photocurrent and increase in recombination-generation current in the depletion layer, and increase in the resistivity of the base layer to result in the abrupt decrease of Isc and failure of the solar cell. Type conversion from p-type to n-type in base layer has been confirmed by EBIC (electron-beam induced current) and spectral response measurements. Moreover, origins of radiation-induced defects in heavily irradiated Si and generation of deep donor defects have also been examined by using DLTS (deep level transient spectroscopy) analysis. (author)

High-efficiency thin Si solar cells prepared at reduced temperatures. Final report; Herstellung von hocheffizienten, duennen Si-Solarzellen bei erniedrigten Prozesstemperaturen. Abschlussbericht

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kruehler, W.

1999-07-01

Thin crystalline Si wafer solar cells were processed at reduced temperatures. In addition multicrystalline thin-film solar cells were fabricated on graphite substrates. Large area (175 cm{sup 2}) wafer solar cells made from mono- as well as from tricrystalline Si material were processed with reduced thicknesses down to 100 {mu}m. Conversion efficiencies were obtained in the range between 11.5 and 12.5% without antireflection coating. The reduction of the process temperatures had no positive impact on the expected cost reduction because of the degradation of the electrical cell data during processing. Tricrystalline Si wafers have shown to be mechanically stronger than monocrystalline Si material. Consequently, tri-Si ingots can be sawn in thinner wafers with higher yield. The concept of backside-contacted solar cell was realized by the preparation of thin slit solar cells (150 {mu}m thin, 43 cm{sup 2} in area) made from tri-Si. A conversion efficiency of 14,3% was reached. Amorphous Si layer deposited on graphite substrates were recrystallized by the electron beam recrystallization method developed by the Technical University in Hamburg-Harburg. The recrystallized Si layers showed large grains and were suitible as seed layers for the following gas phase epitaxy (CVD). With the CVD method 20 to 40 {mu}m thin Si absorber layers were deposited on the seed layers with the same excellent crystallographic properties. In contrast, their electrical properties were not sufficient for the preparation of solar cells having more than 3% efficiency. The study of the different concepts has shown, that the development of thin wafer solar cells made from tri-Si has the highest potential with respect to a further cost reduction. (orig.) [German] Es wurden sowohl duenne, kristalline Si-Wafer-Solarzellen bei erniedrigten Prozesstemperaturen als auch multikristalline Si-Duennschicht-Solarzellen auf Graphitsubstraten entwickelt und untersucht. Es konnten grossflaechige (175 cm{sup 2

Boron-doped zinc oxide thin films grown by metal organic chemical vapor deposition for bifacial a-Si:H/c-Si heterojunction solar cells

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zeng, Xiangbin, E-mail: eexbzeng@mail.hust.edu.cn; Wen, Xixing; Sun, Xiaohu; Liao, Wugang; Wen, Yangyang

2016-04-30

Boron-doped zinc oxide (BZO) films were grown by metal organic chemical vapor deposition. The influence of B{sub 2}H{sub 6} flow rate and substrate temperature on the microstructure, optical, and electrical properties of BZO films was investigated by X-ray diffraction spectrum, scanning electron microscope, optical transmittance spectrum, and Hall measurements. The BZO films with optical transmittance above 85% in the visible and infrared light range, resistivity of 0.9–1.0 × 10{sup −3} Ω cm, mobility of 16.5–25.5 cm{sup 2}/Vs, and carrier concentration of 2.2–2.7 × 10{sup 20} cm{sup −3} were deposited under optimized conditions. The optimum BZO films were applied on the bifacial BZO/p-type a-Si:H/i-type a-Si:H/n-type c-Si/i-type a-Si:H/n{sup +}-type a-Si:H/BZO heterojunction solar cell as both front and back transparent electrodes. Meanwhile, the bifacial heterojunction solar cell with indium tin oxide (ITO) as both front and back transparent electrodes was fabricated. The efficiencies of 17.788% (open-circuit voltage: 0.628 V, short-circuit current density: 41.756 mA/cm{sup 2} and fill factor: 0.678) and 16.443% (open-circuit voltage: 0.590 V, short-circuit current density: 36.515 mA/cm{sup 2} and fill factor: 0.762) were obtained on the a-Si/c-Si heterojunction solar cell with BZO and ITO transparent electrodes, respectively. - Highlights: • Boron-doped zinc oxide films with low resistivity were fabricated. • The boron-doped zinc oxide films have the high transmittance. • B-doped ZnO film was applied in a-Si:H/c-Si solar cell as transparent electrodes. • The a-Si:H/c-Si solar cell with efficiency of 17.788% was obtained.

Boron-doped zinc oxide thin films grown by metal organic chemical vapor deposition for bifacial a-Si:H/c-Si heterojunction solar cells

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zeng, Xiangbin; Wen, Xixing; Sun, Xiaohu; Liao, Wugang; Wen, Yangyang

2016-01-01

Boron-doped zinc oxide (BZO) films were grown by metal organic chemical vapor deposition. The influence of B_2H_6 flow rate and substrate temperature on the microstructure, optical, and electrical properties of BZO films was investigated by X-ray diffraction spectrum, scanning electron microscope, optical transmittance spectrum, and Hall measurements. The BZO films with optical transmittance above 85% in the visible and infrared light range, resistivity of 0.9–1.0 × 10"−"3 Ω cm, mobility of 16.5–25.5 cm"2/Vs, and carrier concentration of 2.2–2.7 × 10"2"0 cm"−"3 were deposited under optimized conditions. The optimum BZO films were applied on the bifacial BZO/p-type a-Si:H/i-type a-Si:H/n-type c-Si/i-type a-Si:H/n"+-type a-Si:H/BZO heterojunction solar cell as both front and back transparent electrodes. Meanwhile, the bifacial heterojunction solar cell with indium tin oxide (ITO) as both front and back transparent electrodes was fabricated. The efficiencies of 17.788% (open-circuit voltage: 0.628 V, short-circuit current density: 41.756 mA/cm"2 and fill factor: 0.678) and 16.443% (open-circuit voltage: 0.590 V, short-circuit current density: 36.515 mA/cm"2 and fill factor: 0.762) were obtained on the a-Si/c-Si heterojunction solar cell with BZO and ITO transparent electrodes, respectively. - Highlights: • Boron-doped zinc oxide films with low resistivity were fabricated. • The boron-doped zinc oxide films have the high transmittance. • B-doped ZnO film was applied in a-Si:H/c-Si solar cell as transparent electrodes. • The a-Si:H/c-Si solar cell with efficiency of 17.788% was obtained.

Characterization of the nanosized porous structure of black Si solar cells fabricated via a screen printing process

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Tang Yehua; Fei Jianming; Cao Hongbin; Zhou Chunlan; Wang Wenjing; Zhou Su; Zhao Yan; Zhao Lei; Li Hailing; Yan Baojun; Chen Jingwei

2012-01-01

A silicon (Si) surface with a nanosized porous structure was formed via simple wet chemical etching catalyzed by gold (Au) nanoparticles on p-type Cz-Si (100).The average reflectivity from 300 to 1200 nm was less than 1.5％.Black Si solar cells were then fabricated using a conventional production process.The results reflected the output characteristics of the cells fabricated using different etching depths and emitter dopant profiles.Heavier dopants and shallower etching depths should be adopted to optimize the black Si solar cell output characteristics.The efficiency at the optimized etching time and dopant profile was 12.17％.However,surface passivation and electrode contact due to the nanosized porous surface structure are still obstacles to obtaining high conversion efficiency for the black Si solar cells.

Influence of Deposition Pressure on the Properties of Round Pyramid Textured a-Si:H Solar Cells for Maglev.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Jaehyeong; Choi, Wonseok; Lee, Kyuil; Lee, Daedong; Kang, Hyunil

2016-05-01

HIT (Heterojunction with Intrinsic Thin-layer) photovoltaic cells is one of the highest efficiencies in the commercial solar cells. The pyramid texturization for reducing surface reflectance of HIT solar cells silicon wafers is widely used. For the low leakage current and high shunt of solar cells, the intrinsic amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) on substrate must be uniformly thick of pyramid structure. However, it is difficult to control the thickness in the traditional pyramid texturing process. Thus, we textured the intrinsic a-Si:H thin films with the round pyramidal structure by using HNO3, HF, and CH3COOH solution. The characteristics of round pyramid a-Si:H solar cells deposited at pressure of 500, 1000, 1500, and 2000 mTorr by PECVD (Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition) was investigated. The lifetime, open circuit voltage, fill factor and efficiency of a-Si:H solar cells were investigated with respect to various deposition pressure.

IBC c-Si solar cells based on ion-implanted poly-silicon passivating contacts

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Yang, G.; Ingenito, A.; Isabella, O.; Zeman, M.

2016-01-01

Ion-implanted poly-crystalline silicon (poly-Si), in combination with a tunnel oxide layer, is investigated as a carrier-selective passivating contact in c-Si solar cells based on an interdigitated back contact (IBC) architecture. The optimized poly-Si passivating contacts enable low interface

Optimization of imprintable nanostructured a-Si solar cells: FDTD study.

Science.gov (United States)

Fisker, Christian; Pedersen, Thomas Garm

2013-03-11

We present a finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) study of an amorphous silicon (a-Si) thin film solar cell, with nano scale patterns on the substrate surface. The patterns, based on the geometry of anisotropically etched silicon gratings, are optimized with respect to the period and anti-reflection (AR) coating thickness for maximal absorption in the range of the solar spectrum. The structure is shown to increase the cell efficiency by 10.2% compared to a similar flat solar cell with an optimized AR coating thickness. An increased back reflection can be obtained with a 50 nm zinc oxide layer on the back reflector, which gives an additional efficiency increase, leading to a total of 14.9%. In addition, the patterned cells are shown to be up to 3.8% more efficient than an optimized textured reference cell based on the Asahi U-type glass surface. The effects of variations of the optimized solar cell structure due to the manufacturing process are investigated, and shown to be negligible for variations below ±10%.

Alloyed Aluminum Contacts for Silicon Solar Cells

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tin Tin Aye

2010-12-01

Aluminium is usually deposited and alloyed at the back of p-p silicon solar cell for making a good ohmic contact and establishing a back electric field which avoids carrier recombination of the back surface. It was the deposition of aluminum on multicrystalline silicon (mc-Si) substrate at various annealing temperature. Physical and elemental analysis was carried out by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-rays diffraction (XRD). The electrical (I-V) characteristic of the photovoltaic cell was also measured.

Broad-band anti-reflection coupler for a : Si thin-film solar cell

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lo, S.-S.; Chen, C.-C.; Garwe, Frank; Pertch, Thomas

2007-01-01

This work numerically demonstrates a new anti-reflection coupler (ARC) with high coupling efficiency in a Si substrate solar cell. The ARC in which the grating is integrated on a glass encapsulation and a three-layer impedance match layer is proposed. A coupling efficiency of 90% is obtained at wavelengths between 350 and 1200 nm in the TE and TM modes when the incident angle is less than 30 0 . In comparison with a 1μm absorber layer, the integrated absorption of an a-Si thin-film solar cell without a new ARC is doubled, at long wavelengths (750 nm ≤ λ ≤ 1200 nm), as calculated by FDTD method

Epitaxial Ge Solar Cells Directly Grown on Si (001) by MOCVD Using Isobutylgermane

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Youngjo; Kim, Kangho; Lee, Jaejin; Kim, Chang Zoo; Kang, Ho Kwan; Park, Won-Kyu

2018-03-01

Epitaxial Ge layers have been grown on Si (001) substrates by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) using an isobutylgermane (IBuGe) metalorganic source. Low and high temperature two-step growth and post annealing techniques are employed to overcome the lattice mismatch problem between Ge and Si. It is demonstrated that high quality Ge epitaxial layers can be grown on Si (001) by using IBuGe with surface RMS roughness of 2 nm and an estimated threading dislocation density of 4.9 × 107 cm -2. Furthermore, single-junction Ge solar cells have been directly grown on Si substrates with an in situ MOCVD growth. The epitaxial Ge p- n junction structures are investigated with transmission electron microscopy and electrochemical C- V measurements. As a result, a power conversion efficiency of 1.69% was achieved for the Ge solar cell directly grown on Si substrate under AM1.5G condition.

Combination of gettering and etching in multicrystalline silicon used in solar cells processing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dimassi, W.; Bouaicha, M.; Nouri, H.; Ben Nasrallah, S.; Bessais, B.

2006-01-01

Undesired impurities can be removed away from multicrystalline silicon (mc-Si) wafers by combining porous silicon (PS) formation and heat treatments. The gettering procedure used in this work is based on the formation of a PS film at both back and front sides of the mc-Si wafers, followed by a heat treatment. The latter was achieved in an infrared furnace at different temperatures and during various periods. We show that when the based material undergoes such a gettering, the electrical properties (short-circuit current, open-circuit voltage, serial and shunt resistances) and the electronic parameters (diffusion length and grain boundary recombination velocity) of the corresponding solar cells can be improved only if some regions of the wafers are etched. Compared to reference cells based on untreated wafers, the diffusion length and grain boundary recombination velocity of solar cells fabricated from gettered and etched samples was improved by about 30% and reduced by a factor of 10, respectively

Performance Improvements of Selective Emitters by Laser Openings on Large-Area Multicrystalline Si Solar Cells

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sheng-Shih Wang

2014-01-01

Full Text Available This study focuses on the laser opening technique used to form a selective emitter (SE structure on multicrystalline silicon (mc-Si. This technique can be used in the large-area (156 × 156 mm2 solar cells. SE process of this investigation was performed using 3 samples SE1–SE3. Laser fluences can vary in range of 2–5 J/cm2. The optimal conversion efficiency of 15.95% is obtained with the SE3 (2 J/cm2 fluence after laser opening with optimization of heavy and light dopant, which yields a gain of 0.48%abs compared with that of a reference cell (without fluence. In addition, this optimal SE3 cell displays improved characteristics compared with other cells with a higher average value of external quantum efficiency (EQEavg = 68.6% and a lower average value of power loss (Ploss = 2.33 mW/cm2. For the fabrication of solar cells, the laser opening process comprises fewer steps than traditional photolithography does. Furthermore, the laser opening process decreases consumption of chemical materials; therefore, the laser opening process decreases both time and cost. Therefore, SE process is simple, cheap, and suitable for commercialization. Moreover, the prominent features of the process render it effective means to promote overall performance in the photovoltaic industry.

Progress in N-type Si Solar Cell and Module Technology for High Efficiency and Low Cost

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Song, Dengyuan; Xiong, Jingfeng; Hu, Zhiyan; Li, Gaofei; Wang, Hongfang; An, Haijiao; Yu, Bo; Grenko, Brian; Borden, Kevin; Sauer, Kenneth; Cui, Jianhua; Wang, Haitao [Yingli Green Energy Holding Co., LTD, 071051 Boading (China); Roessler, T. [Yingli Green Energy Europe GmbH, Heimeranstr. 37, 80339 Munich (Germany); Bultman, J. [ECN Solar Energy, P.O. Box 1, NL-1755 ZG Petten (Netherlands); Vlooswijk, A.H.G.; Venema, P.R. [Tempress Systems BV, Radeweg 31, 8171 Vaassen (Netherlands)

2012-06-15

A novel high efficiency solar cell and module technology, named PANDA, using crystalline n-type CZ Si wafers has moved into large-scale production at Yingli. The first commercial sales of the PANDA modules commenced in mid 2010. Up to 600MW of mass production capacity from crystal-Si growth, wafer slicing, cell processing and module assembly have been implemented by the end of 2011. The PANDA technology was developed specifically for high efficiency and low cost. In contrast to the existing n-type Si solar cell manufacturing methods in mass production, this new technology is largely compatible with a traditional p-type Si solar cell production line by conventional diffusion, SiNx coating and screen-printing technology. With optimizing all technologies, Yingli's PANDA solar cells on semi-square 6-inch n-type CZ wafers (cell size 239cm{sup 2}) have been improved to currently have an average efficiency on commercial production lines exceeding 19.0% and up to 20.0% in pilot production. The PANDA modules have been produced and were certified according to UL1703, IEC 61215 and IEC 61730 standards. Nearly two years of full production on scale-up lines show that the PANDA modules have a high efficiency and power density, superior high temperature performance, near zero initial light induced degradation, and excellent efficiency at low irradiance.

Fabrication and characterization of DBM/p-Si heterojunction solar cell

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

El-Nahass, M.M.; Kamel, M.A.; Atta, A.A.; Huthaily, S.Y.

2013-01-01

Hybrid organic/inorganic solar cell was fabricated by depositing a thin film of p-N,N dimethylaminobenzylidenemalononitrile (DBM) onto p-Si substrate. DBM is a donor–acceptor disubstituted benzenes dye known as molecular rotors and highly polar molecular compounds. Its powder has a polycrystalline structure, while nano-crystallite rods are formed in the as-deposited film. The dark current density–voltage (J–V) characteristics of Au/DBM/p-Si/Al heterojunction device measured at different temperatures ranging from 291 to 353 K have been investigated. The operating conduction mechanisms, the series and shunt resistances, the rectification ratio, the ideality factor, the effective barrier height, and the total trap concentration were determined. The capacitance–voltage (C–V) characteristics indicated that the junction is of abrupt nature. The built-in voltage and the carrier concentration distributed through the depletion region were estimated. Under illumination, the DBM/p-Si cell showed photovoltaic properties and the photovoltaic parameters were evaluated. -- Highlights: ► The molecular rotors DBM dye can be used to manufacture D/A solar cells. ► Since D/A are situated in the DBM molecule, we ensure photoinduced D → A electron transfer. ► The DBM film is grown as nano-rods. ► The most of the DBM bulk of the cell contributes to the generation of external current.

Fabrication and characterization of DBM/p-Si heterojunction solar cell

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

El-Nahass, M.M.; Kamel, M.A. [Physics Department, Faculty of Education, Ain Shams University, Roxy, 11757 Cairo (Egypt); Atta, A.A. [Physics Department, Faculty of Education, Ain Shams University, Roxy, 11757 Cairo (Egypt); Physics Department, Faculty of Science, Taif University, Taif, 888 Taif (Saudi Arabia); Huthaily, S.Y., E-mail: s_huthaily@yahoo.com [Physics Department, Faculty of Education, Hodeidah University, Alduraihimi, 3114 Hodeidah (Yemen)

2013-01-15

Hybrid organic/inorganic solar cell was fabricated by depositing a thin film of p-N,N dimethylaminobenzylidenemalononitrile (DBM) onto p-Si substrate. DBM is a donor-acceptor disubstituted benzenes dye known as molecular rotors and highly polar molecular compounds. Its powder has a polycrystalline structure, while nano-crystallite rods are formed in the as-deposited film. The dark current density-voltage (J-V) characteristics of Au/DBM/p-Si/Al heterojunction device measured at different temperatures ranging from 291 to 353 K have been investigated. The operating conduction mechanisms, the series and shunt resistances, the rectification ratio, the ideality factor, the effective barrier height, and the total trap concentration were determined. The capacitance-voltage (C-V) characteristics indicated that the junction is of abrupt nature. The built-in voltage and the carrier concentration distributed through the depletion region were estimated. Under illumination, the DBM/p-Si cell showed photovoltaic properties and the photovoltaic parameters were evaluated. -- Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The molecular rotors DBM dye can be used to manufacture D/A solar cells. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Since D/A are situated in the DBM molecule, we ensure photoinduced D {yields} A electron transfer. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The DBM film is grown as nano-rods. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The most of the DBM bulk of the cell contributes to the generation of external current.

Characterization of microcrystalline I-layer for solar cells prepared in low temperature - plastic compatible process

KAUST Repository

Sliz, Rafal; Ahnood, Arman; Nathan, Arokia; Myllyla, Risto; Jabbour, Ghassan E.

2012-01-01

Microcrystalline silicon (mc-Si) lms deposited using a Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapour Deposition (PECVD) process constitute an important material for manufacturing low-cost, large-area thin-lm devices, such as solar cells or thin-lm transistors

Modelling on c-Si/a-Si:H wire solar cells: some key parameters to optimize the photovoltaic performance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alvarez J.

2012-07-01

Full Text Available Solar cells based on silicon nano- or micro-wires have attracted much attention as a promising path for low cost photovoltaic technology. The key point of this structure is the decoupling of the light absorption from the carriers collection. In order to predict and optimize the performance potential of p- (or n- doped c-Si/ n-(or p- doped a-Si:H nanowire-based solar cells, we have used the Silvaco-Atlas software to model a single-wire device. In particular, we have noticed a drastic decrease of the open-circuit voltage (Voc when increasing the doping density of the silicon core beyond an optimum value. We present here a detailed study of the parameters that can alter the Voc of c-Si(p/a-Si:H (n wires according to the doping density in c-Si. A comparison with simulation results obtained on planar c-Si/a-Si:H heterojunctions shows that the drop in Voc, linked to an increase of the dark current in both structures, is more pronounced for radial junctions due to geometric criteria. These numerical modelling results have lead to a better understanding of transport phenomena within the wire.

Solar cells based on InP/GaP/Si structure

Science.gov (United States)

Kvitsiani, O.; Laperashvil, D.; Laperashvili, T.; Mikelashvili, V.

2016-10-01

Solar cells (SCs) based on III-V semiconductors are reviewed. Presented work emphases on the Solar Cells containing Quantum Dots (QDs) for next-generation photovoltaics. In this work the method of fabrication of InP QDs on III-V semiconductors is investigated. The original method of electrochemical deposition of metals: indium (In), gallium (Ga) and of alloys (InGa) on the surface of gallium phosphide (GaP), and mechanism of formation of InP QDs on GaP surface is presented. The possibilities of application of InP/GaP/Si structure as SC are discussed, and the challenges arising is also considered.

Transparent sculptured titania films for enhanced light absorption in thin-film Si solar cells

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hung, Kai-Hsiang, E-mail: khhung@itri.org.tw [Green Energy and Environment Research Laboratories, Industrial Technology Research Institute, Hsinchu, Taiwan (China); Chiou, Guan-Di; Wong, Ming-Show [Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National Dong Hwa University, Hualien, Taiwan (China); Wang, Yu-Chih [Green Energy and Environment Research Laboratories, Industrial Technology Research Institute, Hsinchu, Taiwan (China); Chung, I-Shan [Electronics and Optoelectronics Research Laboratories, Industrial Technology Research Institute, Hsinchu, Taiwan (China)

2011-12-30

This study presents a description of the enhancement of light absorption in thin-film silicon (Si) solar cells by using sculptured titania (TiO{sub 2}) films. We used an electron-beam evaporation system with a glancing angle deposition (GLAD) method to deposit porous TiO{sub 2} films on fluorine-doped SnO{sub 2} (FTO) substrates. The GLAD TiO{sub 2}/FTO films were used as conductive electrodes in hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon ({mu}c-Si:H) solar cells. Transmission electron microscopy revealed that the GLAD TiO{sub 2} films are composed of sculptured nano-pillars on an FTO surface, and this nanostructure provides a synergistic route for light scattering enhancement. The GLAD TiO{sub 2}/FTO exhibited a 68% improvement of optical haze (at {lambda} = 600 nm). The {mu}c-Si:H solar cells consisting of the GLAD-nanostructured TiO{sub 2} resulted in a 5% improvement of short-circuit current (J{sub sc}) and yielded a cell efficiency of 6.6%.

Dependence of performance of Si nanowire solar cells on geometry of the nanowires.

Science.gov (United States)

Khan, Firoz; Baek, Seong-Ho; Kim, Jae Hyun

2014-01-01

The dependence of performance of silicon nanowires (SiNWs) solar cells on the growth condition of the SiNWs has been described. Metal-assisted electroless etching (MAE) technique has been used to grow SiNWs array. Different concentration of aqueous solution containing AgNO3 and HF for Ag deposition is used. The diameter and density of SiNWs are found to be dependent on concentration of solution used for Ag deposition. The diameter and density of SiNWs have been used to calculate the filling ratio of the SINWs arrays. The filling ratio is increased with increase in AgNO3 concentration, whereas it is decreased with increase in HF concentration. The minimum reflectance value achieved is ~1% for SiNWs of length of ~1.2 μ m in the wavelength range of 300-1000 nm. The performance and diode parameters strongly depend on the geometry of SiNWs. The maximum short circuit current density achieved is 35.6 mA/cm(2). The conversion efficiency of solar cell is 9.73% for SiNWs with length, diameter, and wire density of ~1.2 μ m, ~75 nm, and 90 μ m(-2), respectively.

Light trapping of crystalline Si solar cells by use of nanocrystalline Si layer plus pyramidal texture

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Imamura, Kentaro; Nonaka, Takaaki; Onitsuka, Yuya; Irishika, Daichi; Kobayashi, Hikaru, E-mail: h.kobayashi@sanken.osaka-u.ac.jp

2017-02-15

Highlights: • Ultralow reflectivity Si wafers with light trapping effect can be obtained by forming a nanocrystalline Si layer on pyramidal textured Si surfaces. • Surface passivation using phosphosilicate glass improved minority carrier lifetime of the nanocrystalline Si layer/Si structure. • A high photocurrent density of 40.1 mA/cm{sup 2}, and a high conversion efficiency of 18.5% were achieved. - Abstract: The surface structure chemical transfer (SSCT) method has been applied to fabrication of single crystalline Si solar cells with 170 μm thickness. The SSCT method, which simply involves immersion of Si wafers in H{sub 2}O{sub 2} plus HF solutions and contact of Pt catalyst with Si taking only ∼30 s for 6 in. wafers, can decrease the reflectivity to less than 3% by the formation of a nanocrystalline Si layer. However, the reflectivity of the nanocrystalline Si layer/flat Si surface/rear Ag electrode structure in the wavelength region longer than 1000 nm is high because of insufficient absorption of incident light. The reflectivity in the long wavelength region is greatly decreased by the formation of the nanocrystalline Si layer on pyramidal textured Si surfaces due to an increase in the optical path length. Deposition of phosphosilicate glass (PSG) on the nanocrystalline Si layer for formation of pn-junction does not change the ultralow reflectivity because the surface region of the nanocrystalline Si layer possesses a refractive index of 1.4 which is nearly the same as that of PSG of 1.4–1.5. The PSG layer is found to passivate the nanocrystalline Si layer, which is evident from an increase in the minority carrier lifetime from 12 to 44 μs. Hydrogen treatment at 450 °C further increases the minority carrier lifetime approximately to a doubled value. The solar cells with the Si layer/pyramidal Si substrate/boron-diffused back surface field/Ag rear electrode> structure show a high conversion efficiency of 18

Numerical Optimization of a Bifacial Bi-Glass Thin-Film a-Si:H Solar Cell for Higher Conversion Efficiency

Science.gov (United States)

Berrian, Djaber; Fathi, Mohamed; Kechouane, Mohamed

2018-02-01

Bifacial solar cells that maximize the energy output per a square meter have become a new fashion in the field of photovoltaic cells. However, the application of thin-film material on bifacial solar cells, viz., thin-film amorphous hydrogenated silicon ( a- Si:H), is extremely rare. Therefore, this paper presents the optimization and influence of the band gap, thickness and doping on the performance of a glass/glass thin-film a- Si:H ( n- i- p) bifacial solar cell, using a computer-aided simulation tool, Automat for simulation of hetero-structures (AFORS-HET). It is worth mentioning that the thickness and the band gap of the i-layer are the key parameters in achieving higher efficiency and hence it has to be handled carefully during the fabrication process. Furthermore, an efficient thin-film a- Si:H bifacial solar cell requires thinner and heavily doped n and p emitter layers. On the other hand, the band gap of the p-layer showed a dramatic reduction of the efficiency at 2.3 eV. Moreover, a high bifaciality factor of more than 92% is attained, and top efficiency of 10.9% is revealed under p side illumination. These optimizations demonstrate significant enhancements of the recent experimental work on thin-film a- Si:H bifacial solar cells and would also be useful for future experimental investigations on an efficient a- Si:H thin-film bifacial solar cell.

Correlation between the physical parameters of the i-nc-Si absorber layer grown by 27.12 MHz plasma with the nc-Si solar cell parameters

Science.gov (United States)

Das, Debajyoti; Mondal, Praloy

2017-09-01

Growth of highly conducting nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si) thin films of optimum crystalline volume fraction, involving dominant crystallographic preferred orientation with simultaneous low fraction of microstructures at a low substrate temperature and high growth rate, is a challenging task for its promising utilization in nc-Si solar cells. Utilizing enhanced electron density and superior ion flux densities of the high frequency (∼27.12 MHz) SiH4 plasma, improved nc-Si films have been produced by simple optimization of H2-dilution, controlling the ion damage and enhancing supply of atomic-hydrogen onto the growing surface. Single junction nc-Si p-i-n solar cells have been prepared with i-nc-Si absorber layer and optimized. The physical parameters of the absorber layer have been systematically correlated to variations of the solar cell parameters. The preferred alignment of crystallites, its contribution to the low recombination losses for conduction of charge carriers along the vertical direction, its spectroscopic correlation with the dominant growth of ultra-nanocrystalline silicon (unc-Si) component and corresponding longer wavelength absorption, especially in the neighborhood of i/n-interface region recognize scientific and technological key issues that pave the ground for imminent advancement of multi-junction silicon solar cells.

Optimization of intrinsic layer thickness, dopant layer thickness and concentration for a-SiC/a-SiGe multilayer solar cell efficiency performance using Silvaco software

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wei Yuan Wong

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Solar cell is expanding as green renewable alternative to conventional fossil fuel electricity generation, but compared to other land-used electrical generators, it is a comparative beginner. Many applications covered by solar cells starting from low power mobile devices, terrestrial, satellites and many more. To date, the highest efficiency solar cell is given by GaAs based multilayer solar cell. However, this material is very expensive in fabrication and material costs compared to silicon which is cheaper due to the abundance of supply. Thus, this research is devoted to develop multilayer solar cell by combining two different layers of P-I-N structures with silicon carbide and silicon germanium. This research focused on optimising the intrinsic layer thickness, p-doped layer thickness and concentration, n-doped layer thickness and concentration in achieving the highest efficiency. As a result, both single layer a-SiC and a-SiGe showed positive efficiency improvement with the record of 27.19% and 9.07% respectively via parametric optimization. The optimized parameters is then applied on both SiC and SiGe P-I-N layers and resulted the convincing efficiency of 33.80%.

Optimization of intrinsic layer thickness, dopant layer thickness and concentration for a-SiC/a-SiGe multilayer solar cell efficiency performance using Silvaco software

Science.gov (United States)

Yuan, Wong Wei; Natashah Norizan, Mohd; Salwani Mohamad, Ili; Jamalullail, Nurnaeimah; Hidayah Saad, Nor

2017-11-01

Solar cell is expanding as green renewable alternative to conventional fossil fuel electricity generation, but compared to other land-used electrical generators, it is a comparative beginner. Many applications covered by solar cells starting from low power mobile devices, terrestrial, satellites and many more. To date, the highest efficiency solar cell is given by GaAs based multilayer solar cell. However, this material is very expensive in fabrication and material costs compared to silicon which is cheaper due to the abundance of supply. Thus, this research is devoted to develop multilayer solar cell by combining two different layers of P-I-N structures with silicon carbide and silicon germanium. This research focused on optimising the intrinsic layer thickness, p-doped layer thickness and concentration, n-doped layer thickness and concentration in achieving the highest efficiency. As a result, both single layer a-SiC and a-SiGe showed positive efficiency improvement with the record of 27.19% and 9.07% respectively via parametric optimization. The optimized parameters is then applied on both SiC and SiGe P-I-N layers and resulted the convincing efficiency of 33.80%.

Analysis of the PEDOT:PSS/Si nanowire hybrid solar cell with a tail state model

Science.gov (United States)

Ho, Kuan-Ying; Li, Chi-Kang; Syu, Hong-Jhang; Lai, Yi; Lin, Ching-Fuh; Wu, Yuh-Renn

2016-12-01

In this paper, the electrical properties of the poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene): poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS)/silicon nanowire hybrid solar cell have been analyzed and an optimized structure is proposed. In addition, the planar PEDOT:PSS/c-Si hybrid solar cell is also modeled for comparison. We first developed a simulation software which is capable of modeling organic/inorganic hybrid solar cells by including Gaussian shape density of states into Poisson and drift-diffusion solver to present the tail states and trap states in the organic material. Therefore, the model can handle carrier transport, generation, and recombination in both organic and inorganic materials. Our results show that at the applied voltage near open-circuit voltage (Voc), the recombination rate becomes much higher at the PEDOT:PSS/Si interface region, which limits the fill factor and Voc. Hence, a modified structure with a p-type amorphous silicon (a-Si) layer attached on the interface of Si layer and an n+-type Si layer inserted near the bottom contact are proposed. The highest conversion efficiency of 16.10% can be achieved if both structures are applied.

Three-Terminal Amorphous Silicon Solar Cells

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cheng-Hung Tai

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Many defects exist within amorphous silicon since it is not crystalline. This provides recombination centers, thus reducing the efficiency of a typical a-Si solar cell. A new structure is presented in this paper: a three-terminal a-Si solar cell. The new back-to-back p-i-n/n-i-p structure increased the average electric field in a solar cell. A typical a-Si p-i-n solar cell was also simulated for comparison using the same thickness and material parameters. The 0.28 μm-thick three-terminal a-Si solar cell achieved an efficiency of 11.4%, while the efficiency of a typical a-Si p-i-n solar cell was 9.0%. Furthermore, an efficiency of 11.7% was achieved by thickness optimization of the three-terminal solar cell.

a-Si:H/c-Si heterojunction front- and back contacts for silicon solar cells with p-type base

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rostan, Philipp Johannes

2010-07-01

This thesis reports on low temperature amorphous silicon back and front contacts for high-efficiency crystalline silicon solar cells with a p-type base. The back contact uses a sequence of intrinsic amorphous (i-a-Si:H) and boron doped microcrystalline (p-{mu}c-Si:H) silicon layers fabricated by Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (PECVD) and a magnetron sputtered ZnO:Al layer. The back contact is finished by evaporating Al onto the ZnO:Al and altogether prepared at a maximum temperature of 220 C. Analysis of the electronic transport of mobile charge carriers at the back contact shows that the two high-efficiency requirements low back contact series resistance and high quality c-Si surface passivation are in strong contradiction to each other, thus difficult to achieve at the same time. The preparation of resistance- and effective lifetime samples allows one to investigate both requirements independently. Analysis of the majority charge carrier transport on complete Al/ZnO:Al/a-Si:H/c-Si back contact structures derives the resistive properties. Measurements of the effective minority carrier lifetime on a-Si:H coated wafers determines the back contact surface passivation quality. Both high-efficiency solar cell requirements together are analyzed in complete photovoltaic devices where the back contact series resistance mainly affects the fill factor and the back contact passivation quality mainly affects the open circuit voltage. The best cell equipped with a diffused emitter with random texture and a full-area a-Si:H/c-Si back contact has an independently confirmed efficiency {eta} = 21.0 % with an open circuit voltage V{sub oc} = 681 mV and a fill factor FF = 78.7 % on an area of 1 cm{sup 2}. An alternative concept that uses a simplified a-Si:H layer sequence combined with Al-point contacts yields a confirmed efficiency {eta} = 19.3 % with an open circuit voltage V{sub oc} = 655 mV and a fill factor FF = 79.5 % on an area of 2 cm{sup 2}. Analysis of the

Enhancement of Si solar cell efficiency using ZnO nanowires with various diameters

Science.gov (United States)

Gholizadeh, A.; Reyhani, A.; Parvin, P.; Mortazavi, S. Z.; Mehrabi, M.

2018-01-01

Here, Zinc Oxide nanowires are synthesized using thermal chemical vapor deposition of a Zn granulate source and used to enhance a significant Si-solar cell efficiency with simple and low cost method. The nanowires are grown in various O2 flow rates. Those affect the shape, yield, structure and the quality of ZnO nanowires according to scanning electron microscopy and x-ray diffraction analyses. This delineates that the ZnO nanostructure is dependent on the synthesis conditions. The photoluminescence spectroscopy of ZnO indicates optical emission at the Ultra-Violet and blue-green regions whose intensity varies as a function of diameter of ZnO nano-wires. The optical property of ZnO layer is measured by UV-visible and diffuse reflection spectroscopy that demonstrate high absorbance at 280-550 nm. Furthermore, the photovoltaic characterization of ZnO nanowires is investigated based on the drop casting on Si-solar cell. The ZnO nanowires with various diameters demonstrate different effects on the efficiency of Si-solar cells. We have shown that the reduction of the spectral reflectance and down-shifting process as well as the reduction of photon trapping are essential parameters on the efficiency of Si-solar cells. However, the latter is dominated here. In fact, the trapped photons during the electron-hole generation are dominant due to lessening the absorption rate in ZnO nano-wires. The results indicate that the mean diameters reduction of ZnO nanowires is also essential to improve the fill factor. The external and internal quantum efficiency analyses attest the efficiency improvement over the blue region which is related to the key parameters above.

Fe gettering by p+ layer in bifacial Si solar cell fabrication

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Terakawa, T.; Wang, D.; Nakashima, H.

2006-01-01

Gettering behaviors of Fe into solar cell grade Si are investigated by deep level transient spectroscopy. The samples contaminated with Fe in the range of the concentration of 1.5x10 12 -2.0x10 14 cm -3 were annealed at 600 deg. C to induce gettering. It is shown that the surface layer gettering behaviors of Fe for the sample without p + layer strongly depend on the Fe contamination level, in which the surface layer gettering is not effective for the sample with low level contamination 13 cm -3 but effective for the sample with middle level contamination of 1-5x10 13 cm -3 . In contrast, the samples with p + layer show effective gettering for low and middle level contaminations. The gettering mechanisms in solar cell grade Si without and with p + layer are discussed in details

Effect of the CO2/SiH4 Ratio in the p-μc-SiO:H Emitter Layer on the Performance of Crystalline Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cells

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jaran Sritharathikhun

2014-01-01

Full Text Available This paper reports the preparation of wide gap p-type hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon oxide (p-μc-SiO:H films using a 40 MHz very high frequency plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition technique. The reported work focused on the effects of the CO2/SiH4 ratio on the properties of p-μc-SiO:H films and the effectiveness of the films as an emitter layer of crystalline silicon heterojunction (c-Si-HJ solar cells. A p-μc-SiO:H film with a wide optical band gap (E04, 2.1 eV, can be obtained by increasing the CO2/SiH4 ratio; however, the tradeoff between E04 and dark conductivity must be considered. The CO2/SiH4 ratio of the p-μc-SiO:H emitter layer also significantly affects the performance of the solar cells. Compared to the cell using p-μc-Si:H (CO2/SiH4 = 0, the cell with the p-μc-SiO:H emitter layer performs more efficiently. We have achieved the highest efficiency of 18.3% with an open-circuit voltage (Voc of 692 mV from the cell using the p-μc-SiO:H layer. The enhancement in the Voc and the efficiency of the solar cells verified the potential of the p-μc-SiO:H films for use as the emitter layer in c-Si-HJ solar cells.

Argon plasma treatment of silicon nitride (SiN) for improved antireflection coating on c-Si solar cells

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ghosh, Hemanta; Mitra, Suchismita; Saha, Hiranmay; Datta, Swapan Kumar; Banerjee, Chandan, E-mail: chandanbanerjee74@gmail.com

2017-01-15

Highlights: • Antireflection properties of argon plasma treated silicon nitride layer and its effect on crystalline silicon solar cell. • The reduction in reflection due to the formation of a silicon oxynitride/silicon nitride double layer. • EQE reveals a relative increase of 2.72% in J{sub sc} and 4.46% in conversion efficiency. - Abstract: Antireflection properties of argon plasma treated silicon nitride layer and its effect on crystalline silicon solar cell is presented here. Hydrogenated silicon nitride (a-SiN:H) layer has been deposited on a silicon substrate by Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapour Deposition (PECVD) using a mixture of silane (SiH{sub 4}), ammonia (NH{sub 3}) and hydrogen (H{sub 2}) gases followed by a argon plasma treatment. Optical analysis reveals a significant reduction in reflectance after argon plasma treatment of silicon nitride layer. While FESEM shows nanostructures on the surface of the silicon nitride film, FTIR reveals a change in Si−N, Si−O and N−H bonds. On the other hand, ellipsometry shows the variation of refractive index and formation of double layer. Finally, a c-Si solar cell has been fabricated with the said anti-reflection coating. External quantum efficiency reveals a relative increase of 2.72% in the short circuit current density and 4.46% in conversion efficiency over a baseline efficiency of 16.58%.

Reduction of bonding resistance of two-terminal III-V/Si tandem solar cells fabricated using smart-stack technology

Science.gov (United States)

Baba, Masaaki; Makita, Kikuo; Mizuno, Hidenori; Takato, Hidetaka; Sugaya, Takeyoshi; Yamada, Noboru

2017-12-01

This paper describes a method that remarkably reduces the bonding resistance of mechanically stacked two-terminal GaAs/Si and InGaP/Si tandem solar cells, where the top and bottom cells are bonded using a Pd nanoparticle array. A transparent conductive oxide (TCO) layer, which partially covers the surface of the Si bottom cell below the electrodes of the III-V top cell, significantly enhances the fill factor (FF) and cell conversion efficiency. The partial TCO layer reduces the bonding resistance and thus, increases the FF and efficiency of InGaP/Si by factors of 1.20 and 1.11, respectively. Eventually, the efficiency exceeds 15%. Minimizing the optical losses at the bonding interfaces of the TCO layer is important in the fabrication of high-efficiency solar cells. To help facilitate this, the optical losses in the tandem solar cells are thoroughly characterized through optical simulations and experimental verifications.

A Generalized Theory Explains the Anomalous Suns–Voc Response of Si Heterojunction Solar Cells

KAUST Repository

Chavali, Raghu Vamsi Krishna; Li, Jian V.; Battaglia, Corsin; De Wolf, Stefaan; Gray, Jeffery Lynn; Alam, Muhammad Ashraful

2016-01-01

Suns–Voc measurements exclude parasitic series resistance effects and are, therefore, frequently used to study the intrinsic potential of a given photovoltaic technology. However, when applied to a-Si/c-Si heterojunction (SHJ) solar cells, the Suns

Optimisation of electronic interface properties of a-Si:H/c-Si hetero-junction solar cells by wet-chemical surface pre-treatment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Angermann, H. [Hahn-Meitner-Institut, Abt. Siliziumphotovoltaik, Kekulestrasse 5, D-12489 Berlin (Germany)], E-mail: angermann@hmi.de; Korte, L.; Rappich, J.; Conrad, E.; Sieber, I.; Schmidt, M. [Hahn-Meitner-Institut, Abt. Siliziumphotovoltaik, Kekulestrasse 5, D-12489 Berlin (Germany); Huebener, K.; Hauschild, J. [Freie Universitaet Berlin, FB Physik, Arnimallee 14, 14195 Berlin (Germany)

2008-08-30

The relation between structural imperfections at structured silicon surfaces, energetic distribution of interface state densities, recombination loss at a-Si:H/c-Si interfaces and solar cell characteristics have been intensively investigated using non-destructive, surface sensitive techniques, surface photovoltage (SPV) and photoluminescence (PL) measurements, atomic force microscopy (AFM) and electron microscopy (SEM). Sequences of wet-chemical oxidation and etching steps were optimised with respect to the etching behaviour of Si(111) pyramids. Special wet-chemical smoothing and oxide removal procedures for structured substrates were developed, in order to reduce the preparation-induced surface micro-roughness and density of electronically active defects. H-termination and passivation by wet-chemical oxides were used to inhibit surface contamination and native oxidation during the technological process. We achieved significantly lower micro-roughness, densities of surface states D{sub it}(E) and recombination loss at a-Si:H/c-Si interfaces on wafers with randomly distributed pyramids, compared to conventional pre-treatments. For amorphous-crystalline hetero-junction solar cells (ZnO/a-Si:H/c-Si/BSF/Al), the c-Si surface becomes part of the a-Si:H/c-Si interface, whose recombination activity determines cell performance. With textured substrates, the smoothening procedure results in a significant increase of short circuit current, fill factor and efficiency.

Optimisation of electronic interface properties of a-Si:H/c-Si hetero-junction solar cells by wet-chemical surface pre-treatment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Angermann, H.; Korte, L.; Rappich, J.; Conrad, E.; Sieber, I.; Schmidt, M.; Huebener, K.; Hauschild, J.

2008-01-01

The relation between structural imperfections at structured silicon surfaces, energetic distribution of interface state densities, recombination loss at a-Si:H/c-Si interfaces and solar cell characteristics have been intensively investigated using non-destructive, surface sensitive techniques, surface photovoltage (SPV) and photoluminescence (PL) measurements, atomic force microscopy (AFM) and electron microscopy (SEM). Sequences of wet-chemical oxidation and etching steps were optimised with respect to the etching behaviour of Si(111) pyramids. Special wet-chemical smoothing and oxide removal procedures for structured substrates were developed, in order to reduce the preparation-induced surface micro-roughness and density of electronically active defects. H-termination and passivation by wet-chemical oxides were used to inhibit surface contamination and native oxidation during the technological process. We achieved significantly lower micro-roughness, densities of surface states D it (E) and recombination loss at a-Si:H/c-Si interfaces on wafers with randomly distributed pyramids, compared to conventional pre-treatments. For amorphous-crystalline hetero-junction solar cells (ZnO/a-Si:H/c-Si/BSF/Al), the c-Si surface becomes part of the a-Si:H/c-Si interface, whose recombination activity determines cell performance. With textured substrates, the smoothening procedure results in a significant increase of short circuit current, fill factor and efficiency

Dependence of Performance of Si Nanowire Solar Cells on Geometry of the Nanowires

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Firoz Khan

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The dependence of performance of silicon nanowires (SiNWs solar cells on the growth condition of the SiNWs has been described. Metal-assisted electroless etching (MAE technique has been used to grow SiNWs array. Different concentration of aqueous solution containing AgNO3 and HF for Ag deposition is used. The diameter and density of SiNWs are found to be dependent on concentration of solution used for Ag deposition. The diameter and density of SiNWs have been used to calculate the filling ratio of the SINWs arrays. The filling ratio is increased with increase in AgNO3 concentration, whereas it is decreased with increase in HF concentration. The minimum reflectance value achieved is ~1% for SiNWs of length of ~1.2 μm in the wavelength range of 300–1000 nm. The performance and diode parameters strongly depend on the geometry of SiNWs. The maximum short circuit current density achieved is 35.6 mA/cm2. The conversion efficiency of solar cell is 9.73% for SiNWs with length, diameter, and wire density of ~1.2 μm, ~75 nm, and 90 μm−2, respectively.

A Generalized Theory Explains the Anomalous Suns–Voc Response of Si Heterojunction Solar Cells

KAUST Repository

Chavali, Raghu Vamsi Krishna

2016-11-30

Suns–Voc measurements exclude parasitic series resistance effects and are, therefore, frequently used to study the intrinsic potential of a given photovoltaic technology. However, when applied to a-Si/c-Si heterojunction (SHJ) solar cells, the Suns–Voc curves often feature a peculiar turnaround at high illumination intensities. Generally, this turn-around is attributed to extrinsic Schottky contacts that should disappear with process improvement. In this paper, we demonstrate that this voltage turnaround may be an intrinsic feature of SHJ solar cells, arising from the heterojunction (HJ), as well as its associated carrier-transport barriers, inherent to SHJ devices. We use numerical simulations to explore the full current–voltage (J–V) characteristics under different illumination and ambient temperature conditions. Using these characteristics, we establish the voltage and illumination-intensity bias, as well as temperature conditions necessary to observe the voltage turnaround in these cells. We validate our turnaround hypothesis using an extensive set of experiments on a high-efficiency SHJ solar cell and a molybdenum oxide (MoOx) based hole collector HJ solar cell. Our work consolidates Suns–Voc as a powerful characterization tool for extracting the cell parameters that limit efficiency in HJ devices.

SiO2 Antireflection Coatings Fabricated by Electron-Beam Evaporation for Black Monocrystalline Silicon Solar Cells

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Minghua Li

2014-01-01

Full Text Available In this work we prepared double-layer antireflection coatings (DARC by using the SiO2/SiNx:H heterostructure design. SiO2 thin films were deposited by electron-beam evaporation on the conventional solar cell with SiNx:H single-layer antireflection coatings (SARC, while to avoid the coverage of SiO2 on the front side busbars, a steel mask was utilized as the shelter. The thickness of the SiNx:H as bottom layer was fixed at 80 nm, and the varied thicknesses of the SiO2 as top layer were 105 nm and 122 nm. The results show that the SiO2/SiNx:H DARC have a much lower reflectance and higher external quantum efficiency (EQE in short wavelengths compared with the SiNx:H SARC. A higher energy conversion efficiency of 17.80% was obtained for solar cells with SiO2 (105 nm/SiNx:H (80 nm DARC, an absolute conversion efficiency increase of 0.32% compared with the conventional single SiNx:H-coated cells.

Optoelectrical modeling of solar cells based on c-Si/a-Si:H nanowire array: focus on the electrical transport in between the nanowires

Science.gov (United States)

Levtchenko, Alexandra; Le Gall, Sylvain; Lachaume, Raphaël; Michallon, Jérôme; Collin, Stéphane; Alvarez, José; Djebbour, Zakaria; Kleider, Jean-Paul

2018-06-01

By coupling optical and electrical modeling, we have investigated the photovoltaic performances of p-i-n radial nanowires array based on crystalline p-type silicon (c-Si) core/hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) shell. By varying either the doping concentration of the c-Si core, or back contact work function we can separate and highlight the contribution to the cell’s performance of the nanowires themselves (the radial cell) from the interspace between the nanowires (the planar cell). We show that the build-in potential (V bi) in the radial and planar cells strongly depends on the doping of c-Si core and the work function of the back contact respectively. Consequently, the solar cell’s performance is degraded if either the doping concentration of the c-Si core, or/and the work function of the back contact is too low. By inserting a thin (p) a-Si:H layer between both core/absorber and back contact/absorber, the performance of the solar cell can be improved by partly fixing the V bi at both interfaces due to strong electrostatic screening effect. Depositing such a buffer layer playing the role of an electrostatic screen for charge carriers is a suggested way of enhancing the performance of solar cells based on radial p-i-n or n-i-p nanowire array.

Passivation of defect states in Si and Si/SiO2 interface states by cyanide treatment: improvement of characteristics of pin-junction amorphous Si and crystalline Si-based metal-oxide-semiconductor junction solar cells

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fujiwara, N.; Fujinaga, T.; Niinobe, D.; Maida, O.; Takahashi, M.; Kobayashi, H.

2003-01-01

Defect states in Si can be passivated by cyanide treatment which simply involves immersion of Si materials in KCN solutions, followed by rinse. When the cyanide treatment is applied to pin-junction amorphous Si [a-Si] solar cells, the initial conversion efficiency increases. When the crown-ether cyanide treatment using a KCN solution of xylene containing 18-crown-6 is performed on i-a-Si films, decreases in the photo- and dark current densities with the irradiation time are prevented. The cyanide treatment can also passivate interface states present at Si/SiO 2 interfaces, leading to an increase in the conversion efficiency of 2 / Si (100)> solar cells.. Si-CN bonds formed by the reaction of defect states with cyanide ions have a high bond energy of about 4.5 eV and hence heat treatment at 800 0 C does not rupture the bonds, making thermal stability of the cyanide treatment.. When the cyanide treatment is applied to ultrathin SiO 2 /Si structure, the leakage current density is markedly decreased (Authors)

Numerical investigation of a double-junction a:SiGe thin-film solar cell including the multi-trench region

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kacha, K.; Djeffal, F.; Ferhati, H.; Arar, D.; Meguellati, M.

2015-01-01

We present a new approach based on the multi-trench technique to improve the electrical performances, which are the fill factor and the electrical efficiency. The key idea behind this approach is to introduce a new multi-trench region in the intrinsic layer, in order to modulate the total resistance of the solar cell. Based on 2-D numerical investigation and optimization of amorphous SiGe double-junction (a-Si:H/a-SiGe:H) thin film solar cells, in the present paper numerical models of electrical and optical parameters are developed to explain the impact of the multi-trench technique on the improvement of the double-junction solar cell electrical behavior for high performance photovoltaic applications. In this context, electrical characteristics of the proposed design are analyzed and compared with conventional amorphous silicon double-junction thin-film solar cells. (paper)

GaAsPN-based PIN solar cells MBE-grown on GaP substrates: toward the III-V/Si tandem solar cell

Science.gov (United States)

Da Silva, M.; Almosni, S.; Cornet, C.; Létoublon, A.; Levallois, C.; Rale, P.; Lombez, L.; Guillemoles, J.-F.; Durand, O.

2015-03-01

GaAsPN semiconductors are promising material for the elaboration of high efficiencies tandem solar cells on silicon substrates. GaAsPN diluted nitride alloy is studied as the top junction material due to its perfect lattice matching with the Si substrate and its ideal bandgap energy allowing a perfect current matching with the Si bottom cell. We review our recent progress in materials development of the GaAsPN alloy and our recent studies of some of the different building blocks toward the elaboration of a PIN solar cell. A lattice matched (with a GaP(001) substrate, as a first step toward the elaboration on a Si substrate) 1μm-thick GaAsPN alloy has been grown by MBE. After a post-growth annealing step, this alloy displays a strong absorption around 1.8-1.9 eV, and efficient photoluminescence at room temperature suitable for the elaboration of the targeted solar cell top junction. Early stage GaAsPN PIN solar cells prototypes have been grown on GaP (001) substrates, with 2 different absorber thicknesses (1μm and 0.3μm). The external quantum efficiencies and the I-V curves show that carriers have been extracted from the GaAsPN alloy absorbers, with an open-circuit voltage of 1.18 V, while displaying low short circuit currents meaning that the GaAsPN structural properties needs a further optimization. A better carrier extraction has been observed with the absorber displaying the smallest thickness, which is coherent with a low carriers diffusion length in our GaAsPN compound. Considering all the pathways for improvement, the efficiency obtained under AM1.5G is however promising.

An Isotope Study of Hydrogenation of poly-Si/SiOx Passivated Contacts for Si Solar Cells: Preprint

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schnabel, Manuel; Nemeth, William; van de Loo, Bas, W.H.; Macco, Bart; Kessels, Wilhelmus, M.M.; Stradins, Paul; Young, David, L.

2017-06-26

For many years, the record Si solar cell efficiency stood at 25.0%. Only recently have several companies and institutes managed to produce more efficient cells, using passivated contacts of made doped poly-Si or a-Si:H and a passivating intrinsic interlayer in all cases. Common to these designs is the need to passivate the layer stack with hydrogen. In this contribution, we perform a systematic study of passivated contact passivation by hydrogen, using poly-Si/SiOx passivated contacts on n-Cz-Si, and ALD Al2O3 followed by a forming gas anneal (FGA) as the hydrogen source. We study p-type and n-type passivated contacts with implied Voc exceeding 690 and 720 mV, respectively, and perform either the ALD step or the FGA with deuterium instead of hydrogen in order to separate the two processes via SIMS. By examining the deuterium concentration at the SiOx in both types of samples, we demonstrate that the FGA supplies negligible hydrogen species to the SiOx, regardless of whether the FGA is hydrogenated or deuterated. Instead, it supplies the thermal energy needed for hydrogen species in the Al2O3 to diffuse there. Furthermore, the concentration of hydrogen species at the SiOx can saturate while implied Voc continues to increase, showing that the energy from the FGA is also required for hydrogen species already at the SiOx to find recombination-active defects to passivate.

Solar cells based upon multicrystalline Si with DLC antireflection and passivating coatings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Klyui, N.; Litovchenko, V.; Neselevska, L.; Kostylyov, V.; Sarikov, A.; Taraschenko, N.; Kittler, M.; Seifert, W.

2006-01-01

The characteristics of multicrystalline Si solar cells covered by diamond-like carbon (DLC) antireflection coatings been experimentally studied. It has been shown that this kind of coating provides a significant increase of the efficiency of solar cells mainly due to the increase of the short-circuit current density. The effects of antireflection and of the surface and bulk passivation on the SC current-voltage characteristics due to the DLC deposition have been investigated theoretically. Physical mechanisms underlying the observed effects have been proposed

Enhanced photocurrent density in graphene/Si based solar cell (GSSC) by optimizing active layer thickness

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rosikhin, Ahmad; Hidayat, Aulia Fikri; Syuhada, Ibnu; Winata, Toto

2015-01-01

Thickness dependent photocurrent density in active layer of graphene/Si based solar cell has been investigated via analytical – simulation study. This report is a preliminary comparison of experimental and analytical investigation of graphene/Si based solar cell. Graphene sheet was interfaced with Si thin film forming heterojunction solar cell that was treated as a device model for photocurrent generator. Such current can be enhanced by optimizing active layer thickness and involving metal oxide as supporting layer to shift photons absorption. In this case there are two type of devices model with and without TiO 2 in which the silicon thickness varied at 20 – 100 nm. All of them have examined and also compared with each other to obtain an optimum value. From this calculation it found that generated currents almost linear with thickness but there are saturated conditions that no more enhancements will be achieved. Furthermore TiO 2 layer is effectively increases photon absorption but reducing device stability, maximum current is fluctuates enough. This may caused by the disturbance of excitons diffusion and resistivity inside each layer. Finally by controlling active layer thickness, it is quite useful to estimate optimization in order to develop the next solar cell devices

Enhanced photocurrent density in graphene/Si based solar cell (GSSC) by optimizing active layer thickness

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rosikhin, Ahmad, E-mail: a.rosikhin86@yahoo.co.id; Hidayat, Aulia Fikri; Syuhada, Ibnu; Winata, Toto, E-mail: toto@fi.itb.ac.id [Department of physics, physics of electronic materials research division Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Institut Teknologi Bandung Jl. Ganesha 10, Bandung 40132, Jawa Barat – Indonesia (Indonesia)

2015-12-29

Thickness dependent photocurrent density in active layer of graphene/Si based solar cell has been investigated via analytical – simulation study. This report is a preliminary comparison of experimental and analytical investigation of graphene/Si based solar cell. Graphene sheet was interfaced with Si thin film forming heterojunction solar cell that was treated as a device model for photocurrent generator. Such current can be enhanced by optimizing active layer thickness and involving metal oxide as supporting layer to shift photons absorption. In this case there are two type of devices model with and without TiO{sub 2} in which the silicon thickness varied at 20 – 100 nm. All of them have examined and also compared with each other to obtain an optimum value. From this calculation it found that generated currents almost linear with thickness but there are saturated conditions that no more enhancements will be achieved. Furthermore TiO{sub 2} layer is effectively increases photon absorption but reducing device stability, maximum current is fluctuates enough. This may caused by the disturbance of excitons diffusion and resistivity inside each layer. Finally by controlling active layer thickness, it is quite useful to estimate optimization in order to develop the next solar cell devices.

Formation of BaSi2 heterojunction solar cells using transparent MoOx hole transport layers

Science.gov (United States)

Du, W.; Takabe, R.; Baba, M.; Takeuchi, H.; Hara, K. O.; Toko, K.; Usami, N.; Suemasu, T.

2015-03-01

Heterojunction solar cells that consist of 15 nm thick molybdenum trioxide (MoOx, x < 3) as a hole transport layer and 600 nm thick unpassivated or passivated n-BaSi2 layers were demonstrated. Rectifying current-voltage characteristics were observed when the surface of BaSi2 was exposed to air. When the exposure time was decreased to 1 min, an open circuit voltage of 200 mV and a short circuit current density of 0.5 mA/cm2 were obtained under AM1.5 illumination. The photocurrent density under a reverse bias voltage of -1 V reached 25 mA/cm2, which demonstrates the significant potential of BaSi2 for solar cell applications.

Optoelectronic Evaluation and Loss Analysis of PEDOT:PSS/Si Hybrid Heterojunction Solar Cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Zhenhai; Fang, Zebo; Sheng, Jiang; Ling, Zhaoheng; Liu, Zhaolang; Zhu, Juye; Gao, Pingqi; Ye, Jichun

2017-12-01

The organic/silicon (Si) hybrid heterojunction solar cells (HHSCs) have attracted considerable attention due to their potential advantages in high efficiency and low cost. However, as a newly arisen photovoltaic device, its current efficiency is still much worse than commercially available Si solar cells. Therefore, a comprehensive and systematical optoelectronic evaluation and loss analysis on this HHSC is therefore highly necessary to fully explore its efficiency potential. Here, a thoroughly optoelectronic simulation is provided on a typical planar polymer poly (3,4-ethylenedioxy thiophene):polystyrenesulfonate (PEDOT:PSS)/Si HHSC. The calculated spectra of reflection and external quantum efficiency (EQE) match well with the experimental results in a full-wavelength range. The losses in current density, which are contributed by both optical losses (i.e., reflection, electrode shield, and parasitic absorption) and electrical recombination (i.e., the bulk and surface recombination), are predicted via carefully addressing the electromagnetic and carrier-transport processes. In addition, the effects of Si doping concentrations and rear surface recombination velocities on the device performance are fully investigated. The results drawn in this study are beneficial to the guidance of designing high-performance PEDOT:PSS/Si HHSCs.

Proton irradiation effects of amorphous silicon solar cell for solar power satellite

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Morita, Yousuke; Oshima, Takeshi [Japan Atomic Energy Research Inst., Takasaki, Gunma (Japan). Takasaki Radiation Chemistry Research Establishment; Sasaki, Susumu; Kuroda, Hideo; Ushirokawa, Akio

1997-03-01

Flexible amorphous silicon(fa-Si) solar cell module, a thin film type, is regarded as a realistic power generator for solar power satellite. The radiation resistance of fa-Si cells was investigated by the irradiations of 3,4 and 10 MeV protons. The hydrogen gas treatment of the irradiated fa-Si cells was also studied. The fa-Si cell shows high radiation resistance for proton irradiations, compared with a crystalline silicon solar cell. (author)

Novel Rear Side Metallization Route for Si Solar Cells Using a Transparent Conducting Adhesive: Preprint

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schnabel, Manuel [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Klein, Talysa [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Lee, Benjamin G [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Nemeth, William M [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); LaSalvia, Vincenzo A [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Van Hest, Marinus F [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Stradins, Paul [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

2018-03-14

The rear side metallization of Si solar cells comes with a number of inherent losses and trade-offs: a larger metallized area fraction improves fill factor at the expense of open-circuit voltage, depositing directly on textured Si leads to low contact resistivity at the expense of short-circuit current, and some metallization processes create defects in Si. To mitigate many of these losses we have developed a novel approach for rear side metallization of Si solar cells, utilizing a transparent conducting adhesive (TCA) to metallize Si without exposing the wafer to the metal deposition process. The TCA consists of an insulating adhesive loaded with conductive microspheres. This approach leads to virtually no loss in implied open-circuit voltage upon metallization. Electrical measurements showed that contact resistivities of 3-9 ..omega.. cm2 were achieved, and an analysis of the transit resistance per microsphere showed that less than 1 ..omega.. cm2 should be achievable with higher microsphere loading of the TCA.

Reduction in interface defect density in p-BaSi2/n-Si heterojunction solar cells by a modified pretreatment of the Si substrate

Science.gov (United States)

Yamashita, Yudai; Yachi, Suguru; Takabe, Ryota; Sato, Takuma; Emha Bayu, Miftahullatif; Toko, Kaoru; Suemasu, Takashi

2018-02-01

We have investigated defects that occurred at the interface of p-BaSi2/n-Si heterojunction solar cells that were fabricated by molecular beam epitaxy. X-ray diffraction measurements indicated that BaSi2 (a-axis-oriented) was subjected to in-plane compressive strain, which relaxed when the thickness of the p-BaSi2 layer exceeded 50 nm. Additionally, transmission electron microscopy revealed defects in the Si layer near steps that were present on the Si(111) substrate. Deep level transient spectroscopy revealed two different electron traps in the n-Si layer that were located at 0.33 eV (E1) and 0.19 eV (E2) below the conduction band edge. The densities of E1 and E2 levels in the region close to the heterointerface were approximately 1014 cm-3. The density of these electron traps decreased below the limits of detection following Si pretreatment to remove the oxide layers from the n-Si substrate, which involved heating the substrate to 800 °C for 30 min under ultrahigh vacuum while depositing a layer of Si (1 nm). The remaining traps in the n-Si layer were hole traps located at 0.65 eV (H1) and 0.38 eV (H2) above the valence band edge. Their densities were as low as 1010 cm-3. Following pretreatment, the current versus voltage characteristics of the p-BaSi2/n-Si solar cells under AM1.5 illumination were reproducible with conversion efficiencies beyond 5% when using a p-BaSi2 layer thickness of 100 nm. The origin of the H2 level is discussed.

The investigation of influence of accelerated electrons on SiO2 used in silicon solar cells

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abdullaev, G.B.; Bakirov, M.Ya; Akhmedov, G.M.; Safarov, N.A.; Safarova, F.D.

1994-01-01

The process of radiation defects production in enlightened SiO 2 layers coated on silicon solar cells was studied. During irradiation the silicon solar cells with enlightened layers radiation defects are formed both in silicon and SiO 2 thus making worse photo energetic parameters of cells. For investigation of radiation effects formed under irradiation by electrons with 5 MeV energy and cobalt-60 gamma-rays photoluminescence, absorption spectra and electron spin resonance methods were used. It is supposed that main radiation defects in silicon dioxide are E'-centers and oxygen vacancies. (A.D. Avezov). 10 refs.; 2 figs

Dependence of open-circuit voltage of SnO2-nSi solar cells; SnO2-nSi taiyo denchi no sanka ondo menhoi izonsei

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shinoda, S; Shimizu, A; Yano, K; Kasuga, M [Yamanashi University, Yamanashi (Japan). Faculty of Engineering

1997-11-25

Although metal(or semiconductor)-semiconductor solar cells, SnO2-nSi solar cell for example, are superior in cost and efficiency, its barrier height and open-circuit voltage V(oc) are lower than those of p-n junctions. To improve these defects, study was made on the dependence of V(oc) on oxidation temperature and surface orientation using various solar cells prepared from (100)Si and (111)Si under various oxidation conditions. As a result, the density of surface states increases with a decrease in oxidation temperature of Si substrates, resulting in an increase in diode factor and V(oc). In this case, since oxide films are extremely thin and contribution of non-terminated bonds is large in the initial oxidation stage, the quantity of dangling bonds is larger in (100) plane than (111) plane, resulting in an increase in diode factor and V(oc). Since the surface energy level (the degree of electrons dominated by acceptor-like surface state from this level to the top of a valence band) of (100) Si is lower than that of (111) Si, the effective barrier height and V(oc) increase. 28 refs., 6 figs., 2 tabs.

Influence of base pressure and atmospheric contaminants on a-Si:H solar cell properties

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Woerdenweber, J.; Schmitz, R.; Mueck, A.; Zastrow, U.; Niessen, L.; Gordijn, A.; Carius, R.; Beyer, W.; Rau, U.; Merdzhanova, T.; Stiebig, H.

2008-01-01

The influence of atmospheric contaminants oxygen and nitrogen on the performance of thin-film hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) solar cells grown by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition at 13.56 MHz was systematically investigated. The question is addressed as to what degree of high base pressures (up to 10 -4 Torr) are compatible with the preparation of good quality amorphous silicon based solar cells. The data show that for the intrinsic a-Si:H absorber layer exists critical oxygen and nitrogen contamination levels (about 2x10 19 atoms/cm 3 and 4x10 18 atoms/cm 3 , respectively). These levels define the minimum impurity concentration that causes a deterioration in solar cell performance. This critical concentration is found to depend little on the applied deposition regime. By enhancing, for example, the flow of process gases, a higher base pressure (and leak rate) can be tolerated before reaching the critical contamination level. The electrical properties of the corresponding films show that increasing oxygen and nitrogen contamination results in an increase in dark conductivity and photoconductivity, while activation energy and photosensitivity are decreased. These effects are attributed to nitrogen and oxygen induced donor states, which cause a shift of the Fermi level toward the conduction band and presumably deteriorate the built-in electric field in the solar cells. Higher doping efficiencies are observed for nitrogen compared to oxygen. Alloying effects (formation of SiO x ) are observed for oxygen contaminations above 10 20 atoms/cm 3 , leading to an increase in the band gap

Interfacial micropore defect formation in PEDOT:PSS-Si hybrid solar cells probed by TOF-SIMS 3D chemical imaging.

Science.gov (United States)

Thomas, Joseph P; Zhao, Liyan; Abd-Ellah, Marwa; Heinig, Nina F; Leung, K T

2013-07-16

Conducting p-type polymer layers on n-type Si have been widely studied for the fabrication of cost-effective hybrid solar cells. In this work, time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS) is used to provide three-dimensional chemical imaging of the interface between poly(3,4-ethylene-dioxythiophene):polystyrenesulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) and SiOx/Si in a hybrid solar cell. To minimize structural damage to the polymer layer, an Ar cluster sputtering source is used for depth profiling. The present result shows the formation of micropore defects in the interface region of the PEDOT:PSS layer on the SiOx/Si substrate. This interfacial micropore defect formation becomes more prominent with increasing thickness of the native oxide layer, which is a key device parameter that greatly affects the hybrid solar cell performance. Three-dimensional chemical imaging coupled with Ar cluster ion sputtering has therefore been demonstrated as an emerging technique for probing the interface of this and other polymer-inorganic systems.

Hydrogen passivation of polycrystalline Si thin film solar cells

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gorka, Benjamin

2010-01-01

Hydrogen passivation is a key process step in the fabrication of polycrystalline Si (poly-Si) thin film solar cells. In this work a parallel plate rf plasma setup was used for the hydrogen passivation treatment. The main topics that have been investigated are (i) the role of plasma parameters (like hydrogen pressure, electrode gap and plasma power), (ii) the dynamics of the hydrogen treatment and (iii) passivation of poly-Si with different material properties. Passivation was characterized by measuring the open-circuit voltage V OC of poly-Si reference samples. Optimum passivation conditions were found by measurements of the breakdown voltage V brk of the plasma for different pressures p and electrode gaps d. For each pressure, the best passivation was achieved at a gap d that corresponded to the minimum in V brk . Plasma simulations were carried out, which indicate that best V OC corresponds to a minimum in ion energy. V OC was not improved by a larger H flux. Investigations of the passivation dynamic showed that a plasma treatment in the lower temperature range (≤400 C) is slow and takes several hours for the V OC to saturate. Fast passivation can be successfully achieved at elevated temperatures around 500 C to 600 C with a plateau time of 10 min. It was found that prolonged hydrogenation leads to a loss in V OC , which is less pronounced within the observed optimum temperature range (500 C-600 C). Electron beam evaporation has been investigated as an alternative method to fabricate poly-Si absorbers. The material properties have been tuned by alteration of substrate temperature T dep =200-700 C and were characterized by Raman, ESR and V OC measurements. Largest grains were obtained after solid phase crystallization (SPC) of a-Si, deposited in the temperature range of 300 C. The defect concentration of Si dangling bonds was lowered by passivation by about one order of magnitude. The lowest dangling bond concentration of 2.5.10 16 cm -3 after passivation was

Nanostructuring of Solar Cell Surfaces

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Davidsen, Rasmus Schmidt; Schmidt, Michael Stenbæk

Solar energy is by far the most abundant renewable energy source available, but the levelized cost of solar energy is still not competitive with that of fossil fuels. Therefore there is a need to improve the power conversion effciency of solar cells without adding to the production cost. The main...... objective of this PhD thesis is to develop nanostructured silicon (Si) solar cells with higher power conversion efficiency using only scalable and cost-efficient production methods. The nanostructures, known as 'black silicon', are fabricated by single-step, maskless reactive ion etching and used as front...... texturing of different Si solar cells. Theoretically the nanostructure topology may be described as a graded refractive index in a mean-field approximation between air and Si. The optical properties of the developed black Si were simulated and experimentally measured. Total AM1.5G-weighted average...

Acceptable contamination levels in solar grade silicon: From feedstock to solar cell

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hofstetter, J.; Lelievre, J.F.; Canizo, C.; Luque, A. del

2009-01-01

Ultimately, alternative ways of silicon purification for photovoltaic applications are developed and applied. There is an ongoing debate about what are the acceptable contamination levels within the purified silicon feedstock to specify the material as solar grade silicon. Applying a simple model and making some additional assumptions, we calculate the acceptable contamination levels of different characteristic impurities for each fabrication step of a typical industrial mc-Si solar cell. The acceptable impurity concentrations within the finished solar cell are calculated for SRH recombination exclusively and under low injection conditions. It is assumed that during solar cell fabrication impurity concentrations are only altered by a gettering step. During the crystallization process, impurity segregation at the solid-liquid interface and at extended defects are taken into account. Finally, the initial contamination levels allowed within the feedstock are deduced. The acceptable concentration of iron in the finished solar cell is determined to be 9.7x10 -3 ppma whereas the concentration in the silicon feedstock can be as high as 12.5 ppma. In comparison, the titanium concentration admitted in the solar cell is calculated to be 2.7x10 -4 ppma and the allowed concentration of 2.2x10 -2 ppma in the feedstock is only two orders of magnitude higher. Finally, it is shown theoretically and experimentally that slow cooling rates can lead to a decrease of the interstitial Fe concentration and thus relax the purity requirements in the feedstock.

Ion implantation into amorphous Si layers to form carrier-selective contacts for Si solar cells

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Feldmann, Frank; Mueller, Ralph; Reichel, Christian; Hermle, Martin

2014-01-01

This paper reports our findings on the boron and phosphorus doping of very thin amorphous silicon layers by low energy ion implantation. These doped layers are implemented into a so-called tunnel oxide passivated contact structure for Si solar cells. They act as carrier-selective contacts and, thereby, lead to a significant reduction of the cell's recombination current. In this paper we address the influence of ion energy and ion dose in conjunction with the obligatory high-temperature anneal needed for the realization of the passivation quality of the carrier-selective contacts. The good results on the phosphorus-doped (implied V oc = 725 mV) and boron-doped passivated contacts (iV oc = 694 mV) open a promising route to a simplified interdigitated back contact (IBC) solar cell featuring passivated contacts. (copyright 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim) (orig.)

Fundamental Research and Development for Improved Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells: Final Subcontract Report, March 2002 - July 2006

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rohatgi, A.

2007-11-01

This report summarizes the progress made by Georgia Tech in the 2002-2006 period toward high-efficiency, low-cost crystalline silicon solar cells. This program emphasize fundamental and applied research on commercial substrates and manufacturable technologies. A combination of material characterization, device modeling, technology development, and complete cell fabrication were used to accomplish the goals of this program. This report is divided into five sections that summarize our work on i) PECVD SiN-induced defect passivation (Sections 1 and 2); ii) the effect of material inhomogeneity on the performance of mc-Si solar cells (Section 3); iii) a comparison of light-induced degradation in commercially grown Ga- and B-doped Czochralski Si ingots (Section 4); and iv) the understanding of the formation of high-quality thick-film Ag contacts on high sheet-resistance emitters (Section 5).

High-Rate Fabrication of a-Si-Based Thin-Film Solar Cells Using Large-Area VHF PECVD Processes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Deng, Xunming [University of Toledo; Fan, Qi Hua

2011-12-31

The University of Toledo (UT), working in concert with it’s a-Si-based PV industry partner Xunlight Corporation (Xunlight), has conducted a comprehensive study to develop a large-area (3ft x 3ft) VHF PECVD system for high rate uniform fabrication of silicon absorber layers, and the large-area VHF PECVD processes to achieve high performance a-Si/a-SiGe or a-Si/nc-Si tandem junction solar cells during the period of July 1, 2008 to Dec. 31, 2011, under DOE Award No. DE-FG36-08GO18073. The project had two primary goals: (i) to develop and improve a large area (3 ft × 3 ft) VHF PECVD system for high rate fabrication of > = 8 Å/s a-Si and >= 20 Å/s nc-Si or 4 Å/s a-SiGe absorber layers with high uniformity in film thicknesses and in material structures. (ii) to develop and optimize the large-area VHF PECVD processes to achieve high-performance a-Si/nc-Si or a-Si/a-SiGe tandem-junction solar cells with >= 10% stable efficiency. Our work has met the goals and is summarized in “Accomplishments versus goals and objectives”.

Growth and characterization of textured well-faceted ZnO on planar Si(100, planar Si(111, and textured Si(100 substrates for solar cell applications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chin-Yi Tsai

2017-09-01

Full Text Available In this work, textured, well-faceted ZnO materials grown on planar Si(100, planar Si(111, and textured Si(100 substrates by low-pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD were analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD, scanning electron microscopy (SEM, atomic force microscopy (AFM, and cathode luminescence (CL measurements. The results show that ZnO grown on planar Si(100, planar Si(111, and textured Si(100 substrates favor the growth of ZnO(110 ridge-like, ZnO(002 pyramid-like, and ZnO(101 pyramidal-tip structures, respectively. This could be attributed to the constraints of the lattice mismatch between the ZnO and Si unit cells. The average grain size of ZnO on the planar Si(100 substrate is slightly larger than that on the planar Si(111 substrate, while both of them are much larger than that on the textured Si(100 substrate. The average grain sizes (about 10–50 nm of the ZnO grown on the different silicon substrates decreases with the increase of their strains. These results are shown to strongly correlate with the results from the SEM, AFM, and CL as well. The reflectance spectra of these three samples show that the antireflection function provided by theses samples mostly results from the nanometer-scaled texture of the ZnO films, while the micrometer-scaled texture of the Si substrate has a limited contribution. The results of this work provide important information for optimized growth of textured and well-faceted ZnO grown on wafer-based silicon solar cells and can be utilized for efficiency enhancement and optimization of device materials and structures, such as heterojunction with intrinsic thin layer (HIT solar cells.

The effect of oxidation time on the parameters of ITO/Si solar cell prepared by spray pyrolysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kandil, S. A; Afifi, H. H; El-hefnawi, S. H; Eliwa, A.Y [Electronic Research Institute, Dokki, Cairo (Egypt)

2000-07-01

The indium tin oxide (ITO/N-Si) solar cells have been fabricated by spray pyrolysis technique. The silicon wafers are heated at 500 Celsius degrees with different oxidation time (2-20 min). The best values obtained for ITO/Si solar cell output parameters; open circuit voltage V{sub o}c, short circuit current density J{sub s}c, fill factor FF and efficiency {eta} are 0.48 V, 15 mA/cm{sup 2}, 0.7 and 10.1% respectively. The preceding results were obtained under conditions of 5 minutes oxidation time and the surface area equal to 8 mm{sup 2} when the light intensity is 50 MW/ cm{sup 2}. The values of V{sub o}c, J{sub s}c, FF and {eta} are affected strongly by the varying the oxidation time. This paper is devoted to explain the effect of the interfacial layer SiO{sub 2} thickness on the ITO/Si solar cell parameters as deduced from the I-V and C-V measurements. [Spanish] Mediante tecnicas de pirolisis de dispersion se han fabricado celdas solares de oxido de Indio estanado ITO/N-Si. Las obleas de silicon se calientan a 500 con diferentes tiempos de oxidacion (2-20 min.) Los mejores valores obtenidos para los parametros de produccion de las celdas solares ITO-Si de voltaje en circuito abierto V{sub o}c densidad de corriente de corto circuito J{sub s}c factor de llenado FF y eficiencia {eta} son de 0.48 V, 15 mA/cm{sup 2}, 0.7% y 10.1% respectivamente los resultados precedentes se obtuvieron bajo condiciones de 5 minutos de tiempo de oxidacion y la superficie del area=8 mm{sup 2} cuando la intensidad de la luz es de 50mW/Cm{sup 2}. Los valores de V{sub o}c, J{sub s}c, FF y {eta} se afectan fuertemente por la variacion del tiempo de oxidacion. Este articulo esta dedicado a explicar el efecto del espesor de la capa interfacial de SiO{sub 2} en los parametros de la celda solar ITO-Si como se deduce de las mediciones I-V y C-V.

Design and application of ion-implanted polySi passivating contacts for interdigitated back contact c-Si solar cells

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yang, Guangtao; Ingenito, Andrea; Hameren, Nienke van; Isabella, Olindo; Zeman, Miro

2016-01-01

Ion-implanted passivating contacts based on poly-crystalline silicon (polySi) are enabled by tunneling oxide, optimized, and used to fabricate interdigitated back contact (IBC) solar cells. Both n-type (phosphorous doped) and p-type (boron doped) passivating contacts are fabricated by ion-implantation of intrinsic polySi layers deposited via low-pressure chemical vapor deposition and subsequently annealed. The impact of doping profile on the passivation quality of the polySi doped contacts is studied for both polarities. It was found that an excellent surface passivation could be obtained by confining as much as possible the implanted-and-activated dopants within the polySi layers. The doping profile in the polySi was controlled by modifying the polySi thickness, the energy and dose of ion-implantation, and the temperature and time of annealing. An implied open-circuit voltage of 721 mV for n-type and 692 mV for p-type passivating contacts was achieved. Besides the high passivating quality, the developed passivating contacts exhibit reasonable high conductivity (R sh n-type  = 95 Ω/□ and R sh p-type  = 120 Ω/□). An efficiency of 19.2% (V oc  = 673 mV, J sc  = 38.0 mA/cm 2 , FF = 75.2%, and pseudo-FF = 83.2%) was achieved on a front-textured IBC solar cell with polySi passivating contacts as both back surface field and emitter. By improving the front-side passivation, a V OC of 696 mV was also measured

Nanoimprinted backside reflectors for a-Si:H thin-film solar cells: critical role of absorber front textures.

Science.gov (United States)

Tsao, Yao-Chung; Fisker, Christian; Pedersen, Thomas Garm

2014-05-05

The development of optimal backside reflectors (BSRs) is crucial for future low cost and high efficiency silicon (Si) thin-film solar cells. In this work, nanostructured polymer substrates with aluminum coatings intended as BSRs were produced by positive and negative nanoimprint lithography (NIL) techniques, and hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) was deposited hereon as absorbing layers. The relationship between optical properties and geometry of front textures was studied by combining experimental reflectance spectra and theoretical simulations. It was found that a significant height variation on front textures plays a critical role for light-trapping enhancement in solar cell applications. As a part of sample preparation, a transfer NIL process was developed to overcome the problem of low heat deflection temperature of polymer substrates during solar cell fabrication.

Numerical analysis on effect of annealing mc-Si ingot grown by DS process for PV application

Science.gov (United States)

Aravindan, G.; Srinivasan, M.; Aravinth, K.; Ramasamy, P.

2017-10-01

Silicon solar cells play a crucial role in Photo voltaic (PV) application. We have numerically investigated thermal stress and normal stress components (Sigma 11, Sigma 22, Sigma 33 and sigma 12) by using finite volume method. The maximum thermal stress has low value at the centre region for 900 K and 700 K annealing temperatures comparing all the cases. The maximum thermal stress at peripheral region is low for 700 K annealing compared to 900 K annealing. The annealing effect of mc-Si ingot normal stress components is discussed. At 700 K annealing temperature the normal stress in 11 and 33 direction has lower maximum and at the 900 K annealing temperature the normal stress in 22 and 12 direction has lower maximum.

Hydrogen passivation of polycrystalline Si thin film solar cells

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gorka, Benjamin

2010-12-15

Hydrogen passivation is a key process step in the fabrication of polycrystalline Si (poly-Si) thin film solar cells. In this work a parallel plate rf plasma setup was used for the hydrogen passivation treatment. The main topics that have been investigated are (i) the role of plasma parameters (like hydrogen pressure, electrode gap and plasma power), (ii) the dynamics of the hydrogen treatment and (iii) passivation of poly-Si with different material properties. Passivation was characterized by measuring the open-circuit voltage V{sub OC} of poly-Si reference samples. Optimum passivation conditions were found by measurements of the breakdown voltage V{sub brk} of the plasma for different pressures p and electrode gaps d. For each pressure, the best passivation was achieved at a gap d that corresponded to the minimum in V{sub brk}. Plasma simulations were carried out, which indicate that best V{sub OC} corresponds to a minimum in ion energy. V{sub OC} was not improved by a larger H flux. Investigations of the passivation dynamic showed that a plasma treatment in the lower temperature range ({<=}400 C) is slow and takes several hours for the V{sub OC} to saturate. Fast passivation can be successfully achieved at elevated temperatures around 500 C to 600 C with a plateau time of 10 min. It was found that prolonged hydrogenation leads to a loss in V{sub OC}, which is less pronounced within the observed optimum temperature range (500 C-600 C). Electron beam evaporation has been investigated as an alternative method to fabricate poly-Si absorbers. The material properties have been tuned by alteration of substrate temperature T{sub dep}=200-700 C and were characterized by Raman, ESR and V{sub OC} measurements. Largest grains were obtained after solid phase crystallization (SPC) of a-Si, deposited in the temperature range of 300 C. The defect concentration of Si dangling bonds was lowered by passivation by about one order of magnitude. The lowest dangling bond concentration

Broadband absorption enhancement in amorphous Si solar cells using metal gratings and surface texturing

Science.gov (United States)

Magdi, Sara; Swillam, Mohamed A.

2017-02-01

The efficiencies of thin film amorphous silicon (a-Si) solar cells are restricted by the small thickness required for efficient carrier collection. This thickness limitations result in poor light absorption. In this work, broadband absorption enhancement is theoretically achieved in a-Si solar cells by using nanostructured back electrode along with surface texturing. The back electrode is formed of Au nanogratings and the surface texturing consists of Si nanocones. The results were then compared to random texturing surfaces. Three dimensional finite difference time domain (FDTD) simulations are used to design and optimize the structure. The Au nanogratings achieved absorption enhancement in the long wavelengths due to sunlight coupling to surface plasmon polaritons (SPP) modes. High absorption enhancement was achieved at short wavelengths due to the decreased reflection and enhanced scattering inside the a-Si absorbing layer. Optimizations have been performed to obtain the optimal geometrical parameters for both the nanogratings and the periodic texturing. In addition, an enhancement factor (i.e. absorbed power in nanostructured device/absorbed power in reference device) was calculated to evaluate the enhancement obtained due to the incorporation of each nanostructure.

Al-Si alloy point contact formation and rear surface passivation for silicon solar cells using double layer porous silicon

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moumni, Besma; Ben Jaballah, Abdelkader; Bessais, Brahim

2012-01-01

Lowering the rear surface recombination velocities by a dielectric layer has fascinating advantages compared with the standard fully covered Al back-contact silicon solar cells. In this work the passivation effect by double layer porous silicon (PS) (wide band gap) and the formation of Al-Si alloy in narrow p-type Si point contact areas for rear passivated solar cells are analysed. As revealed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, we found that a thin passivating aluminum oxide (Al 2 O 3 ) layer is formed. Scanning electron microscopy analysis performed in cross sections shows that with bilayer PS, liquid Al penetrates into the openings, alloying with the Si substrate at depth and decreasing the contact resistivity. At the solar cell level, the reduction in the contact area and resistivity leads to a minimization of the fill factor losses.

Enhanced photovoltaic performances of graphene/Si solar cells by insertion of a MoS₂ thin film.

Science.gov (United States)

Tsuboi, Yuka; Wang, Feijiu; Kozawa, Daichi; Funahashi, Kazuma; Mouri, Shinichiro; Miyauchi, Yuhei; Takenobu, Taishi; Matsuda, Kazunari

2015-09-14

Transition-metal dichalcogenides exhibit great potential as active materials in optoelectronic devices because of their characteristic band structure. Here, we demonstrated that the photovoltaic performances of graphene/Si Schottky junction solar cells were significantly improved by inserting a chemical vapor deposition (CVD)-grown, large MoS2 thin-film layer. This layer functions as an effective electron-blocking/hole-transporting layer. We also demonstrated that the photovoltaic properties are enhanced with the increasing number of graphene layers and the decreasing thickness of the MoS2 layer. A high photovoltaic conversion efficiency of 11.1% was achieved with the optimized trilayer-graphene/MoS2/n-Si solar cell.

Surface Passivation for Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cells

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Deligiannis, D.

2017-01-01

Silicon heterojunction solar cells (SHJ) are currently one of the most promising solar cell technologies in the world. The SHJ solar cell is based on a crystalline silicon (c-Si) wafer, passivated on both sides with a thin intrinsic hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) layer. Subsequently, p-type

Explicit analytical modeling of the low frequency a-Si:H/c-Si heterojunction capacitance: Analysis and application to silicon heterojunction solar cells

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Maslova, O. [Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Miusskaya sq., 4, Moscow 125047 (Russian Federation); GeePs (Group of electrical engineering of Paris), CNRS UMR 8507, CentraleSupélec, Univ Paris-Sud, Sorbonne Universités-UPMC Univ Paris 06, 11 rue Joliot-Curie, Plateau de Moulon, F-91192 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex (France); Brézard-Oudot, A.; Gueunier-Farret, M.-E.; Alvarez, J.; Kleider, J.-P. [GeePs (Group of electrical engineering of Paris), CNRS UMR 8507, CentraleSupélec, Univ Paris-Sud, Sorbonne Universités-UPMC Univ Paris 06, 11 rue Joliot-Curie, Plateau de Moulon, F-91192 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex (France)

2015-09-21

We develop a fully analytical model in order to describe the temperature dependence of the low frequency capacitance of heterojunctions between hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) and crystalline silicon (c-Si). We demonstrate that the slope of the capacitance-temperature (C-T) curve is strongly enhanced if the c-Si surface is under strong inversion conditions compared to the usually assumed depletion layer capacitance. We have extended our analytical model to integrate a very thin undoped (i) a-Si:H layer at the interface and the finite thickness of the doped a-Si:H layer that are used in high efficiency solar cells for the passivation of interface defects and to limit short circuit current losses. Finally, using our calculations, we analyze experimental data on high efficiency silicon heterojunction solar cells. The transition from the strong inversion limited behavior to the depletion layer behavior is discussed in terms of band offsets, density of states in a-Si:H, and work function of the indium tin oxide (ITO) front electrode. In particular, it is evidenced that strong inversion conditions prevail at the c-Si surface at high temperatures down to 250 K, which can only be reproduced if the ITO work function is larger than 4.7 eV.

Variation of carrier concentration and interface trap density in 8MeV electron irradiated c-Si solar cells

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bhat, Sathyanarayana, E-mail: asharao76@gmail.com; Rao, Asha, E-mail: asharao76@gmail.com [Department of Physics, Mangalore Institute of Technology and Engineering, Moodabidri, Mangalore-574225 (India); Krishnan, Sheeja [Department of Physics, Sri Devi Institute of Technology, Kenjar, Mangalore-574142 (India); Sanjeev, Ganesh [Microtron Centre, Department of Physics, Mangalore University, Mangalagangothri-574199 (India); Suresh, E. P. [Solar Panel Division, ISRO Satellite Centre, Bangalore-560017 (India)

2014-04-24

The capacitance and conductance measurements were carried out for c-Si solar cells, irradiated with 8 MeV electrons with doses ranging from 5kGy – 100kGy in order to investigate the anomalous degradation of the cells in the radiation harsh environments. Capacitance – Voltage measurements indicate that there is a slight reduction in the carrier concentration upon electron irradiation due to the creation of radiation induced defects. The conductance measurement results reveal that the interface state densities and the trap time constant increases with electron dose due to displacement damages in c-Si solar cells.

Enhanced Photovoltaic Properties of Gradient Doping Solar Cells

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang Chun-Lei; Du Hui-Jing; Zhu Jian-Zhuo; Xu Tian-Fu; Fang Xiao-Yong

2012-01-01

An optimum design of a-Si:H(n)/a-Si:H(i)/c-Si(p) heterojunction solar cell is realized with 24.27% conversion efficiency by gradient doping of the a-Si:H(n) layer. The photovoltaic properties are simulated by the AFORSHET software. Besides the additional electric field caused by the gradient doping, the enhanced and widen spectral response also improves the solar cell performance compared with the uniform-doping mode. The simulation shows that the gradient doping is efficient to improve the photovoltaic performance of the solar cells. The study is valuable for the solar cell design with excellent performances

Further insight on recombination losses in the intrinsic layer of a-Si:H solar cells using computer modeling tools

Science.gov (United States)

Rubinelli, Francisco A.; Ramirez, Helena; Ruiz, Carlos M.; Schmidt, Javier A.

2017-05-01

Recombination losses of a-Si:H based p-i-n solar cells in the annealed state are analyzed with device computer modeling. Under AM1.5 illumination, the recombination rate in the intrinsic layer is shown to be controlled by a combination of losses through defect and tail states. The influence of the defect concentration on the characteristic parameters of a solar cell is analyzed. The impact on the light current-voltage characteristic curve of adopting very low free carrier mobilities and a high density of states at the band edge is explored under red and AM1.5 illumination. The distribution of trapped charge, electric field, and recombination loses inside the intrinsic layer is examined, and their influence on the solar cell performance is discussed. Solar cells with intrinsic layers deposited with and without hydrogen dilution are examined. It is found that the photocurrent at -2 V is not always a good approximation of the saturated reverse-bias photocurrent in a-Si:H p-i-n solar cells at room temperature. The importance of using realistic electrical parameters in solar cell simulations is emphasized.

Hybrid Silicon Nanocone–Polymer Solar Cells

KAUST Repository

Jeong, Sangmoo

2012-06-13

Recently, hybrid Si/organic solar cells have been studied for low-cost Si photovoltaic devices because the Schottky junction between the Si and organic material can be formed by solution processes at a low temperature. In this study, we demonstrate a hybrid solar cell composed of Si nanocones and conductive polymer. The optimal nanocone structure with an aspect ratio (height/diameter of a nanocone) less than two allowed for conformal polymer surface coverage via spin-coating while also providing both excellent antireflection and light trapping properties. The uniform heterojunction over the nanocones with enhanced light absorption resulted in a power conversion efficiency above 11%. Based on our simulation study, the optimal nanocone structures for a 10 μm thick Si solar cell can achieve a short-circuit current density, up to 39.1 mA/cm 2, which is very close to the theoretical limit. With very thin material and inexpensive processing, hybrid Si nanocone/polymer solar cells are promising as an economically viable alternative energy solution. © 2012 American Chemical Society.

Hybrid Silicon Nanocone–Polymer Solar Cells

KAUST Repository

Jeong, Sangmoo; Garnett, Erik C.; Wang, Shuang; Yu, Zongfu; Fan, Shanhui; Brongersma, Mark L.; McGehee, Michael D.; Cui, Yi

2012-01-01

Recently, hybrid Si/organic solar cells have been studied for low-cost Si photovoltaic devices because the Schottky junction between the Si and organic material can be formed by solution processes at a low temperature. In this study, we demonstrate a hybrid solar cell composed of Si nanocones and conductive polymer. The optimal nanocone structure with an aspect ratio (height/diameter of a nanocone) less than two allowed for conformal polymer surface coverage via spin-coating while also providing both excellent antireflection and light trapping properties. The uniform heterojunction over the nanocones with enhanced light absorption resulted in a power conversion efficiency above 11%. Based on our simulation study, the optimal nanocone structures for a 10 μm thick Si solar cell can achieve a short-circuit current density, up to 39.1 mA/cm 2, which is very close to the theoretical limit. With very thin material and inexpensive processing, hybrid Si nanocone/polymer solar cells are promising as an economically viable alternative energy solution. © 2012 American Chemical Society.

Preparation of ZnS microdisks using chemical bath deposition and ZnS/p-Si heterojunction solar cells

Science.gov (United States)

Hsiao, Y. J.; Meen, T. H.; Ji, L. W.; Tsai, J. K.; Wu, Y. S.; Huang, C. J.

2013-10-01

The synthesis and heterojunction solar cell properties of ZnS microdisks prepared by the chemical bath deposition method were investigated. The ZnS deposited on the p-Si blanket substrate exhibits good coverage. The lower reflectance spectra were found as the thickness of the ZnS film increased. The optical absorption spectra of the 80 °C ZnS microdisk exhibited a band-gap energy of 3.4 eV and the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the AZO/ZnS/p-Si heterojunction solar cell with a 300 nm thick ZnS film was η=2.72%.

Solar Imagery - Composites - Synoptic Maps - McIntosh

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — In 1964 (solar cycle 20) Patrick McIntosh began creating hand-drawn synoptic maps of solar activity, based on Hydrogen alpha (H?) imaging measurements. These...

The enhanced efficiency of graphene-silicon solar cells by electric field doping.

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Xuegong; Yang, Lifei; Lv, Qingmin; Xu, Mingsheng; Chen, Hongzheng; Yang, Deren

2015-04-28

The graphene-silicon (Gr-Si) Schottky junction solar cell has been recognized as one of the most low-cost candidates in photovoltaics due to its simple fabrication process. However, the low Gr-Si Schottky barrier height largely limits the power conversion efficiency of Gr-Si solar cells. Here, we demonstrate that electric field doping can be used to tune the work function of a Gr film and therefore improve the photovoltaic performance of the Gr-Si solar cell effectively. The electric field doping effects can be achieved either by connecting the Gr-Si solar cell to an external power supply or by polarizing a ferroelectric polymer layer integrated in the Gr-Si solar cell. Exploration of both of the device architecture designs showed that the power conversion efficiency of Gr-Si solar cells is more than twice of the control Gr-Si solar cells. Our study opens a new avenue for improving the performance of Gr-Si solar cells.

Photonic intermediate layer for silicon tandem solar cells

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bielawny, Andreas; Miclea, Paul-Tiberiu; Wehrspohn, Ralf [Martin-Luther Universitaet Halle-Wittenberg (Germany). Inst. fuer Physik, Mikro-MD; Lee, Seuong-Mo; Knez, Mato [Max-Planck-Inst. fuer Mikrostrukturphysik, Halle (Germany); Carius, Reinhard [Forschungszentrum Juelich (DE). Inst. fuer Photovoltaik (IEF-5); Lisca, Marian; Rockstuhl, Carsten; Lederer, Falk [Universitaet Jena (Germany). Dept. Physik

2008-07-01

The concept of incorporation of a 3D photonic crystal as diffractive spectral filter within a-Si/mc-Si tandem solar cells has been investigated as a promising application. Our intermediate reflective filter enhances the pathway of spectrally selected light within an amorphous silicon top cell in its spectral region of low absorption. From our previous work, we expect a significant improvement of the tandem's efficiency of about 1.2%(absolute). This increases efficiency for a typical silicon tandem cell from 11.2% to 12.4%, as a result of the optical current-matching of the two junctions. Our wavelength-selective optical element is a 3D-structured optical thin-film - prepared by self-organized artificial opal templates and finalized with atomic layer deposition techniques. The resulting samples are highly periodical thin-film inverted opals made of zinc-oxide. We compare recent experimental data on the optical properties with our simulations and photonic bandstructure calculations.

Shape-dependent conversion efficiency of Si nanowire solar cells with polygonal cross-sections

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

He, Yan; Yu, Wangbing; Ouyang, Gang

2016-01-01

A deeper insight into shape-dependent power conversion efficiency (PCE) of Si nanowire (SiNW) solar cells with polygonal cross-sectional shapes, including trigon, tetragon, hexagon, and circle, has been explored based on the atomic-bond-relaxation approach and detailed balance principle. It has been found that the surface effect induced by the loss-coordination atoms located at edges and surfaces, as well as the thermal effect, plays the dominant roles for the band shift and PCE of SiNWs due to the lattice strain occurrence at the self-equilibrium state. Our predictions are consistent with the available evidences, providing an important advance in the development of Si-based nanostructures for the desirable applications.

Evolution of a Native Oxide Layer at the a-Si:H/c-Si Interface and Its Influence on a Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cell.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Wenzhu; Meng, Fanying; Zhang, Xiaoyu; Liu, Zhengxin

2015-12-09

The interface microstructure of a silicon heterojunction (SHJ) solar cell was investigated. We found an ultrathin native oxide layer (NOL) with a thickness of several angstroms was formed on the crystalline silicon (c-Si) surface in a very short time (∼30 s) after being etched by HF solution. Although the NOL had a loose structure with defects that are detrimental for surface passivation, it acted as a barrier to restrain the epitaxial growth of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) during the plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD). The microstructure change of the NOL during the PECVD deposition of a-Si:H layers with different conditions and under different H2 plasma treatments were systemically investigated in detail. When a brief H2 plasma was applied to treat the a-Si:H layer after the PECVD deposition, interstitial oxygen and small-size SiO2 precipitates were transformed to hydrogenated amorphous silicon suboxide alloy (a-SiO(x):H, x ∼ 1.5). In the meantime, the interface defect density was reduced by about 50%, and the parameters of the SHJ solar cell were improved due to the post H2 plasma treatment.

Combination of silicon nitride and porous silicon induced optoelectronic features enhancement of multicrystalline silicon solar cells

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rabha, Mohamed Ben; Dimassi, Wissem; Gaidi, Mounir; Ezzaouia, Hatem; Bessais, Brahim [Laboratoire de Photovoltaique, Centre de Recherches et des Technologies de l' Energie, Technopole de Borj-Cedria, BP 95, 2050 Hammam-Lif (Tunisia)

2011-06-15

The effects of antireflection (ARC) and surface passivation films on optoelectronic features of multicrystalline silicon (mc-Si) were investigated in order to perform high efficiency solar cells. A double layer consisting of Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (PECVD) of silicon nitride (SiN{sub x}) on porous silicon (PS) was achieved on mc-Si surfaces. It was found that this treatment decreases the total surface reflectivity from about 25% to around 6% in the 450-1100 nm wavelength range. As a result, the effective minority carrier diffusion length, estimated from the Laser-beam-induced current (LBIC) method, was found to increase from 312 {mu}m for PS-treated cells to about 798 {mu}m for SiN{sub x}/PS-treated ones. The deposition of SiN{sub x} was found to impressively enhance the minority carrier diffusion length probably due to hydrogen passivation of surface, grain boundaries and bulk defects. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) shows that the vibration modes of the highly suitable passivating Si-H bonds exhibit frequency shifts toward higher wavenumber, depending on the x ratio of the introduced N atoms neighbors. (copyright 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim) (orig.)

Development of thin-film Si HYBRID solar module

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nakajima, Akihiko; Gotoh, Masahiro; Sawada, Toru; Fukuda, Susumu; Yoshimi, Masashi; Yamamoto, Kenji; Nomura, Takuji [Kaneka Corporation, 2-1-1, Hieitsuji, Otsu, Shiga 520-0104 (Japan)

2009-06-15

The device current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of thin-film silicon stacked tandem solar modules (HYBRID modules), consisting of a hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) cell and a thin-film crystalline silicon solar cell ({mu}c-Si), have been investigated under various spectral irradiance distributions. The performance of the HYBRID module varied periodically in natural sunlight due to the current-limiting property of the HYBRID module and the environmental effects. The behavior based on the current-limiting property was demonstrated by the modelling of the I-V curves using the linear interpolation method for each component cell. The improvement of the performance for the HYBRID module in natural sunlight will also be discussed from the viewpoint of the device design of the component cells. (author)

Si surface passivation by SiOx:H films deposited by a low-frequency ICP for solar cell applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhou, H P; Wei, D Y; Xu, S; Xiao, S Q; Xu, L X; Huang, S Y; Guo, Y N; Khan, S; Xu, M

2012-01-01

Hydrogenated silicon suboxide (SiO x :H) thin films are fabricated by a low-frequency inductively coupled plasma of hydrogen-diluted SiH 4 + CO 2 at a low temperature (100 °C). Introduction of a small amount of oxygen into the film results in a predominantly amorphous structure, wider optical bandgap, increased H content, lower conductivity and higher activation energy. The minority carrier lifetime in the SiO x :H-passivated p-type Si substrate is up to 428 µs with a reduced incubation layer at the interface. The associated surface recombination velocity is as low as 70 cm s -1 . The passivation behaviour dominantly originates from the H-related chemical passivation. The passivation effect is also demonstrated by the excellent photovoltaic performance of the heterojunction solar cell with the SiO x :H-based passivation and emitter layers.

Using high haze (> 90%) light-trapping film to enhance the efficiency of a-Si:H solar cells

Science.gov (United States)

Chu, Wei-Ping; Lin, Jian-Shian; Lin, Tien-Chai; Tsai, Yu-Sheng; Kuo, Chen-Wei; Chung, Ming-Hua; Hsieh, Tsung-Eong; Liu, Lung-Chang; Juang, Fuh-Shyang; Chen, Nien-Po

2012-07-01

The high haze light-trapping (LT) film offers enhanced scattering of light and is applied to a-Si:H solar cells. UV glue was spin coated on glass, and then the LT pattern was imprinted. Finally, a UV lamp was used to cure the UV glue on the glass. The LT film effectively increased the Haze ratio of glass and decreased the reflectance of a-Si:H solar cells. Therefore, the photon path length was increased to obtain maximum absorption by the absorber layer. High Haze LT film is able to enhance short circuit current density and efficiency of the device, as partial composite film generates broader scattering light, thereby causing shorter wave length light to be absorbed by the P layer so that the short circuit current density decreases. In case of lab-made a-Si:H thin film solar cells with v-shaped LT films, superior optoelectronic performances have been found (Voc = 0.74 V, Jsc = 15.62 mA/cm2, F.F. = 70%, and η = 8.09%). We observed ~ 35% enhancement of the short-circuit current density and ~ 31% enhancement of the conversion efficiency.

Aberration-corrected transmission electron microscopy analyses of GaAs/Si interfaces in wafer-bonded multi-junction solar cells

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Häussler, Dietrich [Institute for Materials Science, Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel, Kaiserstraße 2, 24143 Kiel (Germany); Houben, Lothar [Ernst Ruska-Centre for Microscopy and Spectroscopy with Electrons, Research Centre Juelich GmbH, 52425 Juelich (Germany); Essig, Stephanie [Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, Heidenhofstraße 2, 79110 Freiburg (Germany); Kurttepeli, Mert [Institute for Materials Science, Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel, Kaiserstraße 2, 24143 Kiel (Germany); Dimroth, Frank [Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, Heidenhofstraße 2, 79110 Freiburg (Germany); Dunin-Borkowski, Rafal E. [Ernst Ruska-Centre for Microscopy and Spectroscopy with Electrons, Research Centre Juelich GmbH, 52425 Juelich (Germany); Jäger, Wolfgang, E-mail: wolfgang.jaeger@tf.uni-kiel.de [Institute for Materials Science, Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel, Kaiserstraße 2, 24143 Kiel (Germany)

2013-11-15

Aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) and electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) investigations have been applied to investigate the structure and composition fluctuations near interfaces in wafer-bonded multi-junction solar cells. Multi-junction solar cells are of particular interest since efficiencies well above 40% have been obtained for concentrator solar cells which are based on III-V compound semiconductors. In this methodologically oriented investigation, we explore the potential of combining aberration-corrected high-angle annular dark-field STEM imaging (HAADF-STEM) with spectroscopic techniques, such as EELS and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDXS), and with high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), in order to analyze the effects of fast atom beam (FAB) and ion beam bombardment (IB) activation treatments on the structure and composition of bonding interfaces of wafer-bonded solar cells on Si substrates. Investigations using STEM/EELS are able to measure quantitatively and with high precision the widths and the fluctuations in element distributions within amorphous interface layers of nanometer extensions, including those of light elements. Such measurements allow the control of the activation treatments and thus support assessing electrical conductivity phenomena connected with impurity and dopant distributions near interfaces for optimized performance of the solar cells. - Highlights: • Aberration-corrected TEM and EELS reveal structural and elemental profiles across GaAs/Si bond interfaces in wafer-bonded GaInP/GaAs/Si - multi-junction solar cells. • Fluctuations in elemental concentration in nanometer-thick amorphous interface layers, including the disrubutions of light elements, are measured using EELS. • The projected widths of the interface layers are determined on the atomic scale from STEM-HAADF measurements. • The effects of atom and ion beam activation treatment on the bonding

Construction and Study of Hetreojunction Solar Cell Based on Dodecylbenzene Sulfonic Acid-Doped Polyaniline/n-Si

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

I. Morsi

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Polyaniline/n-type Si heterojunctions solar cell are fabricated by spin coating of soluble dodecylbenzene sulfonic acid (DBSA-doped polyaniline onto n-type Si substrate. The electrical characterization of the Al/n-type Si/polyaniline/Au (Ag structure was investigated by using current-voltage (I-V, capacitance-voltage (C-V, and impedance spectroscopy under darkness and illumination. The photovoltaic cell parameters, that is, open-circuit voltage (oc, short-circuit current density (sc, fill factor (FF, and energy conversion efficiency (η were calculated. The highest sc, oc, and efficiency of these heterojunctions obtained using PANI-DBSA as a window layer (wideband gap and Au as front contact are 1.8 mA/cm2, 0.436 V, and 0.13%, respectively. From Mott-Schottky plots, it was found that order of charge carrier concentrations is 3.5×1014 and 1.0×1015/cm3 for the heterojunctions using Au as front contact under darknessness and illumination, respectively. Impedance study of this type of solar cell showed that the shunt resistance and series resistance decreased under illumination.

Advanced passivation techniques for Si solar cells with high-κ dielectric materials

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Geng, Huijuan; Lin, Tingjui; Letha, Ayra Jagadhamma; Hwang, Huey-Liang; Kyznetsov, Fedor A.; Smirnova, Tamara P.; Saraev, Andrey A.; Kaichev, Vasily V.

2014-01-01

Electronic recombination losses at the wafer surface significantly reduce the efficiency of Si solar cells. Surface passivation using a suitable thin dielectric layer can minimize the recombination losses. Herein, advanced passivation using simple materials (Al 2 O 3 , HfO 2 ) and their compounds H (Hf) A (Al) O deposited by atomic layer deposition (ALD) was investigated. The chemical composition of Hf and Al oxide films were determined by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The XPS depth profiles exhibit continuous uniform dense layers. The ALD-Al 2 O 3 film has been found to provide negative fixed charge (−6.4 × 10 11  cm −2 ), whereas HfO 2 film provides positive fixed charge (3.2 × 10 12  cm −2 ). The effective lifetimes can be improved after oxygen gas annealing for 1 min. I-V characteristics of Si solar cells with high-κ dielectric materials as passivation layers indicate that the performance is significantly improved, and ALD-HfO 2 film would provide better passivation properties than that of the ALD-Al 2 O 3 film in this research work.

Analytical solution for haze values of aluminium-induced texture (AIT) glass superstrates for a-Si:H solar cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Sahraei, Nasim; Forberich, Karen; Venkataraj, Selvaraj; Aberle, Armin G; Peters, Marius

2014-01-13

Light scattering at randomly textured interfaces is essential to improve the absorption of thin-film silicon solar cells. Aluminium-induced texture (AIT) glass provides suitable scattering for amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) solar cells. The scattering properties of textured surfaces are usually characterised by two properties: the angularly resolved intensity distribution and the haze. However, we find that the commonly used haze equations cannot accurately describe the experimentally observed spectral dependence of the haze of AIT glass. This is particularly the case for surface morphologies with a large rms roughness and small lateral feature sizes. In this paper we present an improved method for haze calculation, based on the power spectral density (PSD) function of the randomly textured surface. To better reproduce the measured haze characteristics, we suggest two improvements: i) inclusion of the average lateral feature size of the textured surface into the haze calculation, and ii) considering the opening angle of the haze measurement. We show that with these two improvements an accurate prediction of the haze of AIT glass is possible. Furthermore, we use the new equation to define optimum morphology parameters for AIT glass to be used for a-Si:H solar cell applications. The autocorrelation length is identified as the critical parameter. For the investigated a-Si:H solar cells, the optimum autocorrelation length is shown to be 320 nm.

Stabilisation of a thin crystalline Si wafer solar cell using glass substrate; Duenne kristalline Silizium Wafer-Solarzelle mit Glastraeger stabilisiert

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Muehlbauer, Maria

2009-07-01

An attempt was made to stabilise ultrathin crystalline silicon wafers (< 100 {mu}m) by a support material (BOROFLOAT33 by Schott Glas). It was found that the total serial resistance results mainly from the specific resistance of the back contact, and that especially the ultrathin solar cells have high recombination in the back. The ultrathin Si wafers also are slightly corrugated, which results in uneven joining of the Si wafer with the glass support. For optimisation, the solar cells of this specific types, with different thicknesses, were modelled in the one-dimensional simulation code PC1D, including all material-specific and electric properties. It was found that a slight reduction of the serial resistance will be enough for a significant improvement of the efficiency of the stabilized solar cell. With this knowledge, selective optimisation of the stabilised solar cells was possible, with the following results: 1. The improved temperature-time profile of the RTP step will improve the solar cell parameters for all Si thicknesses, which is assumed to be the result of better quality of the Al/Si back contact. 2. Thicker aluminium layers improved passivation on the back of solar cells with a thickness of 300 {mu}m and 120 {mu}m. In thinner stabilised solar cells, this measure resulted in enhanced formation of shunts and did not reduce the recombination rate on the back of the solar cell. 3. An additional optimisation step was the introduction of the so-called 'combined method' in which part of the aluminium layer is replaced by silkscreen paste. This combination, with adequate preparation, ensures uniform joining of the ultrathin silicon to the glass carrier. The resulting intermediate layers are highly homogeneous and have good fill factors and current densities for thin solar cells with a si thickness of 60 {mu}m. A decisive argument for the combined method is its near-100% reproducibility. [German] Ziel dieser Arbeit ist es sehr duenne kristalline

Concurrent improvement in optical and electrical characteristics by using inverted pyramidal array structures toward efficient Si heterojunction solar cells

KAUST Repository

Wang, Hsin Ping

2016-03-02

The Si heterojunction (SHJ) solar cell is presently the most popular design in the crystalline Si (c-Si) photovoltaics due to the high open-circuit voltages (V). Photon management by surface structuring techniques to control the light entering the devices is critical for boosting cell efficiency although it usually comes with the V loss caused by severe surface recombination. For the first time, the periodic inverted pyramid (IP) structure fabricated by photolithography and anisotropic etching processes was employed for SHJ solar cells, demonstrating concurrent improvement in optical and electrical characteristics (i.e., short-circuit current density (J) and V). Periodic IP structures show superior light-harvesting properties as most of the incident rays bounce three times on the walls of the IPs but only twice between conventional random upright pyramids (UPs). The high minority carrier lifetime of the IP structures after a-Si:H passivation results in an enhanced V by 28 mV, showing improved carrier collection efficiency due to the superior passivation of the IP structure over the random UP structures. The superior antireflective (AR) ability and passivation results demonstrate that the IP structure has the potential to replace conventional UP structures to further boost the efficiency in solar cell applications.

Black Silicon Solar Cells with Black Ribbons

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Davidsen, Rasmus Schmidt; Tang, Peter Torben; Mizushima, Io

2016-01-01

We present the combination of mask-less reactive ion etch (RIE) texturing and blackened interconnecting ribbons as a method for obtaining all-black solar panels, while using conventional, front-contacted solar cells. Black silicon made by mask-less reactive ion etching has total, average...... in the range 15.7-16.3%. The KOH-textured reference cell had an efficiency of 17.9%. The combination of black Si and black interconnecting ribbons may result in aesthetic, all-black panels based on conventional, front-contacted silicon solar cells....... reflectance below 0.5% across a 156x156 mm2 silicon (Si) wafer. Black interconnecting ribbons were realized by oxidizing copper resulting in reflectance below 3% in the visible wavelength range. Screen-printed Si solar cells were realized on 156x156 mm2 black Si substrates with resulting efficiencies...

Simulation of a high-efficiency silicon-based heterojunction solar cell

Science.gov (United States)

Jian, Liu; Shihua, Huang; Lü, He

2015-04-01

The basic parameters of a-Si:H/c-Si heterojunction solar cells, such as layer thickness, doping concentration, a-Si:H/c-Si interface defect density, and the work functions of the transparent conducting oxide (TCO) and back surface field (BSF) layer, are crucial factors that influence the carrier transport properties and the efficiency of the solar cells. The correlations between the carrier transport properties and these parameters and the performance of a-Si:H/c-Si heterojunction solar cells were investigated using the AFORS-HET program. Through the analysis and optimization of a TCO/n-a-Si:H/i-a-Si:H/p-c-Si/p+-a-Si:H/Ag solar cell, a photoelectric conversion efficiency of 27.07% (VOC) 749 mV, JSC: 42.86 mA/cm2, FF: 84.33%) was obtained through simulation. An in-depth understanding of the transport properties can help to improve the efficiency of a-Si:H/c-Si heterojunction solar cells, and provide useful guidance for actual heterojunction with intrinsic thin layer (HIT) solar cell manufacturing. Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 61076055), the Open Project Program of Surface Physics Laboratory (National Key Laboratory) of Fudan University (No. FDS-KL2011-04), the Zhejiang Provincial Science and Technology Key Innovation Team (No. 2011R50012), and the Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory (No. 2013E10022).

Development of Hydrogenated Microcrystalline Silicon-Germanium Alloys for Improving Long-Wavelength Absorption in Si-Based Thin-Film Solar Cells

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yen-Tang Huang

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon-germanium (μc-Si1-xGex:H alloys were developed for application in Si-based thin-film solar cells. The effects of the germane concentration (RGeH4 and the hydrogen ratio (RH2 on the μc-Si1-xGex:H alloys and the corresponding single-junction thin-film solar cells were studied. The behaviors of Ge incorporation in a-Si1-xGex:H and μc-Si1-xGex:H were also compared. Similar to a-Si1-xGex:H, the preferential Ge incorporation was observed in μc-Si1-xGex:H. Moreover, a higher RH2 significantly promoted Ge incorporation for a-Si1-xGex:H, while the Ge content was not affected by RH2 in μc-Si1-xGex:H growth. Furthermore, to eliminate the crystallization effect, the 0.9 μm thick absorbers with a similar crystalline volume fraction were applied. With the increasing RGeH4, the accompanied increase in Ge content of μc-Si1-xGex:H narrowed the bandgap and markedly enhanced the long-wavelength absorption. However, the bias-dependent EQE measurement revealed that too much Ge incorporation in absorber deteriorated carrier collection and cell performance. With the optimization of RH2 and RGeH4, the single-junction μc-Si1-xGex:H cell achieved an efficiency of 5.48%, corresponding to the crystalline volume fraction of 50.5% and Ge content of 13.2 at.%. Compared to μc-Si:H cell, the external quantum efficiency at 800 nm had a relative increase by 33.1%.

Studies on the polycrystalline silicon/SiO2 stack as front surface field for IBC solar cells by two-dimensional simulations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jiang Shuai; Jia Rui; Tao Ke; Hou Caixia; Sun Hengchao; Li Yongtao; Yu Zhiyong

2017-01-01

Interdigitated back contact (IBC) solar cells can achieve a very high efficiency due to its less optical losses. But IBC solar cells demand for high quality passivation of the front surface. In this paper, a polycrystalline silicon/SiO 2 stack structure as front surface field to passivate the front surface of IBC solar cells is proposed. The passivation quality of this structure is investigated by two dimensional simulations. Polycrystalline silicon layer and SiO 2 layer are optimized to get the best passivation quality of the IBC solar cell. Simulation results indicate that the doping level of polycrystalline silicon should be high enough to allow a very thin polycrystalline silicon layer to ensure an effective passivation and small optical losses at the same time. The thickness of SiO 2 should be neither too thin nor too thick, and the optimal thickness is 1.2 nm. Furthermore, the lateral transport properties of electrons are investigated, and the simulation results indicate that a high doping level and conductivity of polycrystalline silicon can improve the lateral transportation of electrons and then the cell performance. (paper)

Numerical simulations: Toward the design of 27.6% efficient four-terminal semi-transparent perovskite/SiC passivated rear contact silicon tandem solar cell

Science.gov (United States)

Pandey, Rahul; Chaujar, Rishu

2016-12-01

In this work, a novel four-terminal perovskite/SiC-based rear contact silicon tandem solar cell device has been proposed and simulated to achieve 27.6% power conversion efficiency (PCE) under single AM1.5 illumination. 20.9% efficient semitransparent perovskite top subcell has been used for perovskite/silicon tandem architecture. The tandem structure of perovskite-silicon solar cells is a promising method to achieve efficient solar energy conversion at low cost. In the four-terminal tandem configuration, the cells are connected independently and hence avoids the need for current matching between top and bottom subcell, thus giving greater design flexibility. The simulation analysis shows, PCE of 27.6% and 22.4% with 300 μm and 10 μm thick rear contact Si bottom subcell, respectively. This is a substantial improvement comparing to transparent perovskite solar cell and c-Si solar cell operated individually. The impact of perovskite layer thickness, monomolecular, bimolecular, and trimolecular recombination have also been obtained on the performance of perovskite top subcell. Reported PCEs of 27.6% and 22.4% are 1.25 times and 1.42 times higher as compared to experimentally available efficiencies of 22.1% and 15.7% in 300 μm and 10 μm thick stand-alone silicon solar cell devices, respectively. The presence of SiC significantly suppressed the interface recombination in bottom silicon subcell. Detailed realistic technology computer aided design (TCAD) analysis has been performed to predict the behaviour of the device.

Flexible solar strips light up campus bus shelter at McMaster

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Anon,

2009-10-15

This article described the installation of solar cells to illuminate a bus shelter on the campus of McMaster University. The innovative flexible solar cell technology was developed by a group of engineering researchers at the university who are hoping that the prototype will help commercialize the new technology. The solar technology is suitable for lighting up bus shelter signage and providing light for general safety. One of the main features of the technology is the ability to bend the solar cells to fit the curved roof of the bus shelter. The flexibility is achieved by tilting a large number of small silicon elements into an array, mounting them onto a flexible sheet, and connecting them through a proprietary method. The 2 solar strips installed on the roof of the bus shelter are about 90 centimeters long and 12 centimeters wide. Each strip has 720 one-centimetre square solar cells and generates up to 4.5 Watts of power. The solar strip is connected to 2 energy-efficient, multi-LED, light fixtures. Each light fixture uses only 600 milliwatts of power and produces about the same light output as a three watt regular tungsten bulb. The installation is being monitored to determine how much solar power is needed to fully recharge the batteries based on weather conditions, particularly during the winter months. 5 figs.

A buffer-layer/a-SiO{sub x}:H(p) window-layer optimization for thin film amorphous silicon based solar cells

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Park, Jinjoo; Dao, Vinh Ai [College of Information and Communication Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 440-746 (Korea, Republic of); Shin, Chonghoon [Department of Energy Science, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 440-746 (Korea, Republic of); Park, Hyeongsik [College of Information and Communication Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 440-746 (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Minbum; Jung, Junhee [Department of Energy Science, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 440-746 (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Doyoung [School of Electricity and Electronics, Ulsan College West Campus, Ulsan 680-749 (Korea, Republic of); Yi, Junsin, E-mail: yi@yurim.skku.ac.kr [College of Information and Communication Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 440-746 (Korea, Republic of); Department of Energy Science, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 440-746 (Korea, Republic of)

2013-11-01

Amorphous silicon based (a-Si:H-based) solar cells with a buffer-layer/boron doped hydrogenated amorphous silicon oxide (a-SiO{sub x}:H(p)) window-layer were fabricated and investigated. In the first part, in order to reduce the Schottky barrier height at the fluorine doped tin oxide (FTO)/a-SiO{sub x}:H(p) window-layer heterointerface, we have used buffer-layer/a-SiO{sub x}:H(p) for the window-layer, in which boron doped hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H(p)) or boron doped microcrystalline silicon (μc-Si:H(p)) is introduced as a buffer layer between the a-SiO{sub x}:H(p) and FTO of the a-Si:H-based solar cells. The a-Si:H-based solar cell using a μc-Si:H(p) buffer-layer shows the highest efficiency compared to the optimized bufferless, and a-Si:H(p) buffer-layer in the a-Si:H-based solar cells. This highest performance was attributed not only to the lower absorption of the μc-Si:H(p) buffer-layer but also to the lower Schottky barrier height at the FTO/window-layer interface. Then, we present the dependence of the built-in potential (V{sub bi}) and blue response of the devices on the inversion of activation energy (ξ) of the a-SiO{sub x}:H(p), in the μc-Si:H(p)/a-SiO{sub x}:H(p) window-layer. The enhancement of both V{sub bi} and blue response is observed, by increasing the value of ξ. The improvement of V{sub bi} and blue response can be ascribed to the enlargement of the optical gap of a-SiO{sub x}:H(p) films in the μc-Si:H(p)/a-SiO{sub x}:H(p) window-layer. Finally, the conversion efficiency was increased by 22.0%, by employing μc-Si:H(p) as a buffer-layer and raising the ξ of the a-SiO{sub x}:H(p), compared to the optimized bufferless case, with a 10 nm-thick a-SiO{sub x}:H(p) window-layer. - Highlights: • Low Schottky barrier height benefits fill factor, and open-circuit voltage (V{sub oc}). • High band gap is beneficial for short-circuit current density (J{sub sc}). • Boron doped microcrystalline silicon is a suitable buffer-layer for

Heterojunction Diodes and Solar Cells Fabricated by Sputtering of GaAs on Single Crystalline Si

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Santiago Silvestre

2015-04-01

Full Text Available This work reports fabrication details of heterojunction diodes and solar cells obtained by sputter deposition of amorphous GaAs on p-doped single crystalline Si. The effects of two additional process steps were investigated: A hydrofluoric acid (HF etching treatment of the Si substrate prior to the GaAs sputter deposition and a subsequent annealing treatment of the complete layered system. A transmission electron microscopy (TEM exploration of the interface reveals the formation of a few nanometer thick SiO2 interface layer and some crystallinity degree of the GaAs layer close to the interface. It was shown that an additional HF etching treatment of the Si substrate improves the short circuit current and degrades the open circuit voltage of the solar cells. Furthermore, an additional thermal annealing step was performed on some selected samples before and after the deposition of an indium tin oxide (ITO film on top of the a-GaAs layer. It was found that the occurrence of surface related defects is reduced in case of a heat treatment performed after the deposition of the ITO layer, which also results in a reduction of the dark saturation current density and resistive losses.

Enhancing Light-Trapping Properties of Amorphous Si Thin-Film Solar Cells Containing High-Reflective Silver Conductors Fabricated Using a Nonvacuum Process

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jun-Chin Liu

2014-01-01

Full Text Available We proposed a low-cost and highly reflective liquid organic sheet silver conductor using back contact reflectors in amorphous silicon (a-Si single junction superstrate configuration thin-film solar cells produced using a nonvacuum screen printing process. A comparison of silver conductor samples with vacuum-system-sputtered silver samples indicated that the short-circuit current density (Jsc of sheet silver conductor cells was higher than 1.25 mA/cm2. Using external quantum efficiency measurements, the sheet silver conductor using back contact reflectors in cells was observed to effectively enhance the light-trapping ability in a long wavelength region (between 600 nm and 800 nm. Consequently, we achieved an optimal initial active area efficiency and module conversion efficiency of 9.02% and 6.55%, respectively, for the a-Si solar cells. The results indicated that the highly reflective sheet silver conductor back contact reflector layer prepared using a nonvacuum process is a suitable candidate for high-performance a-Si thin-film solar cells.

Photoluminescence, structural and electrical properties of passivated a-Si:H based thin films and corresponding solar cells

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pincik, E.; Kobayashi, H.; Takahashi, M.; Fujiwara, N.; Brunner, R.; Gleskova, H.; Jergel, M.; Muellerova, J.; Kucera, M.; Falcony, C.; Ortega, L.; Rusnak, J.; Mikula, M.; Zahoran, M.; Jurani, R.; Kral, M.

2004-01-01

This paper deals with the photoluminescence, structural and electrical properties of chemically passivated a-Si:H based thin films and corresponding thin film solar cells. The structures were chemically passivated in three types of KCN and HCN solutions containing MeOH and/or with water. The photoluminescence measurements were performed at 6 K using Ar laser and lock-in signal recording device containing Ge and Si photodetectors. Optically determined band gap related photoluminescence signals were observed between 1.1 and 1.7 eV. The electrical properties were measured by a high-sensitive charge version of deep level transient spectroscopy (Q-DLTS). The evolution of three basic groups of defects was observed. The structural studies were realized by the standard X-ray diffraction analysis. The cyanide treatment improved significantly the electrical characteristics of both corresponding MOS structures and solar cells due to the passivation of some parts of the dangling bonds by CN group. Particularly, the passivation of the defects at interfaces in MOS or solar cell multilayer structures was achieved which is of primary practical importance

Low cost back contact heterojunction solar cells on thin c-Si wafers. integrating laser and thin film processing for improved manufacturability

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hegedus, Steven S. [Univ. of Delaware, Newark, DE (United States)

2015-09-08

An interdigitated back contact (IBC) Si wafer solar cell with deposited a-Si heterojunction (HJ) emitter and contacts is considered the ultimate single junction Si solar cell design. This was confirmed in 2014 by both Panasonic and Sharp Solar producing IBC-HJ cells breaking the previous record Si solar cell efficiency of 25%. But manufacturability at low cost is a concern for the complex IBC-HJ device structure. In this research program, our goals were to addressed the broad industry need for a high-efficiency c-Si cell that overcomes the dominant module cost barriers by 1) developing thin Si wafers synthesized by innovative, kerfless techniques; 2) integrating laser-based processing into most aspects of solar cell fabrication, ensuring high speed and low thermal budgets ; 3) developing an all back contact cell structure compatible with thin wafers using a simplified, low-temperature fabrication process; and 4) designing the contact patterning to enable simplified module assembly. There were a number of significant achievements from this 3 year program. Regarding the front surface, we developed and applied new method to characterize critical interface recombination parameters including interface defect density Dit and hole and electron capture cross-section for use as input for 2D simulation of the IBC cell to guide design and loss analysis. We optimized the antireflection and passivation properties of the front surface texture and a-Si/a-SiN/a-SiC stack depositions to obtain a very low (< 6 mA/cm2) front surface optical losses (reflection and absorption) while maintaining excellent surface passivation (SRV<5 cm/s). We worked with kerfless wafer manufacturers to apply defect-engineering techniques to improve bulk minority-carrier lifetime of thin kerfless wafers by both reducing initial impurities during growth and developing post-growth gettering techniques. This led insights about the kinetics of nickel, chromium, and dislocations in PV-grade silicon and to

Low cost back contact heterojunction solar cells on thin c-Si wafers. Integrating laser and thin film processing for improved manufacturability

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hegedus, Steven S. [Univ. of Delaware, Newark, DE (United States)

2015-09-08

An interdigitated back contact (IBC) Si wafer solar cell with deposited a-Si heterojunction (HJ) emitter and contacts is considered the ultimate single junction Si solar cell design. This was confirmed in 2014 by both Panasonic and Sharp Solar producing IBC-HJ cells breaking the previous record Si solar cell efficiency of 25%. But manufacturability at low cost is a concern for the complex IBC-HJ device structure. In this research program, our goals were to addressed the broad industry need for a high-efficiency c-Si cell that overcomes the dominant module cost barriers by 1) developing thin Si wafers synthesized by innovative, kerfless techniques; 2) integrating laser-based processing into most aspects of solar cell fabrication, ensuring high speed and low thermal budgets ; 3) developing an all back contact cell structure compatible with thin wafers using a simplified, low-temperature fabrication process; and 4) designing the contact patterning to enable simplified module assembly. There were a number of significant achievements from this 3 year program. Regarding the front surface, we developed and applied new method to characterize critical interface recombination parameters including interface defect density Dit and hole and electron capture cross-section for use as input for 2D simulation of the IBC cell to guide design and loss analysis. We optimized the antireflection and passivation properties of the front surface texture and a-Si/a-SiN/a-SiC stack depositions to obtain a very low (< 6 mA/cm2) front surface optical losses (reflection and absorption) while maintaining excellent surface passivation (SRV<5 cm/s). We worked with kerfless wafer manufacturers to apply defect-engineering techniques to improve bulk minority-carrier lifetime of thin kerfless wafers by both reducing initial impurities during growth and developing post-growth gettering techniques. This led insights about the kinetics of nickel, chromium, and dislocations in PV-grade silicon and to

Computer analysis of microcrystalline silicon hetero-junction solar cell with lumerical FDTD/DEVICE

Science.gov (United States)

Riaz, Muhammad; Earles, S. K.; Kadhim, Ahmed; Azzahrani, Ahmad

The computer analysis of tandem solar cell, c-Si/a-Si:H/μc-SiGe, is studied within Lumerical FDTD/Device 4.6. The optical characterization is performed in FDTD and then total generation rate is transported into DEVICE for electrical characterization. The electrical characterization of the solar cell is carried out in DEVICE. The design is implemented by staking three sub cells with band gap of 1.12eV, 1.50eV and 1.70eV, respectively. First, single junction solar cell with both a-Si and μc-SiGe absorbing layers are designed and compared. The thickness for both layers are kept the same. In a single junction, solar cell with a-Si absorbing layer, the fill factor and the efficiency are noticed as FF = 78.98%, and η = 6.03%. For μc-SiGe absorbing layer, the efficiency and fill factor are increased as η = 7.06% and FF = 84.27%, respectively. Second, for tandem thin film solar cell c-Si/a-Si:H/μc-SiGe, the fill factor FF = 81.91% and efficiency η = 9.84% have been noticed. The maximum efficiency for both single junction thin film solar cell c-Si/μc-SiGe and tandem solar cell c-Si/a-Si:H/μc-SiGe are improved with check board surface design for light trapping.

Solar energy utilization by solar cells and superblack absorbers

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bonnet, D; Selders, M

1975-10-31

A review is presented of the physical principles responsible for the characteristics of solar cells, with particular reference to Si homojunction and CdS--Cu/sub 2/S thin film devices. Electric power generation from solar cells still appears uncompetitive economically except in special circumstances, but heating from solar energy using selective absorbers with low reemission is more promising.

Development of Advanced Deposition Technology for Microcrystalline Si Based Solar Cells and Modules: Final Technical Report, 1 May 2002-31 July 2004

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Li, Y. M.

2004-12-01

The key objective of this subcontract was to take the first steps to extend the radio-frequency plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (RF-PECVD) manufacturing technology of Energy Photovoltaics, Inc. (EPV), to the promising field of a-Si/nc-Si solar cell fabrication by demonstrating ''proof-of-concept'' devices of good efficiencies that previously were believed to be unobtainable in single-chamber reactors owing to contamination problems. A complementary goal was to find a new high-rate deposition method that can conceivably be deployed in large PECVD-type reactors. We emphasize that our goal was not to produce 'champion' devices of near-record efficiencies, but rather, to achieve modestly high efficiencies using a far simpler (cheaper) system, via practical processing methods and materials. To directly attack issues in solar-cell fabrication at EPV, the nc-Si thin films were studied almost exclusively in the p-i-n device configuration (as absorbers or i-layers), not as stand-alone films. Highly efficient, p-i-n type, nc-Si-based solar cells are generally grown on expensive, laboratory superstrates, such as custom ZnO/glass of high texture (granular surface) and low absorption. Also standard was the use of a highly effective back-reflector ZnO/Ag, where the ZnO can be surface-textured for efficient diffuse reflection. The high-efficiency ''champion'' devices made by the PECVD methods were invariably prepared in sophisticated (i.e., expensive), multi-chamber, or at least load-locked deposition systems. The electrode utilization efficiency, defined as the surface-area ratio of the powered electrode to that of the substrates, was typically low at about one (1:1). To evaluate the true potential of nc-Si absorbers for cost-competitive, commercially viable manufacturing of large-area PV modules, we took a more down-to-earth approach, based on our proven production of a-Si PV modules by a massively parallel batch

Effect of BaSi2 template growth duration on the generation of defects and performance of p-BaSi2/n-Si heterojunction solar cells

Science.gov (United States)

Yachi, Suguru; Takabe, Ryota; Deng, Tianguo; Toko, Kaoru; Suemasu, Takashi

2018-04-01

We investigated the effect of BaSi2 template growth duration (t RDE = 0-20 min) on the defect generation and performance of p-BaSi2/n-Si heterojunction solar cells. The p-BaSi2 layer grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) was 15 nm thick with a hole concentration of 2 × 1018 cm-3. The conversion efficiency η increased for films grown at long t RDE, owing to improvements of the open-circuit voltage (V OC) and fill factor (FF), reaching a maximum of η = 8.9% at t RDE = 7.5 min. However, η decreased at longer and shorter t RDE owing to lower V OC and FF. Using deep-level transient spectroscopy, we detected a hole trap level 190 meV above the valence band maximum for the sample grown without the template (t RDE = 0 min). An electron trap level 106 meV below the conduction band minimum was detected for a sample grown with t RDE = 20 min. The trap densities for both films were (1-2) × 1013 cm-3. The former originated from the diffusion of Ba into the n-Si region; the latter originated from defects in the template layer. The crystalline qualities of the template and MBE-grown layers were discussed. The root-mean-square surface roughness of the template reached a minimum of 0.51 nm at t RDE = 7.5 min. The a-axis orientation of p-BaSi2 thin films degraded as t RDE exceeded 10 min. In terms of p-BaSi2 crystalline quality and solar cell performance, the optimum t RDE was determined to be 7.5 min, corresponding to approximately 4 nm in thickness.

Design and Photovoltaic Properties of Graphene/Silicon Solar Cell

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Dikai; Yu, Xuegong; Yang, Lifei; Yang, Deren

2018-04-01

Graphene/silicon (Gr/Si) Schottky junction solar cells have attracted widespread attention for the fabrication of high-efficiency and low-cost solar cells. However, their performance is still limited by the working principles of Schottky junctions. Modulating the working mechanism of the solar cells into a quasi p-n junction has advantages, including higher open-circuit voltage (V OC) and less carrier recombination. In this study, Gr/Si quasi p-n junction solar cells were formed by inserting a tunneling Al2O3 interlayer in-between graphene and silicon, which led to obtain the PCE up to 8.48% without antireflection or chemical doping techniques. Our findings could pave a new way for the development of Gr/Si solar cells.

Characterization of a Ga-assisted GaAs nanowire array solar cell on si substrate

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Boulanger, J. P.; Chia, A. C. E.; Wood, B.

2016-01-01

A single-junction core-shell GaAs nanowire (NW) solar cell on Si (1 1 1) substrates is presented. A Ga-assisted vapor–liquid–solid growth mechanism was used for the formation of a patterned array of radial p-i-n GaAs NWs encapsulated in AlInP passivation. Novel device fabrication utilizing facet-...

Intrinsic and light induced gap states in a-Si:H materials and solar cells--effects of microstructure

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wronski, C.R.; Pearce, J.M.; Deng, J.; Vlahos, V.; Collins, R.W

2004-03-22

The effects of microstructure on the gap states of hydrogen diluted and undiluted hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) thin film materials and their solar cells have been investigated. In characterizing the films the commonly used methodology of relating just the magnitudes of photocurrents and subgap absorption, {alpha}(E), was expanded to take into account states other than those due to dangling bond defects. The electron mobility-lifetime products were characterized as a function of carrier generation rates and analysis was carried out of the entire {alpha}(E) spectra and their evolution with light induced degradation. Two distinctly different defect states at 1.0 and 1.2 eV from the conduction band and their contributions to carrier recombination were identified and their respective evolution under 1 sun illumination characterized. Direct correlations were obtained between the recombination in thin films with that of corresponding solar cells. The effects of the difference in microstructure on the changes in these two gap states in films and solar cells were also identified. It is found that improved stability of protocrystalline Si:H can in part be attributed to the reduction of the 1.2 eV defects. It is also shown that ignoring the presence of multiple defects leads to erroneous conclusions being drawn about the stability of a-Si:H and SWE.

Intrinsic and light induced gap states in a-Si:H materials and solar cells--effects of microstructure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wronski, C.R.; Pearce, J.M.; Deng, J.; Vlahos, V.; Collins, R.W.

2004-01-01

The effects of microstructure on the gap states of hydrogen diluted and undiluted hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) thin film materials and their solar cells have been investigated. In characterizing the films the commonly used methodology of relating just the magnitudes of photocurrents and subgap absorption, α(E), was expanded to take into account states other than those due to dangling bond defects. The electron mobility-lifetime products were characterized as a function of carrier generation rates and analysis was carried out of the entire α(E) spectra and their evolution with light induced degradation. Two distinctly different defect states at 1.0 and 1.2 eV from the conduction band and their contributions to carrier recombination were identified and their respective evolution under 1 sun illumination characterized. Direct correlations were obtained between the recombination in thin films with that of corresponding solar cells. The effects of the difference in microstructure on the changes in these two gap states in films and solar cells were also identified. It is found that improved stability of protocrystalline Si:H can in part be attributed to the reduction of the 1.2 eV defects. It is also shown that ignoring the presence of multiple defects leads to erroneous conclusions being drawn about the stability of a-Si:H and SWE

Results of the round robin exercise on IV-measurements of classic Si-solar cells

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Van der Borg, N.J.C.M. [ECN Solar Energy, Petten (Netherlands)

2012-12-15

A round robin exercise was performed on IV measurements and spectral response measurements of solar cells. Seven partners participated in the exercise. The aim of the round robin was to enable the verification of their measurement facilities and procedures for IV-measurements on 'classic' Si-solar cells by comparing their measurement data with the other participants. In this way possible flaws in the equipment or procedures can be found and corrected for or the measurement uncertainties can be reassessed. The differences between the measurement results of the various partners were more or less within the expected measurement uncertainty although one or more partners may decide to use the results to reexamine their facilities or procedures.

Influence of N-type μc-SiOx:H intermediate reflector and top cell material properties on the electrical performance of "micromorph" tandem solar cells

Science.gov (United States)

Chatterjee, P.; Roca i Cabarrocas, P.

2018-01-01

Amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) / micro-crystalline silicon (μc-Si:H), "micromorph" tandem solar cells have been investigated using a detailed electrical - optical model. Although such a tandem has good light absorption over the entire visible spectrum, the a-Si:H top cell suffers from strong light-induced degradation (LID). To improve matters, we have replaced a-Si:H by hydrogenated polymorphous silicon (pm-Si:H), a nano-structured silicon thin film with lower LID than a-Si:H. But the latter's low current carrying capacity necessitates a thicker top cell for current-matching, again leading to LID problems. The solution is to introduce a suitable intermediate reflector (IR) at the junction between the sub-cells, to concentrate light of the shorter visible wavelengths into the top cell. Here we assess the suitability of N-type micro-crystalline silicon oxide (μc-SiOx:H) as an IR. The sensitivity of the solar cell performance to the complex refractive index, thickness and texture of such a reflector is studied. We conclude that N-μc-SiOx:H does concentrate light into the top sub-cell, thus reducing its required thickness for current-matching. However the IR also reflects light right out of the device; so that the initial efficiency suffers. The advantage of such an IR is ultimately seen in the stabilized state since the LID of a thin top cell is low. We also find that for high stabilized efficiencies, the IR should be flat (having no texture of its own). Our study indicates that we may expect to reach 15% stable tandem micromorph efficiency.

Gallium Phosphide Integrated with Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cells

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Chaomin

It has been a long-standing goal to epitaxially integrate III-V alloys with Si substrates which can enable low-cost microelectronic and optoelectronic systems. Among the III-V alloys, gallium phosphide (GaP) is a strong candidate, especially for solar cells applications. Gallium phosphide with small lattice mismatch ( 0.4%) to Si enables coherent/pseudomorphic epitaxial growth with little crystalline defect creation. The band offset between Si and GaP suggests that GaP can function as an electron-selective contact, and it has been theoretically shown that GaP/Si integrated solar cells have the potential to overcome the limitations of common a-Si based heterojunction (SHJ) solar cells. Despite the promising potential of GaP/Si heterojunction solar cells, there are two main obstacles to realize high performance photovoltaic devices from this structure. First, the growth of the polar material (GaP) on the non-polar material (Si) is a challenge in how to suppress the formation of structural defects, such as anti-phase domains (APD). Further, it is widely observed that the minority-carrier lifetime of the Si substrates is significantly decreased during epitaxially growth of GaP on Si. In this dissertation, two different GaP growth methods were compared and analyzed, including migration-enhanced epitaxy (MEE) and traditional molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). High quality GaP can be realized on precisely oriented (001) Si substrates by MBE growth, and the investigation of structural defect creation in the GaP/Si epitaxial structures was conducted using high resolution X-ray diffraction (HRXRD) and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). The mechanisms responsible for lifetime degradation were further investigated, and it was found that external fast diffusors are the origin for the degradation. Two practical approaches including the use of both a SiNx diffusion barrier layer and P-diffused layers, to suppress the Si minority-carrier lifetime degradation

Low-cost multicrystalline back-contact silicon solar cells with screen printed metallization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Neu, W.; Kress, A.; Jooss, W.; Fath, P.; Bucher, E.

2002-01-01

Adaptation to market requirements is a permanent challenge in industrial solar-cell production. Both increase of cell efficiency as well as lowering costs is demanded. Back-contacted solar cells offer multiple advantages in terms of reducing module assembling costs and enhanced cell efficiency. The investigated emitter-wrap-through (EWT) design [1] has a collecting emitter on front and rear side. These emitter areas are electrically connected by small holes. Due to the double-sided collecting junction, this cell design is favourable for materials with a low-minority charge carrier diffusion length leading to a higher short circuit current density. Until now most investigations on EWT solar cells were performed on Cz or even FZ silicon. This was justified as long as different processing techniques had to be developed and compared. But as an industrially applicable process sequence has recently been developed [2], the advantages of the EWT concept compared to conventionally processed cells have to be shown on multicrystalline material. In the following, a manufacturing process of EWT solar cells is presented which is especially adapted to the requirements of multicrystalline silicon. Effective surface texturization was reached by mechanical V-texturization and bulk passivation by a hydrogen plasma treatment. The efficiency of the best solar cells within this process reached 14.2% which is the highest efficiency reported so far for mc-Si 10x10 cm 2 EWT solar cells [3]. (author)

A novel method to achieve selective emitter for silicon solar cell using low cost pattern-able a-Si thin films as the semi-transparent phosphorus diffusion barrier

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen, Da Ming; Liang, Zong Cun; Zhuang, Lin; Lin, Yang Huan; Shen, Hui

2012-01-01

Highlights: ► a-Si thin films as semitransparent phosphorus diffusion barriers for solar cell. ► a-Si thin films on silicon wafers were patterned by the alkaline solution. ► Selective emitter was formed with patterned a-Si as diffusion barrier for solar cell. -- Abstract: Selective emitter for silicon solar cell was realized by employing a-Si thin films as the semi-transparent diffusion barrier. The a-Si thin films with various thicknesses (∼10–40 nm) were deposited by the electron-beam evaporation technique. Emitters with sheet resistances from 37 to 145 Ω/□ were obtained via POCl 3 diffusion process. The thickness of the a-Si diffusion barrier was optimized to be 15 nm for selective emitter in our work. Homemade mask which can dissolve in ethanol was screen-printed on a-Si film to make pattern. The a-Si film was then patterned in KOH solution to form finger-like design. Selective emitter was obtainable with one-step diffusion with patterned a-Si film on. Combinations of sheet resistances for the high-/low-level doped regions of 39.8/112.1, 36.2/88.8, 35.4/73.9 were obtained. These combinations are suitable for screen-printed solar cells. This preparation method of selective emitter based on a-Si diffusion barrier is a promising approach for low cost industrial manufacturing.

Photocarrier radiometry for predicting the degradation of electrical parameters of monocrystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cell irradiated by 100 KeV proton beams

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Song, P.; Liu, J.Y.; Yuan, H.M.; Oliullah, Md.; Wang, F.; Wang, Y.

2016-01-01

In this study, the monocrystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cell irradiated by 100 KeV proton beams at various fluences is investigated. A one-dimensional two-layer carrier density wave model has been developed to estimate the minority carrier lifetime of n-region and p-region of the non-irradiated c-Si solar cell by best fitting with the experimental photocarrier radiometry (PCR) signal (the amplitude and the phase). Furthermore, the lifetime is used to determine the initial defect density of the quasi-neutral region (QNR) of the solar cell to predict its I–V characteristics. The theoretically predicted short-circuit current density (J_s_c), and open-circuit voltage (V_o_c) of the non-irradiated samples are in good agreement with experiment. Then a three-region defect distribution model for the c-Si solar cell irradiated by proton beams is carried out to describe the defect density distribution according to Monte Carlo simulation results and the initial defect density of the non-irradiated sample. Finally, we find that the electrical measurements of J_s_c and V_o_c of the solar cells irradiated at different fluences using 100 KeV proton beams are consistent with the PCR predicting results.

Photocarrier radiometry for predicting the degradation of electrical parameters of monocrystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cell irradiated by 100 KeV proton beams

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Song, P. [School of Mechatronics Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001 (China); Liu, J.Y., E-mail: ljywlj@hit.edu.cn [School of Mechatronics Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001 (China); State Key Laboratory of Robotics and System (HIT), Harbin 150001 (China); Yuan, H.M.; Oliullah, Md.; Wang, F. [School of Mechatronics Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001 (China); Wang, Y., E-mail: songpengkevin@126.com [School of Mechatronics Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001 (China); State Key Laboratory of Robotics and System (HIT), Harbin 150001 (China)

2016-09-15

In this study, the monocrystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cell irradiated by 100 KeV proton beams at various fluences is investigated. A one-dimensional two-layer carrier density wave model has been developed to estimate the minority carrier lifetime of n-region and p-region of the non-irradiated c-Si solar cell by best fitting with the experimental photocarrier radiometry (PCR) signal (the amplitude and the phase). Furthermore, the lifetime is used to determine the initial defect density of the quasi-neutral region (QNR) of the solar cell to predict its I–V characteristics. The theoretically predicted short-circuit current density (J{sub sc}), and open-circuit voltage (V{sub oc}) of the non-irradiated samples are in good agreement with experiment. Then a three-region defect distribution model for the c-Si solar cell irradiated by proton beams is carried out to describe the defect density distribution according to Monte Carlo simulation results and the initial defect density of the non-irradiated sample. Finally, we find that the electrical measurements of J{sub sc} and V{sub oc} of the solar cells irradiated at different fluences using 100 KeV proton beams are consistent with the PCR predicting results.

Electrical characterization of MIS devices using PECVD SiN{sub x}:H films for application of silicon solar cells

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yoo, Jin-Su; Cho, Jun-Sik; Park, Joo-Hyung; Ahn, Seung-Kyu; Shin, Kee-Shik; Yoon, Kyung-Hoon [Korea Institute of Energy Research, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Yi, Jun-Sin [Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon (Korea, Republic of)

2012-07-15

The surface passivation of crystalline silicon solar cells using plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD), hydrogenated, silicon-nitride (SiN{sub x}:H) thin films has become significant due to a low-temperature, low-cost and very effective defect passivation process. Also, a good quality antireflection coating can be formed. In this work, SiN{sub x}:H thin films were deposited by varying the gas ratio R (=NH{sub 3}/SiH{sub 4}+NH{sub 3}) and were annealed by rapid thermal processing (RTP). Metal-insulator- semiconductor (MIS) devices were fabricated using SiN{sub x}:H thin films as insulator layers and they were analyzed in the temperature range of 100 - 400 K by using capacitance-voltage (C-V) and current-voltage (I-V) measurements. The annealed SiN{sub x}:H thin films were evaluated by using the electrical properties at different temperature to determine the effect of surface passivation. We achieved an energy conversion efficiency of 18.1% under one-sun standard testing conditions for large-area (156 mm x 156 mm) crystalline-silicon solar cells.

Improving Crystalline Silicon Solar Cell Efficiency Using Graded-Refractive-Index SiON/ZnO Nanostructures

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yung-Chun Tu

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The fabrication of silicon oxynitride (SiON/ZnO nanotube (NT arrays and their application in improving the energy conversion efficiency (η of crystalline Si-based solar cells (SCs are reported. The SiON/ZnO NT arrays have a graded-refractive-index that varies from 3.5 (Si to 1.9~2.0 (Si3N4 and ZnO to 1.72~1.75 (SiON to 1 (air. Experimental results show that the use of 0.4 μm long ZnO NT arrays coated with a 150 nm thick SiON film increases Δη/η by 39.2% under AM 1.5 G (100 mW/cm2 illumination as compared to that of regular SCs with a Si3N4/micropyramid surface. This enhancement can be attributed to SiON/ZnO NT arrays effectively releasing surface reflection and minimizing Fresnel loss.

Effect of Surface Morphology and Dispersion Media on the Properties of PEDOT:PSS/n-Si Hybrid Solar Cell Containing Functionalized Graphene

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pham Van Trinh

2017-01-01

Full Text Available We present the results on the effect of surface morphology and dispersion media on the properties of PEDOT:PSS/n-Si hybrid solar cell containing functionalized graphene (Gr. The hybrid solar cells based on SiNWs showed higher power conversion efficiency (PCE compared to the planar based cells due to suppressing the carrier recombination and improving carrier transport efficiency. The PCE of hybrid solar cells could be improved by adding Gr into PEDOT:PSS. Different solvents including deionized (DI water, ethylene glycol (EG, and isopropyl alcohol (IPA were used as media for Gr dispersion. The best performance was obtained for the cell containing Gr dispersed in EG with a measured PCE of 7.33% and nearly 13% and 16% enhancement in comparison with the cells using Gr dispersed in IPA and DI water, respectively. The increase in PCE is attributed to improving the carrier-mobility, electrical conductivity, PEDOT crystallinity, and ordering.

(Sr,Ba)(Si,Ge)2 for thin-film solar-cell applications: First-principles study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kumar, Mukesh; Umezawa, Naoto; Imai, Motoharu

2014-01-01

In order to meet the increasing demand for electric power generation from solar energy conversion, the development of efficient light absorber materials has been awaited. To this end, the electronic and optical properties of advanced alkaline-earth-metals disilicides and digermanides (SrSi 2 , BaSi 2 , SrGe 2 , and BaGe 2 ) are studied by means of the density functional theory using HSE06 exchange-correlation energy functional. Our calculations show that all these orthorhombic structured compounds have fundamental indirect band gaps in the range E g ≈ 0.89–1.25 eV, which is suitable for solar cell applications. The estimated lattice parameters and band gaps are in good agreement with experiments. Our calculations show that the electronic band structures of all four compounds are very similar except in the vicinity of the Γ-point. The valence band of these compounds is made up by Si(Ge)-p states, whereas the conduction band is composed of Sr(Ba)-d states. Their band alignments are carefully determined by estimating the work function of each compound using slab model. The optical properties are discussed in terms of the complex dielectric function ε(ω) = ε 1 (ω) + iε 2 (ω). The static and high-frequency dielectric constants are calculated, taking into account the ionic contribution. The absorption coefficient α(ω) demonstrates that a low energy dispersion of the conduction band, which results in a flat conduction band minimum, leads to large optical activity in these compounds. Therefore, alkaline-earth-metals disilicides and digermanides possess great potential as light absorbers for applications in thin-film solar cell technologies.

Analysis of radiation damage to Si solar cells under high-fluence electron irradiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yamaguchi, Masafumi; Taylor, S.J.; Yang, Ming-Ju; Matsuda, Sumio; Kawasaki, Osamu; Hisamatsu, Tadashi.

1996-01-01

Radiation testing of Si n + -p-p + space solar cells has revealed an anomalous increase in short-circuit current I sc , followed by an abrupt decrease and cell failure, induced by high-fluence (>10 16 cm -2 ) electron irradiation. A model which can be used to explain these phenomena by expressing the change in majority-carrier concentration p of the base region as a function of the electron fluence has been proposed in addition to the well-known model in which I sc is decreased due to minority-carrier lifetime reduction with irradiation. The reduction in p due to majority-carrier trapping by radiation-induced defects has two effects; one is broadening of the depletion layer which contributes to the increase in the generated photocurrent and that in the recombination-generation current in the depletion layer, and the second is an increase in the resistivity of the base layer resulting in an abrupt decrease of I sc and failure of the solar cells. (author)

Design, Modeling, Fabrication & Characterization of Industrial Si Solar Cells

Science.gov (United States)

Chowdhury, Ahrar Ahmed

Photovoltaic is a viable solution towards meeting the energy demand in an ecofriendly environment. To ensure the mass access in photovoltaic electricity, cost effective approach needs to be adapted. This thesis aims towards substrate independent fabrication process in order to achieve high efficiency cost effective industrial Silicon (Si) solar cells. Most cost-effective structures, such as, Al-BSF (Aluminum Back Surface Field), FSF (Front Surface Field) and bifacial cells are investigated in detail to exploit the efficiency potentials. First off, we introduced two-dimensional simulation model to design and modeling of most commonly used Si solar cells in today's PV arena. Best modelled results of high efficiency Al-BSF, FSF and bifacial cells are 20.50%, 22% and 21.68% respectively. Special attentions are given on the metallization design on all the structures in order to reduce the Ag cost. Furthermore, detail design and modeling were performed on FSF and bifacial cells. The FSF cells has potentials to gain 0.42%abs efficiency by combining the emitter design and front surface passivation. The prospects of bifacial cells can be revealed with the optimization of gridline widths and gridline numbers. Since, bifacial cells have metallization on both sides, a double fold cost saving is possible via innovative metallization design. Following modeling an effort is undertaken to reach the modelled result in fabrication the process. We proposed substrate independent fabrication process aiming towards establishing simultaneous processing sequences for both monofacial and bifacial cells. Subsequently, for the contact formation cost effective screen-printed technology is utilized throughout this thesis. The best Al-BSF cell attained efficiency ˜19.40%. Detail characterization was carried out to find a roadmap of achieving >20.50% efficiency Al-BSF cell. Since, n-type cell is free from Light Induced degradation (LID), recently there is a growing interest on FSF cell. Our

Serially Connected Micro Amorphous Silicon Solar Cells for Compact High-Voltage Sources

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jiyoon Nam

2016-01-01

Full Text Available We demonstrate a compact amorphous silicon (a-Si solar module to be used as high-voltage power supply. In comparison with the organic solar module, the main advantages of the a-Si solar module are its compatibility with photolithography techniques and relatively high power conversion efficiency. The open circuit voltage of a-Si solar cells can be easily controlled by serially interconnecting a-Si solar cells. Moreover, the a-Si solar module can be easily patterned by photolithography in any desired shapes with high areal densities. Using the photolithographic technique, we fabricate a compact a-Si solar module with noticeable photovoltaic characteristics as compared with the reported values for high-voltage power supplies.

Optimizing Performance Parameters of Chemically-Derived Graphene/p-Si Heterojunction Solar Cell.

Science.gov (United States)

Batra, Kamal; Nayak, Sasmita; Behura, Sanjay K; Jani, Omkar

2015-07-01

Chemically-derived graphene have been synthesized by modified Hummers method and reduced using sodium borohydride. To explore the potential for photovoltaic applications, graphene/p-silicon (Si) heterojunction devices were fabricated using a simple and cost effective technique called spin coating. The SEM analysis shows the formation of graphene oxide (GO) flakes which become smooth after reduction. The absence of oxygen containing functional groups, as observed in FT-IR spectra, reveals the reduction of GO, i.e., reduced graphene oxide (rGO). It was further confirmed by Raman analysis, which shows slight reduction in G-band intensity with respect to D-band. Hall effect measurement confirmed n-type nature of rGO. Therefore, an effort has been made to simu- late rGO/p-Si heterojunction device by using the one-dimensional solar cell capacitance software, considering the experimentally derived parameters. The detail analysis of the effects of Si thickness, graphene thickness and temperature on the performance of the device has been presented.

III-V/Si Tandem Cells Utilizing Interdigitated Back Contact Si Cells and Varying Terminal Configurations: Preprint

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schnabel, Manuel; Klein, Talysa R.; Jain, Nikhil; Essig, Stephanie; Schulte-Huxel, Henning; Warren, Emily; van Hest, Maikel F. A. M.; Geisz, John; Stradins, Paul; Tamboli, Adele; Rienacker, Michael; Merkle, Agnes; Schmidt, Jan; Brendel, Rolf; Peibst, Robby

2017-07-11

Solar cells made from bulk crystalline silicon (c-Si) dominate the market, but laboratory efficiencies have stagnated because the current record efficiency of 26.3% is already very close to the theoretical limit of 29.4% for a single-junction c-Si cell. In order to substantially boost the efficiency of Si solar cells we have been developing stacked III-V/Si tandem cells, recently attaining efficiencies above 32% in four-terminal configuration. In this contribution, we use state-of-the-art III-V cells coupled with equivalent circuit simulations to compare four-terminal (4T) to three- and two-terminal (3T, 2T) operation. Equivalent circuit simulations are used to show that tandem cells can be operated just as efficiently using three terminals as with four terminals. However, care must be taken not to overestimate 3T efficiency, as the two circuits used to extract current interact, and a method is described to accurately determine this efficiency. Experimentally, a 4T GaInP/Si tandem cell utilizing an interdigitated back contact cell is shown, exhibiting a 4T efficiency of 31.5% and a 2T efficiency of 28.1%. In 3T configuration, it is used to verify the finding from simulation that 3T efficiency is overestimated when interactions between the two circuits are neglected. Considering these, a 3T efficiency approaching the 4T efficiency is found, showing that 3T operation is efficient, and an outlook on fully integrated high-efficiency 3T and 2T tandem cells is given.

Block Textured a-Si:H Solar Cell

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Seung Jae Moon

2014-01-01

Full Text Available A series of etching experiments on light trapping structure have been carried out by glass etching. The block structure provides long light traveling path and a constant distance between the cathode and anode electrodes regardless of the block height, which results in higher efficiency of the block textured solar cell. In terms of etching profile of the glass substrate, the addition of NH4F resulted in the smooth and clean etching profile, and the steep slope of the block was obtained by optimizing the composition of etching solution. For a higher HF concentration, a more graded slope was obtained and the addition of HNO3 and NH4F provided steep slope and clean etching profile. The effects of the block textured glass were verified by a comparison of the solar cell efficiency. For the textured solar cell, the surface was much rougher than that of the plain glass, which also contributes to the improvement of the efficiency. We accomplished block shaped light trapping structure for the first time by wet etching of the glass substrate, which enables the high efficiency thin film solar cell with the aid of the good step coverage deposition.

SiC formation for a solar cell passivation layer using an RF magnetron co-sputtering system

Science.gov (United States)

2012-01-01

In this paper, we describe a method of amorphous silicon carbide film formation for a solar cell passivation layer. The film was deposited on p-type silicon (100) and glass substrates by an RF magnetron co-sputtering system using a Si target and a C target at a room-temperature condition. Several different SiC [Si1-xCx] film compositions were achieved by controlling the Si target power with a fixed C target power at 150 W. Then, structural, optical, and electrical properties of the Si1-xCx films were studied. The structural properties were investigated by transmission electron microscopy and secondary ion mass spectrometry. The optical properties were achieved by UV-visible spectroscopy and ellipsometry. The performance of Si1-xCx passivation was explored by carrier lifetime measurement. PMID:22221730

Physical and electrical characteristics of Si/SiC quantum dot superlattice solar cells with passivation layer of aluminum oxide.

Science.gov (United States)

Tsai, Yi-Chia; Li, Yiming; Samukawa, Seiji

2017-12-01

In this work, we numerically simulate the silicon (Si)/silicon carbide (SiC) quantum dot superlattice solar cell (SiC-QDSL) with aluminum oxide (Al 2 O 3 -QDSL) passivation. By exploiting the passivation layer of Al 2 O 3 , the high photocurrent and the conversion efficiency can be achieved without losing the effective bandgap. Based on the two-photon transition mechanism in an AM1.5 and a one sun illumination, the simulated short-circuit current (J sc ) of 4.77 mA cm -2 is very close to the experimentally measured 4.75 mA cm -2 , which is higher than those of conventional SiC-QDSLs. Moreover, the efficiency fluctuation caused by the structural variation is less sensitive by using the passivation layer. A high conversion efficiency of 17.4% is thus estimated by adopting the QD's geometry used in the experiment; and, it can be further boosted by applying a hexagonal QD formation with an inter-dot spacing of 0.3 nm.

Physical and electrical characteristics of Si/SiC quantum dot superlattice solar cells with passivation layer of aluminum oxide

Science.gov (United States)

Tsai, Yi-Chia; Li, Yiming; Samukawa, Seiji

2017-12-01

In this work, we numerically simulate the silicon (Si)/silicon carbide (SiC) quantum dot superlattice solar cell (SiC-QDSL) with aluminum oxide (Al2O3-QDSL) passivation. By exploiting the passivation layer of Al2O3, the high photocurrent and the conversion efficiency can be achieved without losing the effective bandgap. Based on the two-photon transition mechanism in an AM1.5 and a one sun illumination, the simulated short-circuit current (J sc) of 4.77 mA cm-2 is very close to the experimentally measured 4.75 mA cm-2, which is higher than those of conventional SiC-QDSLs. Moreover, the efficiency fluctuation caused by the structural variation is less sensitive by using the passivation layer. A high conversion efficiency of 17.4% is thus estimated by adopting the QD’s geometry used in the experiment; and, it can be further boosted by applying a hexagonal QD formation with an inter-dot spacing of 0.3 nm.

Single crystalline silicon solar cells with rib structure

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shuhei Yoshiba

2017-02-01

Full Text Available To improve the conversion efficiency of Si solar cells, we have developed a thin Si wafer-based solar cell that uses a rib structure. The open-circuit voltage of a solar cell is known to increase with deceasing wafer thickness if the cell is adequately passivated. However, it is not easy to handle very thin wafers because they are brittle and are subject to warpage. We fabricated a lattice-shaped rib structure on the rear side of a thin Si wafer to improve the wafer’s strength. A silicon nitride film was deposited on the Si wafer surface and patterned to form a mask to fabricate the lattice-shaped rib, and the wafer was then etched using KOH to reduce the thickness of the active area, except for the rib region. Using this structure in a Si heterojunction cell, we demonstrated that a high open-circuit voltage (VOC could be obtained by thinning the wafer without sacrificing its strength. A wafer with thickness of 30 μm was prepared easily using this structure. We then fabricated Si heterojunction solar cells using these rib wafers, and measured their implied VOC as a function of wafer thickness. The measured values were compared with device simulation results, and we found that the measured VOC agrees well with the simulated results. To optimize the rib and cell design, we also performed device simulations using various wafer thicknesses and rib dimensions.

Nanocluster production for solar cell applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Al Dosari, Haila M.; Ayesh, Ahmad I.

2013-01-01

This research focuses on the fabrication and characterization of silver (Ag) and silicon (Si) nanoclusters that might be used for solar cell applications. Silver and silicon nanoclusters have been synthesized by means of dc magnetron sputtering and inert gas condensation inside an ultra-high vacuum compatible system. We have found that nanocluster size distributions can be tuned by various source parameters, such as the sputtering discharge power, flow rate of argon inert gas, and aggregation length. Quadrupole mass filter and transmission electron microscopy were used to evaluate the size distribution of Ag and Si nanoclusters. Ag nanoclusters with average size in the range of 3.6–8.3 nm were synthesized (herein size refers to the nanocluster diameter), whereas Si nanoclusters' average size was controlled to range between 2.9 and 7.4 nm by controlling the source parameters. This work illustrates the ability of controlling the Si and Ag nanoclusters' sizes by proper optimization of the operation conditions. By controlling nanoclusters' sizes, one can alter their surface properties to suit the need to enhance solar cell efficiency. Herein, Ag nanoclusters were deposited on commercial polycrystalline solar cells. Short circuit current (I SC ), open circuit voltage (V OC ), fill factor, and efficiency (η) were obtained under light source with an intensity of 30 mW/cm 2 . A 22.7% enhancement in solar cell efficiency could be measured after deposition of Ag nanoclusters, which demonstrates that Ag nanoclusters generated in this work are useful to enhance solar cell efficiency

C-Si solar cell modules

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tomita, Takashi

2005-01-01

In order to meet the rapidly growing demand for solar power photovoltaic systems which is based on public consciousness of global environmental issues, SHARP has increased the production of solar cells and modules over 10-fold in the last 5 years. Silicon-based technologies are expected to be dominant in the coming decade. In the course of an increase of the annual production scale to 1000 MW, the efficiency of modules will be improved and the thickness of wafers will be decreased and all this will lead to a drastic price reduction of PV systems. (Author)

n-MoS2/p-Si Solar Cells with Al2O3 Passivation for Enhanced Photogeneration.

Science.gov (United States)

Rehman, Atteq Ur; Khan, Muhammad Farooq; Shehzad, Muhammad Arslan; Hussain, Sajjad; Bhopal, Muhammad Fahad; Lee, Sang Hee; Eom, Jonghwa; Seo, Yongho; Jung, Jongwan; Lee, Soo Hong

2016-11-02

Molybdenum disulfide (MoS 2 ) has recently emerged as a promising candidate for fabricating ultrathin-film photovoltaic devices. These devices exhibit excellent photovoltaic performance, superior flexibility, and low production cost. Layered MoS 2 deposited on p-Si establishes a built-in electric field at MoS 2 /Si interface that helps in photogenerated carrier separation for photovoltaic operation. We propose an Al 2 O 3 -based passivation at the MoS 2 surface to improve the photovoltaic performance of bulklike MoS 2 /Si solar cells. Interestingly, it was observed that Al 2 O 3 passivation enhances the built-in field by reduction of interface trap density at surface. Our device exhibits an improved power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 5.6%, which to our knowledge is the highest efficiency among all bulklike MoS 2 -based photovoltaic cells. The demonstrated results hold the promise for integration of bulklike MoS 2 films with Si-based electronics to develop highly efficient photovoltaic cells.

Charge Transfer from Carbon Nanotubes to Silicon in Flexible Carbon Nanotube/Silicon Solar Cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Xiaokai; Mariano, Marina; McMillon-Brown, Lyndsey; Huang, Jing-Shun; Sfeir, Matthew Y; Reed, Mark A; Jung, Yeonwoong; Taylor, André D

2017-12-01

Mechanical fragility and insufficient light absorption are two major challenges for thin flexible crystalline Si-based solar cells. Flexible hybrid single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT)/Si solar cells are demonstrated by applying scalable room-temperature processes for the fabrication of solar-cell components (e.g., preparation of SWNT thin films and SWNT/Si p-n junctions). The flexible SWNT/Si solar cells present an intrinsic efficiency ≈7.5% without any additional light-trapping structures. By using these solar cells as model systems, the charge transport mechanisms at the SWNT/Si interface are investigated using femtosecond transient absorption. Although primary photon absorption occurs in Si, transient absorption measurements show that SWNTs also generate and inject excited charge carriers to Si. Such effects can be tuned by controlling the thickness of the SWNTs. Findings from this study could open a new pathway for designing and improving the efficiency of photocarrier generation and absorption for high-performance ultrathin hybrid SWNT/Si solar cells. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Blistering in ALD Al2O3 passivation layers as rear contacting for local Al BSF Si solar cells

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vermang, B.; Goverde, J.C.; Uruena, A.; Lorenz, A.; Cornagliotti, E.; Rothschild, A.; John, J.; Poortmans, J.; Mertens, R.

2012-01-01

Random Al back surface field (BSF) p-type Si solar cells are presented, where a stack of Al2O3 and SiNx is used as rear surface passivation layer containing blisters. It is shown that no additional contact opening step is needed, since during co-firing local Al BSFs are induced at the location of

Fabrication of silicon solar cell with >18% efficiency using spin-on-film processing for phosphorus diffusion and SiO{sub 2}/graded index TiO{sub 2} anti-reflective coating

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, Yi-Yu; Ho, Wen-Jeng, E-mail: wjho@ntut.edu.tw; Yeh, Chien-Wu

2015-11-01

Highlights: • Employed SOF technology for both phosphorus diffusion and multi-layer ARCs. • Optical properties of TiO{sub 2}, SiO{sub 2}, and SiO{sub 2}/TiO{sub 2}/TiO{sub 2} films are characterized. • Photovoltaic performances of the fabricated solar cells are measured and compared. • An impressive efficiency of 18.25% was obtained by using the SOF processes. - Abstract: This study employed spin-on film (SOF) technology for the fabrication of phosphorus diffusion and multi-layer anti-reflective coatings (ARCs) with a graded index on silicon (Si) wafers. Low cost and high efficiency solar cells are important issues for the operating cost of a photovoltaic system. SOF technology for the fabrication of solar cells can be for the achievement of this goal. This study succeeded in the application of SOF technology in the preparation of both phosphorus diffusion and SiO{sub 2}/graded index TiO{sub 2} ARCs for Si solar cells. Optical properties of TiO{sub 2}, SiO{sub 2}, and multi-layer SiO{sub 2}/TiO{sub 2} deposition by SOF are characterized. Electrical and optical characteristics of the fabricated solar cells are measured and compared. An impressive efficiency of 18.25% was obtained by using the SOF processes.

Photovoltaic characteristics of porous silicon /(n+ - p) silicon solar cells

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dzhafarov, T.D.; Aslanov, S.S.; Ragimov, S.H.; Sadigov, M.S.; Nabiyeva, A.F.; Yuksel, Aydin S.

2012-01-01

Full text : The purpose of this work is to improve the photovoltaic parameters of the screen-printed silicon solar cells by formation the nano-porous silicon film on the frontal surface of the cell. The photovoltaic characteristics of two type silicon solar cells with and without porous silicon layer were measured and compared. A remarkable increment of short-circuit current density and the efficiency by 48 percent and 20 percent, respectively, have been achieved for PS/(n + - pSi) solar cell comparing to (n + - p)Si solar cell without PS layer

a-Si:H/μc-Si:H solar cells prepared by the single-chamber processes—minimization of phosphorus and boron cross contamination

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Merdzhanova, Tsvetelina, E-mail: t.merdzhanova@fz-juelich.de; Zimmermann, Thomas; Zastrow, Uwe; Gordijn, Aad; Beyer, Wolfhard

2013-07-01

Single-chamber processes for the deposition of high efficiency thin-film silicon tandem cells of an a-Si:H p-i-n (top cell)/μc-Si:H p-i-n (bottom cell) structure involving short fabrication time are reported. An industry relevant reactor and an excitation frequency of 13.56 MHz were used. The conversion efficiency is found to be highly sensitive to dopant cross contamination into the μc-Si:H i-layer of the bottom cell and within the n/p-interface of the tunnel recombination junction (TRJ). Different reactor treatments at the p/i-interfaces of the top and bottom cells and at the n/p-interface of the TRJ were applied, aiming to prevent dopant cross contamination. The phosphorus and the boron concentrations were evaluated by secondary ion mass spectrometry measurements. Phosphorus cross contamination after TRJ n-layer deposition is found to result in significant n-type doping of the μc-Si:H i-layer of the bottom cell if no reactor treatment is applied. In situ reactor treatment via an Ar flush and pumping step of 15 min applied at the n/p-interface of TRJ results in reduction of the μc-Si:H i-layer phosphorus concentration to values below 10{sup 17} cm{sup −3}. A conversion efficiency of 11.8% for such tandem cells is demonstrated. Shorter interface treatment time with phosphorus concentrations in the μc-Si:H i-layer of about 5 × 10{sup 17} cm{sup −3} results in lower conversion efficiencies of 10.6%, mainly due to the decrease of open-circuit voltage and fill factor. - Highlights: • Single-chamber process for a-Si:H/μc-Si:H solar cell is developed. • P- and B-contaminations at n/p interface and μc-Si:H i-layer are quantified by SIMS. • Reactor treatment is required at n/p interface for minimum dopant cross contamination. • Ar-flush pumping of reactor reduces P concentration in μc-Si:H i-layer to 10{sup 17} cm{sup −3}{sub .} • Conversion efficiency of 11.4% is reached at reactor treatment time of 17 min.

Internal transmission coefficient in charges carrier generation layer of graphene/Si based solar cell device

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rosikhin, Ahmad; Winata, Toto

2016-01-01

Internal transmission profile in charges carrier generation layer of graphene/Si based solar cell has been explored theoretically. Photovoltaic device was constructed from graphene/Si heterojunction forming a multilayer stuck with Si as generation layer. The graphene/Si sheet was layered on ITO/glass wafer then coated by Al forming Ohmic contact with Si. Photon incident propagate from glass substrate to metal electrode and assumed that there is no transmission in Al layer. The wavelength range spectra used in this calculation was 200 – 1000 nm. It found that transmission intensity in the generation layer show non-linear behavior and partitioned by few areas which related with excitation process. According to this information, it may to optimize the photons absorption to create more excitation process by inserting appropriate material to enhance optical properties in certain wavelength spectra because of the exciton generation is strongly influenced by photon absorption.

Monolayer MoS2 heterojunction solar cells

KAUST Repository

Tsai, Menglin

2014-08-26

We realized photovoltaic operation in large-scale MoS2 monolayers by the formation of a type-II heterojunction with p-Si. The MoS 2 monolayer introduces a built-in electric field near the interface between MoS2 and p-Si to help photogenerated carrier separation. Such a heterojunction photovoltaic device achieves a power conversion efficiency of 5.23%, which is the highest efficiency among all monolayer transition-metal dichalcogenide-based solar cells. The demonstrated results of monolayer MoS 2/Si-based solar cells hold the promise for integration of 2D materials with commercially available Si-based electronics in highly efficient devices. © 2014 American Chemical Society.

Imaging the Spatial Evolution of Degradation in Perovskite/Si Tandem Solar Cells After Exposure to Humid Air

KAUST Repository

Song, Zhaoning

2017-09-14

Monolithically integrated two-terminal perovskite/Si tandem solar cells promise to achieve high power conversion efficiency. However, there is a concern that the stability of the perovskite top cell will limit the long-term performance of tandem devices. To investigate the impact of perovskite cell degradation on the photocurrent generation and collection in the individual subcells, we employed light beam induced current mapping to spatially resolve the photocurrent under controlled humidity conditions. The evolution of the device behavior is consistent with the formation of an optically transparent hydrated perovskite phase that allows the bottom Si cell to continue to generate photocurrent at the probing wavelength (532 nm). Additional measurements were performed on perovskite thin films on glass substrates to verify the interpretation.

Imaging the Spatial Evolution of Degradation in Perovskite/Si Tandem Solar Cells After Exposure to Humid Air

KAUST Repository

Song, Zhaoning; Werner, Jeremie; Watthage, Suneth C.; Sahli, Florent; Shrestha, Niraj; De Wolf, Stefaan; Niesen, Bjorn; Phillips, Adam B.; Ballif, Christophe; Ellingson, Randy J.; Heben, Michael J.

2017-01-01

Monolithically integrated two-terminal perovskite/Si tandem solar cells promise to achieve high power conversion efficiency. However, there is a concern that the stability of the perovskite top cell will limit the long-term performance of tandem devices. To investigate the impact of perovskite cell degradation on the photocurrent generation and collection in the individual subcells, we employed light beam induced current mapping to spatially resolve the photocurrent under controlled humidity conditions. The evolution of the device behavior is consistent with the formation of an optically transparent hydrated perovskite phase that allows the bottom Si cell to continue to generate photocurrent at the probing wavelength (532 nm). Additional measurements were performed on perovskite thin films on glass substrates to verify the interpretation.

Atomic-layer deposited Nb2O5 as transparent passivating electron contact for c-Si solar cells

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Macco, Bart; Black, Lachlan E.; Melskens, Jimmy; van de Loo, Bas W.H.; Berghuis, Willem Jan H.; Verheijen, Marcel A.; Kessels, Wilhelmus M.M.

2018-01-01

Passivating contacts based on metal oxides have proven to enable high energy conversion efficiencies for crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cells at low processing complexity. In this work, the potential of atomic-layer deposited (ALD) Nb2O5 as novel electron-selective passivating contact is explored

Growth and characterization of low composition Ge, x in epi-Si1‑x Gex (x  ⩽  10%) active layer for fabrication of hydrogenated bottom solar cell

Science.gov (United States)

Ajmal Khan, M.; Sato, R.; Sawano, K.; Sichanugrist, P.; Lukianov, A.; Ishikawa, Y.

2018-05-01

Semiconducting epi-Si1‑x Ge x alloys have promising features as solar cell materials and may be equally important for some other semiconductor device applications. Variation of the germanium compositional, x in epi-Si1‑x Ge x , makes it possible to control the bandgap between 1.12 eV and 0.68 eV for application in bottom solar cells. A low proportion of Ge in SiGe alloy can be used for photovoltaic application in a bottom cell to complete the four-terminal tandem structure with wide bandgap materials. In this research, we aimed to use a low proportion of Ge—about 10%—in strained or relaxed c-Si1‑x Ge x /c-Si heterojunctions (HETs), with or without insertion of a Si buffer layer grown by molecular beam epitaxy, to investigate the influence of the relaxed or strained SiGe active layer on the performance of HET solar cells grown using the plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition system. Thanks to the c-Si buffer layer at the hetero-interface, the efficiency of these SiGe based HET solar cells was improved from 2.3% to 3.5% (fully strained and with buffer layer). The Jsc was improved, from 8 mA cm‑2 to 15.46 mA cm‑2, which might be supported by strained c-Si buffer layer at the hetero-interface, by improving the crystalline quality.

Effect of Silicon Nanowire on Crystalline Silicon Solar Cell Characteristics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zahra Ostadmahmoodi Do

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Nanowires (NWs are recently used in several sensor or actuator devices to improve their ordered characteristics. Silicon nanowire (Si NW is one of the most attractive one-dimensional nanostructures semiconductors because of its unique electrical and optical properties. In this paper, silicon nanowire (Si NW, is synthesized and characterized for application in photovoltaic device. Si NWs are prepared using wet chemical etching method which is commonly used as a simple and low cost method for producing nanowires of the same substrate material. The process conditions are adjusted to find the best quality of Si NWs. Morphology of Si NWs is studied using a field emission scanning electron microscopic technique. An energy dispersive X-Ray analyzer is also used to provide elemental identification and quantitative compositional information. Subsequently, Schottky type solar cell samples are fabricated on Si and Si NWs using ITO and Ag contacts. The junction properties are calculated using I-V curves in dark condition and the solar cell I-V characteristics are obtained under incident of the standardized light of AM1.5. The results for the two mentioned Schottky solar cell samples are compared and discussed. An improvement in short circuit current and efficiency of Schottky solar cell is found when Si nanowires are employed.

Growth of BaSi2 continuous films on Ge(111) by molecular beam epitaxy and fabrication of p-BaSi2/n-Ge heterojunction solar cells

Science.gov (United States)

Takabe, Ryota; Yachi, Suguru; Tsukahara, Daichi; Toko, Kaoru; Suemasu, Takashi

2017-05-01

We grew BaSi2 films on Ge(111) substrates by various growth methods based on molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). First, we attempted to form BaSi2 films directly on Ge(111) by MBE without templates. We next formed BaSi2 films using BaGe2 templates as commonly used for MBE growth of BaSi2 on Si substrates. Contrary to our prediction, the lateral growth of BaSi2 was not promoted by these two methods; BaSi2 formed not into a continuous film but into islands. Although streaky patterns of reflection high-energy electron diffraction were observed inside the growth chamber, no X-ray diffraction lines of BaSi2 were observed in samples taken out from the growth chamber. Such BaSi2 islands were easily to get oxidized. We finally attempted to form a continuous BaSi2 template layer on Ge(111) by solid phase epitaxy, that is, the deposition of amorphous Ba-Si layers onto MBE-grown BaSi2 epitaxial islands, followed by post annealing. We achieved the formation of an approximately 5-nm-thick BaSi2 continuous layer by this method. Using this BaSi2 layer as a template, we succeeded in forming a-axis-oriented 520-nm-thick BaSi2 epitaxial films on Ge substrates, although (111)-oriented Si grains were included in the grown layer. We next formed a B-doped p-BaSi2(20 nm)/n-Ge(111) heterojunction solar cell. A wide-spectrum response from 400 to 2000 nm was achieved. At an external bias voltage of 1 V, the external quantum efficiency reached as high as 60%, demonstrating the great potential of BaSi2/Ge combination. However, the efficiency of a solar cell under AM1.5 illumination was quite low (0.1%). The origin of such a low efficiency was examined.

Influence of oblique-angle sputtered transparent conducting oxides on performance of Si-based thin film solar cells

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Leem, Jung Woo; Yu, Jae Su

2011-01-01

The transparent conducting oxide (TCO) films with low-refractive-index (low-n) are fabricated by the oblique-angle sputtering method. By using the experimentally measured physical data of the fabricated low-n TCO films as the simulation parameters, the effect of low-n TCOs on the performance of a-Si:H/μc-Si:H tandem thin film solar cells is investigated using Silvaco ATLAS. The Al-doped zinc oxide, indium tin oxide (ITO), and Sb-doped tin oxide films are deposited at the flux incidence angles of θ i = 0 (normal sputtering) and θ i = 80 from the sputtering target during the sputtering process. The oblique-angle sputtered films at θ i = 80 show the inclined columnar nanostructures compared to those at θ i = 0 , modifying the optical properties of the films. This is caused mainly by the increase of porosity within the film which leads to its low-n characteristics. The a-Si:H/μc-Si:H tandem thin film solar cell incorporated with the low-n ITO film exhibits an improvement in the conversion efficiency of ∝1% under AM1.5g illumination because of its higher transmittance and lower absorption compared to that with the ITO film at θ i = 0 , indicating a conversion efficiency of 13.75%. (Copyright copyright 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

Berkeley Lab Sheds Light on Improving Solar Cell Efficiency

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

2007-01-01

Typical manufacturing methods produce solar cells with an efficiency of 12-15%; and 14% efficiency is the bare minimum for achieving a profit. In work performed at the Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley, CA, 5 10-486-577 1)--a US Department of Energy national laboratory that conducts unclassified scientific research and is managed by the University of California--scientist Scott McHugo has obtained keen insights into the impaired performance of solar cells manufactured from polycrystalline silicon. The solar cell market is potentially vast, according to Berkeley Lab. Lightweight solar panels are highly beneficial for providing electrical power to remote locations in developing nations, since there is no need to build transmission lines or truck-in generator fuel. Moreover, industrial nations confronted with diminishing resources have active programs aimed at producing improved, less expensive solar cells. 'In a solar cell, there is a junction between p-type silicon and an n-type layer, such as diffused-in phosphorous', explained McHugo, who is now with Berkeley Lab's Accelerator and Fusion Research Division. 'When sunlight is absorbed, it frees electrons, which start migrating in a random-walk fashion toward that junction. If the electrons make it to the junction; they contribute to the cell's output of electric current. Often, however, before they reach the junction, they recombine at specific sites in the crystal' (and, therefore, cannot contribute to current output). McHugo scrutinized a map of a silicon wafer in which sites of high recombination appeared as dark regions. Previously, researchers had shown that such phenomena occurred not primarily at grain boundaries in the polycrystalline material, as might be expected, but more often at dislocations in the crystal. However, the dislocations themselves were not the problem. Using a unique heat treatment technique, McHugo performed electrical measurements to investigate the material

Low-Temperature, Chemically Grown Titanium Oxide Thin Films with a High Hole Tunneling Rate for Si Solar Cells

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Yu-Tsu Lee

2016-05-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we propose a chemically grown titanium oxide (TiO2 on Si to form a heterojunction for photovoltaic devices. The chemically grown TiO2 does not block hole transport. Ultraviolet photoemission spectroscopy was used to study the band alignment. A substantial band offset at the TiO2/Si interface was observed. X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS revealed that the chemically grown TiO2 is oxygen-deficient and contains numerous gap states. A multiple-trap-assisted tunneling (TAT model was used to explain the high hole injection rate. According to this model, the tunneling rate can be 105 orders of magnitude higher for holes passing through TiO2 than for flow through SiO2. With 24-nm-thick TiO2, a Si solar cell achieves a 33.2 mA/cm2 photocurrent on a planar substrate, with a 9.4% power conversion efficiency. Plan-view scanning electron microscopy images indicate that a moth-eye-like structure formed during TiO2 deposition. This structure enables light harvesting for a high photocurrent. The high photocurrent and ease of production of chemically grown TiO2 imply that it is a suitable candidate for future low-cost, high-efficiency solar cell applications.

High Efficiency Thin Film CdTe and a-Si Based Solar Cells: Final Technical Report, 4 March 1998--15 October 2001

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Compaan, A. D.; Deng, X.; Bohn, R. G.

2003-10-01

This is the final report covering about 42 months of this subcontract for research on high-efficiency CdTe-based thin-film solar cells and on high-efficiency a-Si-based thin-film solar cells. Phases I and II have been extensively covered in two Annual Reports. For this Final Report, highlights of the first two Phases will be provided and then detail will be given on the last year and a half of Phase III. The effort on CdTe-based materials is led by Prof. Compaan and emphasizes the use of sputter deposition of the semiconductor layers in the fabrication of CdS/CdTe cells. The effort on high-efficiency a-Si materials is led by Prof. Deng and emphasizes plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition for cell fabrication with major efforts on triple-junction devices.

Triple Layer Antireflection Design Concept for the Front Side of c-Si Heterojunction Solar Cell Based on the Antireflective Effect of nc-3C-SiC:H Emitter Layer

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Erick Omondi Ateto

2016-01-01

Full Text Available We investigated the antireflective (AR effect of hydrogenated nanocrystalline cubic silicon carbide (nc-3C-SiC:H emitter and its application in the triple layer AR design for the front side of silicon heterojunction (SHJ solar cell. We found that the nc-3C-SiC:H emitter can serve both as an emitter and antireflective coating for SHJ solar cell, which enables us to realize the triple AR design by adding one additional dielectric layer to normally used SHJ structure with a transparent conductive oxide (TCO and an emitter layer. The optimized SHJ structure with the triple layer AR coating (LiF/ITO/nc-3C-SiC:H exhibit a short circuit current density (Jsc of 38.65 mA/cm2 and lower reflectivity of about 3.42% at wavelength range of 300 nm–1000 nm.

FcepsilonRI-alpha siRNA inhibits the antigen-induced activation of mast cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Safaralizadeh, Reza; Soheili, Zahra-Soheila; Deezagi, Abdolkhaleg; Pourpak, Zahra; Samiei, Shahram; Moin, Mostafa

2009-12-01

FcepsilonRI, The high affinity receptor for IgE plays a critical role in triggering the allergic reactions. It is responsible for inducing mast cell degranulation and deliberation of allergy mediators when it is aggregated by allergen and IgE complexes. FcepsilonRI on the mast cells consists of three subunits; alpha chain directly binds IgE, beta chain and dimmer of gamma chains together mediate intracellular signaling. Cross-linking of IgE-bound FcepsilonRI on the surface of mast cells and basophils by the multivalent antigen induces release of chemical mediators. The present in vitro study was designed to investigate the effect of synthetic FcepsilonRI-alpha siRNA on the antigen-induced activation of MC/9 cells. MC/9 cells which are murine mast cells were transfected by FcepsilonRI-alpha siRNA and negative control siRNA. After 6 h, anti-DNP (Dinitrophenyl) IgE was used for the cells sensitization. Then the cells were challenged with Dinitrophenyl-Human Serum Albumin (DNP-HSA) for mast cell degranulation induction before collection of supernatants. The amount of mRNA and protein expression was measured by Real Time PCR and western blot analysis, respectively. Determination of the expression rate of FcepsilonRI-alpha on cell surface was achieved by flow cytometry. ELISA and spectrophotometry methods were used subsequently for measuring the effects of FcepsilonRI-alpha siRNA on antigen-induced histamine and beta-hexosaminidase release. FcepsilonRI-alpha siRNA treated cells showed significant decrease in FcepsilonRI-alpha mRNA and protein expression in comparison to control cells. FcepsilonRI-mediated mast cell release of beta-hexosaminidase and histamine were also inhibited. In this study it was shown that FcepsilonRI-alpha siRNA could suppress FcepsilonRI-alpha expression and inhibited degranulation and histamine release in antigen-stimulated MC/9 cells. In conclusion, knock-down of FcepsilonRI-alpha by siRNA could be a promising method for inhibition of the mast

Accelerated stress testing of amorphous silicon solar cells

Science.gov (United States)

Stoddard, W. G.; Davis, C. W.; Lathrop, J. W.

1985-01-01

A technique for performing accelerated stress tests of large-area thin a-Si solar cells is presented. A computer-controlled short-interval test system employing low-cost ac-powered ELH illumination and a simulated a-Si reference cell (seven individually bandpass-filtered zero-biased crystalline PIN photodiodes) calibrated to the response of an a-Si control cell is described and illustrated with flow diagrams, drawings, and graphs. Preliminary results indicate that while most tests of a program developed for c-Si cells are applicable to a-Si cells, spurious degradation may appear in a-Si cells tested at temperatures above 130 C.

Improved opto-electronic properties of silicon heterojunction solar cells with SiO x /Tungsten-doped indium oxide double anti-reflective coatings

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Jian; Zhou, Jie; Bian, Jiantao; Zhang, Liping; Liu, Yucheng; Shi, Jianhua; Meng, Fanying; Liu, Jinning; Liu, Zhengxin

2017-08-01

Amorphous SiO x was prepared by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) to form SiO x /tungsten-doped indium oxide (IWO) double anti-reflective coatings for silicon heterojunction (SHJ) solar cell. The sheet resistance of SiO x /IWO stacks decreases due to plasma treatment during deposition process, which means thinner IWO film would be deposited for better optical response. However, the comparisons of three anti-reflective coating (ARC) structures reveal that SiO x film limits carier transport and the path of IWO-SiO x -Ag structure is non-conductive. The decrease of sheet resistance is defined as pseudo conductivity. IWO film capping with SiO x allows observably reduced reflectance and better response in 300-400 and 600-1200 nm wavelength ranges. Compared with IWO single ARC, the average reflection is reduced by 1.65% with 70 nm SiO x /80 nm IWO double anti-reflective coatings (DARCs) in 500-1200 nm wavelength range, leading to growing external quantum efficiency response, short circuit current density (J sc), and efficiency. After well optimization of SiO x /IWO stacks, an impressive efficiency of 23.08% is obtained with high J sc and without compromising open circuit voltage (V oc) and fill factor. SiO x /IWO DARCs provide better anti-reflective properties over a broad range of wavelength, showing promising application for SHJ solar cells.

Review of status developments of high-efficiency crystalline silicon solar cells

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Jingjing; Yao, Yao; Xiao, Shaoqing; Gu, Xiaofeng

2018-03-01

In order to further improve cell efficiency and reduce cost in achieving grid parity, a large number of PV manufacturing companies, universities and research institutes have been devoted to a variety of low-cost and high-efficiency crystalline Si solar cells. In this article, the cell structures, characteristics and efficiency progresses of several types of high-efficiency crystalline Si solar cells that have been in small scale production or are promising in mass production are presented, including passivated emitter rear cell, tunnel oxide passivated contact solar cell, interdigitated back contact cell, heterojunction with intrinsic thin-layer cell, and heterojunction solar cells with interdigitated back contacts. Both the industrialization status and future development trend of high-efficiency crystalline silicon solar cells are also pinpointed.

Improvement in performance of Si-based thin film solar cells with a nanocrystalline SiO{sub 2}–TiO{sub 2} layer

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lin, Yang-Shih [Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung 40227, Taiwan, ROC (China); Lien, Shui-Yang [Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Da-Yeh University, Changhua 51591, Taiwan, ROC (China); Wuu, Dong-Sing, E-mail: dsw@dragon.nchu.edu.tw [Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung 40227, Taiwan, ROC (China); Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Da-Yeh University, Changhua 51591, Taiwan, ROC (China); Huang, Yu-Xuan; Kung, Chung-Yuan [Graduate Institute of Optoelectronic Engineering, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung 40227, Taiwan, ROC (China)

2014-11-03

In this paper, titanium dioxide (TiO{sub 2}) solution with grain sizes of 1–5 nm is prepared by microwave hydrothermal synthesis, and then mixed with silicon dioxide (SiO{sub 2}) solution to yield different SiO{sub 2}/TiO{sub 2} ratios. The mixed solution is then sol–gel spin-coated on glass as an anti-reflecting and self-cleaning bi-functional layer. The experimental results show that the transmittance is optimized not only by minimizing the reflectance by reflective index matching at the glass/air interface, but also by improving the film/glass interface adhesion. Adding SiO{sub 2} into TiO{sub 2} in a weight ratio of 5 leads to the highest average transmittance of 93.6% which is 3% higher than that of glass. All of the SiO{sub 2}–TiO{sub 2} films exhibit a remarkable inherent hydrophilicity even when not illuminated by ultra-violet light. Using the optimized SiO{sub 2}–TiO{sub 2} film in a hydrogenated amorphous silicon/microcrystalline silicon tandem, solar cell increases its conversion efficiency by 5.2%. Two months of outdoor testing revealed that cells with the SiO{sub 2}–TiO{sub 2} film avoid 1.7% of the degradation loss that is caused by dust and dirt in the environment. - Highlights: • High-transmittance and self-cleaning nano-sized SiO{sub 2}–TiO{sub 2} films are prepared. • Using SiO{sub 2}–TiO{sub 2} film can increase average transmittance from 90.5% (glass) to 93.6%. • The SiO{sub 2}–TiO{sub 2} films have naturally hydrophilicity with water contact angles < 13°. • Cells with the film have a 4.9% higher photocurrent than cells without the film.

The role of high work-function metallic nanodots on the performance of a-Si:H solar cells: offering ohmic contact to light trapping.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Jeehwan; Abou-Kandil, Ahmed; Fogel, Keith; Hovel, Harold; Sadana, Devendra K

2010-12-28

Addition of carbon into p-type "window" layers in hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) solar cells enhances short circuit currents and open circuit voltages by a great deal. However, a-Si:H solar cells with high carbon-doped "window" layers exhibit poor fill factors due to a Schottky barrier-like impedance at the interface between a-SiC:H windows and transparent conducting oxides (TCO), although they show maximized short circuit currents and open circuit voltages. The impedance is caused by an increasing mismatch between the work function of TCO and that of p-type a-SiC:H. Applying ultrathin high-work-function metals at the interface between the two materials results in an effective lowering of the work function mismatch and a consequent ohmic behavior. If the metal layer is sufficiently thin, then it forms nanodots rather than a continuous layer which provides light-scattering effect. We demonstrate 31% efficiency enhancement by using high-work-function materials for engineering the work function at the key interfaces to raise fill factors as well as photocurrents. The use of metallic interface layers in this work is a clear contrast to previous work where attempts were made to enhance the photocurrent using plasmonic metal nanodots on the solar cell surface.

Fabrication and characterization of Al2O3 /Si composite nanodome structures for high efficiency crystalline Si thin film solar cells

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ruiying Zhang

2015-12-01

Full Text Available We report on our fabrication and characterization of Al2O3/Si composite nanodome (CND structures, which is composed of Si nanodome structures with a conformal cladding Al2O3 layer to evaluate its optical and electrical performance when it is applied to thin film solar cells. It has been observed that by application of Al2O3thin film coating using atomic layer deposition (ALD to the Si nanodome structures, both optical and electrical performances are greatly improved. The reflectivity of less than 3% over the wavelength range of from 200 nm to 2000 nm at an incident angle from 0° to 45° is achieved when the Al2O3 film is 90 nm thick. The ultimate efficiency of around 27% is obtained on the CND textured 2 μm-thick Si solar cells, which is compared to the efficiency of around 25.75% and 15% for the 2 μm-thick Si nanodome surface-decorated and planar samples respectively. Electrical characterization was made by using CND-decorated MOS devices to measure device’s leakage current and capacitance dispersion. It is found the electrical performance is sensitive to the thickness of the Al2O3 film, and the performance is remarkably improved when the dielectric layer thickness is 90 nm thick. The leakage current, which is less than 4x10−9 A/cm2 over voltage range of from -3 V to 3 V, is reduced by several orders of magnitude. C-V measurements also shows as small as 0.3% of variation in the capacitance over the frequency range from 10 kHz to 500 kHz, which is a strong indication of surface states being fully passivated. TEM examination of CND-decorated samples also reveals the occurrence of SiOx layer formed between the interface of Si and the Al2O3 film, which is thin enough that ensures the presence of field-effect passivation, From our theoretical and experimental study, we believe Al2O3 coated CND structures is a truly viable approach to achieving higher device efficiency.

Silicon nanocrystals embedded in silicon carbide for tandem solar cell applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schnabel, Manuel

2015-01-01

Tandem solar cells consist of multiple individual solar cells stacked in order of increasing bandgap, with the cell with highest bandgap towards the incident light. This allows photons to be absorbed in the cell that will convert them to electricity with the greatest efficiency, and is the only solar cell concept to surpass the theoretical efficiency limit of a conventional solar cell so far. This work is concerned with the development of silicon nanocrystals (Si NCs) embedded in silicon carbide, which are expected to have a higher bandgap than bulk Si due to quantum confinement, for use in the top cell of a two-junction tandem cell. Charge carrier transport and recombination were investigated as a function of various parameters. Distortion of luminescence spectra by optical interference was highlighted and a robust model to describe transport of majority carriers was developed. Furthermore, a range of processing steps required to produce a Si NC-based tandem cell were studied, culminating in the preparation of the first Si NC-based tandem cells. The resulting cells exhibited open-circuit voltages of 900 mV, demonstrating tandem cell functionality.

Compositional study of glow-discharge A-SiC:H films for window layer of solar cells

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Imura, T; Hiraki, A

1983-10-01

A series of compositional studies on various types of amorphous silicon-carbon-hydrogen alloy (a-SiC:H) were performed by means of Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) and infrared spectroscopy (IR). The difference between CH4 and C2H4 as a carbon source was examined. From the infrared absorption study it is shown that C2H4-based a-SiC:H films contain carbons as -C2H5 and -CH3,, whereas CH4-based ones as tetrahedral atoms. These results will serve to elucidate the fabrication problems of solar cells. 14 references.

Direct Current Sputter Epitaxy of Heavily Doped p+ Layer for Monocrystalline Si Solar Cells

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Wenchang Yeh

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Sputter epitaxy of p+ layer for fabrication of Si solar cells (SCs was demonstrated. Hall carrier concentration of p+ layer was 2.6 × 1020 cm−3 owing to cosputtering of B with Si at low temperature, which had enabled heavy and shallow p+ dope layer. p+nn+ SCs were fabricated and influence of p+ and n+ layers was investigated. Internal quantum efficiency (IQE of p+nn+ SCs was 95% at visible light and was larger than 60% at ultraviolet (UV light when the p+ layer was thinner than 30 nm. At near infrared (NIR, extra increment on IQE was achieved by rear n+ back surface field (BSF layer with a thickness thinner than 100 nm.

Bias-dependent high saturation solar LBIC scanning of solar cells

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Vorster, F.J.; van Dyk, E.E. [Department of Physics, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, P.O. Box 77000, Port Elizabeth 6031 (South Africa)

2007-06-15

A light beam-induced current measurement system that uses concentrated solar radiation as a beam probe to map spatially distributed defects on a solar cell has been developed and tested [F.J. Vorster, E.E. van Dyk, Rev. Sci. Instrum., submitted for review]. The induced current response from a flat plate EFG Si solar cell was mapped as a function of surface position and cell bias by using a solar light beam induced current (S-LBIC) mapping system while at the same time dynamically biasing the whole cell with an external voltage. This paper examines the issues relating to transient capacitive effects as well as the electrical behaviour of typical solar cell defect mechanisms under spot illumination. By examining the bias dependence of the S-LBIC maps, various defect mechanisms of photovoltaic (PV) cells under concentrated solar irradiance may be identified. The techniques employed to interpret the spatially distributed IV curves as well as initial results are discussed. (author)

P-type poly-Si prepared by low-temperature aluminum-induced crystallization and doping for solar cells

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Matsumoto, Yasuhiro; Yu, Zhenrui; Morales-Acevedo, Arturo [CINVESTAV-IPN, Mexico, D.F. (Mexico)

2000-07-01

P-type poly-Si thin films prepared by low temperature aluminum-induced crystallization and doping are reported. The starting material was boron-doped a-Si:H prepared by PECVD on glass substrates. Aluminum layers with different thickness were evaporated on a-Si:H surface and conventional thermal annealing was performed at temperatures ranging from 300 to 550 Celsius degrees. XRD, SIMS, and Hall effect measurements were carried out to characterize the annealed Al could be crystallized at temperature as low as 300 Celsius degrees in 60 minutes. This material has high carrier concentration as well as high Hall mobility and can be used as a p-layer of seed layer for thin film poly-Si solar cells. The technique reported here is compatible with PECVD process. [Spanish] Se informa sobre la preparacion de peliculas delgadas tipo P y Poli-Si mediante la cristalizacion inducida de aluminio a baja temperatura y el dopado. El material inicial era de boro dopado y a-Si:H preparado PECVD sobre substratos de vidrio. Se evaporaron capas de aluminio de diferente espesor sobre una superficie de a-Si:H y se llevo a cabo un destemplado termico convencional a temperaturas que varian entre 300 y 500 grados Celsius. Se llevaron a cabo mediciones de XRB, SIMS y del efecto Hall para caracterizar el aluminio destemplado para que pudiera ser cristalizado a temperaturas tan bajas como 300 grados Celsius en 60 minutos. Este material tiene una alta concentracion portadora asi como una alta movilidad Hall y puede usarse como una capa de semilla para celdas solares de pelicula delgada Poli-Si. La tecnica reportada aqui es compatible con el proceso PECVD.

Influence of oblique-angle sputtered transparent conducting oxides on performance of Si-based thin film solar cells

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Leem, Jung Woo; Yu, Jae Su [Department of Electronics and Radio Engineering, Kyung Hee University, 1 Seocheon-dong, Giheung-gu, Yongin-si, Gyeonggi-do 446-701 (Korea, Republic of)

2011-09-15

The transparent conducting oxide (TCO) films with low-refractive-index (low-n) are fabricated by the oblique-angle sputtering method. By using the experimentally measured physical data of the fabricated low-n TCO films as the simulation parameters, the effect of low-n TCOs on the performance of a-Si:H/{mu}c-Si:H tandem thin film solar cells is investigated using Silvaco ATLAS. The Al-doped zinc oxide, indium tin oxide (ITO), and Sb-doped tin oxide films are deposited at the flux incidence angles of {theta}{sub i} = 0 (normal sputtering) and {theta}{sub i} = 80 from the sputtering target during the sputtering process. The oblique-angle sputtered films at {theta}{sub i} = 80 show the inclined columnar nanostructures compared to those at {theta}{sub i} = 0 , modifying the optical properties of the films. This is caused mainly by the increase of porosity within the film which leads to its low-n characteristics. The a-Si:H/{mu}c-Si:H tandem thin film solar cell incorporated with the low-n ITO film exhibits an improvement in the conversion efficiency of {proportional_to}1% under AM1.5g illumination because of its higher transmittance and lower absorption compared to that with the ITO film at {theta}{sub i} = 0 , indicating a conversion efficiency of 13.75%. (Copyright copyright 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

Investigating the Effect of Thermal Annealing Process on the Photovoltaic Performance of the Graphene-Silicon Solar Cell

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lifei Yang

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Graphene-silicon (Gr-Si Schottky solar cell has attracted much attention recently as promising candidate for low-cost photovoltaic application. For the fabrication of Gr-Si solar cell, the Gr film is usually transferred onto the Si substrate by wet transfer process. However, the impurities induced by this process at the graphene/silicon (Gr/Si interface, such as H2O and O2, degrade the photovoltaic performance of the Gr-Si solar cell. We found that the thermal annealing process can effectively improve the photovoltaic performance of the Gr-Si solar cell by removing these impurities at the Gr/Si interface. More interestingly, the photovoltaic performance of the Gr-Si solar cell can be improved, furthermore, when exposed to air environment after the thermal annealing process. Through investigating the characteristics of the Gr-Si solar cell and the properties of the Gr film (carrier density and sheet resistance, we point out that this phenomenon is caused by the natural doping effect of the Gr film.

Towards III-V solar cells on Si: Improvement in the crystalline quality of Ge-on-Si virtual substrates through low porosity porous silicon buffer layer and annealing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Calabrese, Gabriele; Baricordi, Stefano; Bernardoni, Paolo; Fin, Samuele; Guidi, Vincenzo; Vincenzi, Donato

2014-01-01

A comparison between the crystalline quality of Ge grown on bulk Si and on a low porosity porous Si (pSi) buffer layer using low energy plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition is reported. Omega/2Theta coupled scans around the Ge and Si (004) diffraction peaks show a reduction of the Ge full-width at half maximum (FWHM) of 22.4% in presence of the pSi buffer layer, indicating it is effective in improving the epilayer crystalline quality. At the same time atomic force microscopy analysis shows an increase in root means square roughness for Ge grown on pSi from 38.5 nm to 48.0 nm, as a consequence of the larger surface roughness of pSi compared to bulk Si. The effect of 20 minutes vacuum annealing at 580°C is also investigated. The annealing leads to a FWHM reduction of 23% for Ge grown on Si and of 36.5% for Ge on pSi, resulting in a FWHM of 101 arcsec in the latter case. At the same time, the RMS roughness is reduced of 8.8% and of 46.5% for Ge grown on bulk Si and on pSi, respectively. The biggest improvement in the crystalline quality of Ge grown on pSi with respect to Ge grown on bulk Si observed after annealing is a consequence of the simultaneous reorganization of the Ge epilayer and the buffer layer driven by energy minimization. A low porosity buffer layer can thus be used for the growth of low defect density Ge on Si virtual substrates for the successive integration of III-V multijunction solar cells on Si. The suggested approach is simple and fast –thus allowing for high throughput-, moreover is cost effective and fully compatible with subsequent wafer processing. Finally it does not introduce new chemicals in the solar cell fabrication process and can be scaled to large area silicon wafers

Uus menüü kasvatas McDonald'si käivet / Annika Matson

Index Scriptorium Estoniae

Matson, Annika, 1976-

2003-01-01

USA kiirtoiduketi McDonald's vähemalt aasta tegutsenud söögikohtade käive kasvas enam kui 6% eelkõige tänu uuele menüüle ja edukale reklaamikampaaniale. Diagrammid: McDonald'si käive ja kasum kasvasid 13%

Efficiency improvements by Metal Wrap Through technology for n-type Si solar cells and modules

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wenchao, Zhao; Jianming, Wang; Yanlong, Shen; Ziqian, Wang; Yingle, Chen; Shuquan, Tian; Zhiliang, Wan; Bo, Yu; Gaofei, Li; Zhiyan, Hu; Jingfeng, Xiong [Yingli Green Energy Holding Co., Ltd, 3399 North Chaoyang Avenue, Baoding (China); Guillevin, N.; Heurtault, B.; Aken, B.B. van; Bennett, I.J.; Geerligs, L.J.; Weeber, A.W.; Bultman, J.H. [ECN Solar Energy, Petten (Netherlands)

2012-09-15

N-type Metal Wrap Through (n-MWT) is presented as an industrially promising back-contact technology to reach high performance of silicon solar cells and modules. It can combine benefits from both n-type base and MWT metallization. In this paper, the efficiency improvements of commercial industrial n-type bifacial Si solar cells (239 cm{sup 2}) and modules (60 cells) by the integration of the MWT technique are described. For the cell, after the optimization of integration, over 0.3% absolute efficiency gain was achieved over the similar non-MWT technology, and Voc gain and Isc gain up to 0.9% and 3.5%, respectively. These gains are mainly attributed to reduced shading loss and surface recombination. Besides the front pattern optimization, a 0.1m{Omega} reduction of Rs in via part will induce further 0.06% absolute efficiency improvement. For the module part, a power output of n-MWT module up to 279W was achieved, corresponding to a module efficiency of about 17.7%.

Effect of the CO2/SiH4 Ratio in the p-μc-SiO:H Emitter Layer on the Performance of Crystalline Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cells

OpenAIRE

Sritharathikhun, Jaran; Krajangsang, Taweewat; Moollakorn, Apichan; Inthisang, Sorapong; Limmanee, Amornrat; Hongsingtong, Aswin; Boriraksantikul, Nattaphong; Taratiwat, Tianchai; Akarapanjavit, Nirod; Sriprapha, Kobsak

2014-01-01

This paper reports the preparation of wide gap p-type hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon oxide (p-μc-SiO:H) films using a 40 MHz very high frequency plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition technique. The reported work focused on the effects of the CO2/SiH4 ratio on the properties of p-μc-SiO:H films and the effectiveness of the films as an emitter layer of crystalline silicon heterojunction (c-Si-HJ) solar cells. A p-μc-SiO:H film with a wide optical band gap (E04), 2.1 eV, can be obtain...

Application of hydrogen-doped In2O3 transparent conductive oxide to thin-film microcrystalline Si solar cells

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Koida, Takashi; Sai, Hitoshi; Kondo, Michio

2010-01-01

Hydrogen-doped In 2 O 3 (IO:H) films with high electron mobility and improved near-infrared (NIR) transparency have been applied as a transparent conducting oxide (TCO) electrode in substrate-type hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon (μc-Si:H) solar cells. The incorporation of IO:H, instead of conventional Sn-doped In 2 O 3 , improved the short-circuit current density (J sc ) and the resulting conversion efficiency. Optical analysis of the solar cells and TCO films revealed that the improvement in J sc is due to the improved spectral sensitivity in the visible and NIR wavelengths by reduction of absorption loss caused by free carriers in the TCO films.

Plasmonic Nanostructure for Enhanced Light Absorption in Ultrathin Silicon Solar Cells

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jinna He

2012-01-01

Full Text Available The performances of thin film solar cells are considerably limited by the low light absorption. Plasmonic nanostructures have been introduced in the thin film solar cells as a possible solution around this issue in recent years. Here, we propose a solar cell design, in which an ultrathin Si film covered by a periodic array of Ag strips is placed on a metallic nanograting substrate. The simulation results demonstrate that the designed structure gives rise to 170% light absorption enhancement over the full solar spectrum with respect to the bared Si thin film. The excited multiple resonant modes, including optical waveguide modes within the Si layer, localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR of Ag stripes, and surface plasmon polaritons (SPP arising from the bottom grating, and the coupling effect between LSPR and SPP modes through an optimization of the array periods are considered to contribute to the significant absorption enhancement. This plasmonic solar cell design paves a promising way to increase light absorption for thin film solar cell applications.

Broadband photocurrent enhancement and light-trapping in thin film Si solar cells with periodic Al nanoparticle arrays on the front

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Uhrenfeldt, C.; Villesen, T. F.; Tetu, A.

2015-01-01

Plasmonic resonances in metal nanoparticles are considered candidates for improved thin film Si photovoltaics. In periodic arrays the influence of collective modes can enhance the resonant properties of such arrays. We have investigated the use of periodic arrays of Al nanoparticles placed...... on the front of a thin film Si test solar cell. It is demonstrated that the resonances from the Al nanoparticle array cause a broadband photocurrent enhancement ranging from the ultraviolet to the infrared with respect to a reference cell. From the experimental results as well as from numerical simulations...

Wire Array Solar Cells: Fabrication and Photoelectrochemical Studies

Science.gov (United States)

Spurgeon, Joshua Michael

Despite demand for clean energy to reduce our addiction to fossil fuels, the price of these technologies relative to oil and coal has prevented their widespread implementation. Solar energy has enormous potential as a carbon-free resource but is several times the cost of coal-produced electricity, largely because photovoltaics of practical efficiency require high-quality, pure semiconductor materials. To produce current in a planar junction solar cell, an electron or hole generated deep within the material must travel all the way to the junction without recombining. Radial junction, wire array solar cells, however, have the potential to decouple the directions of light absorption and charge-carrier collection so that a semiconductor with a minority-carrier diffusion length shorter than its absorption depth (i.e., a lower quality, potentially cheaper material) can effectively produce current. The axial dimension of the wires is long enough for sufficient optical absorption while the charge-carriers are collected along the shorter radial dimension in a massively parallel array. This thesis explores the wire array solar cell design by developing potentially low-cost fabrication methods and investigating the energy-conversion properties of the arrays in photoelectrochemical cells. The concept was initially investigated with Cd(Se, Te) rod arrays; however, Si was the primary focus of wire array research because its semiconductor properties make low-quality Si an ideal candidate for improvement in a radial geometry. Fabrication routes for Si wire arrays were explored, including the vapor-liquid-solid growth of wires using SiCl4. Uniform, vertically aligned Si wires were demonstrated in a process that permits control of the wire radius, length, and spacing. A technique was developed to transfer these wire arrays into a low-cost, flexible polymer film, and grow multiple subsequent arrays using a single Si(111) substrate. Photoelectrochemical measurements on Si wire array

SiNTO EWT silicon solar cells

OpenAIRE

Fallisch, A.; Keding, R.; Kästner, G.; Bartsch, J.; Werner, S.; Stüwe, D.; Specht, J.; Preu, R.; Biro, D.

2010-01-01

In this work we combine the SiNTO cell process with the EWT cell concept. All masking steps are performed by inkjet printing technology. The via-holes and laser-fired contacts are created by high-speed laser drilling. A new polishing process, which is suitable for inkjet masking, to pattern the interdigitated grid on the rear side is developed. For passivation purposes a thermal silicon oxide is used for the rear surface and a silicon nitride antireflection coating for the front surface. An e...

Enhanced photovoltaic performance and long-term stability of dye-sensitized solar cells by incorporating SiO{sub 2} nanoparticles in binary ionic liquid electrolytes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, Hsin-Fang; Wu, Jhih-Lin; Hsu, Po-Ya [Department of Engineering and System Science, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu 30013, Taiwan, ROC (China); Tung, Yung-Liang [Energy and Environment Research Laboratories, Industrial Technology Research Institute, Hsinchu 30013, Taiwan, ROC (China); Ouyang, Fan-Yi [Department of Engineering and System Science, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu 30013, Taiwan, ROC (China); Kai, Ji-Jung, E-mail: jjkai@ess.nthu.edu.tw [Department of Engineering and System Science, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu 30013, Taiwan, ROC (China)

2013-02-01

Hydrophilic SiO{sub 2} nanoparticles in a binary ionic liquid (bi-IL) consisting of 1-propyl-3-methylimidazolium iodide (PMII) and 1-ethyl-3-methyl-imidazolium dicyanimide (EMIDCA) facilitated electron transfer and solidified the electrolyte for a dye-sensitized solar cell (DSC). We investigated the dependence of charge transport and photovoltaic performance on the composition of bi-IL electrolytes with varied ratio of SiO{sub 2} nanoparticles. The electrochemical impedance spectra revealed a decreased resistance to charge transfer at the Pt counter electrode (R{sub ct1}) when SiO{sub 2} (up to 2.0 wt.%) was added, improving the photovoltaic parameters. The DSC based on a TiO{sub 2} nanocrystalline film (thickness 14.2 μm) with a composite ionic gel electrolyte of EMIDCA/PMII bi-IL (33 vol.% of EMIDCA) incorporating SiO{sub 2} (2 wt.%) exhibited a power conversion efficiency of 5.28% under simulated solar illumination (AM 1.5 G, 100 mW cm{sup −} {sup 2}). The durability of DSC with a SiO{sub 2} solidified electrolyte was superior to that of a liquid one, exhibiting good stability at 60 °C in darkness during an accelerated test for 1000 h. - Highlights: ► SiO{sub 2} nanoparticles were introduced in a binary ionic liquid electrolyte. ► Effect of various ratios of SiO{sub 2} nanoparticles in gel electrolytes was studied. ► Mechanism of charge transfer with addition of SiO{sub 2} nanoparticles was discussed. ► An enhanced solar to electric energy conversion efficiency of 5.28% was achieved. ► Thermal stability of a quasi-solid state dye-sensitized solar cell was improved.

Study of double porous silicon surfaces for enhancement of silicon solar cell performance

Science.gov (United States)

Razali, N. S. M.; Rahim, A. F. A.; Radzali, R.; Mahmood, A.

2017-09-01

In this work, design and simulation of double porous silicon surfaces for enhancement of silicon solar cell is carried out. Both single and double porous structures are constructed by using TCAD ATHENA and TCAD DEVEDIT tools of the SILVACO software respectively. After the structures were created, I-V characteristics and spectral response of the solar cell were extracted using ATLAS device simulator. Finally, the performance of the simulated double porous solar cell is compared with the performance of both single porous and bulk-Si solar cell. The results showed that double porous silicon solar cell exhibited 1.8% efficiency compared to 1.3% and 1.2% for single porous silicon and bulk-Si solar cell.

Light-induced performance increase of silicon heterojunction solar cells

KAUST Repository

Kobayashi, Eiji; De Wolf, Stefaan; Levrat, Jacques; Christmann, Gabriel; Descoeudres, Antoine; Nicolay, Sylvain; Despeisse, Matthieu; Watabe, Yoshimi; Ballif, Christophe

2016-01-01

Silicon heterojunction solar cells consist of crystalline silicon (c-Si) wafers coated with doped/intrinsic hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) bilayers for passivating-contact formation. Here, we unambiguously demonstrate that carrier injection either due to light soaking or (dark) forward-voltage bias increases the open circuit voltage and fill factor of finished cells, leading to a conversion efficiency gain of up to 0.3% absolute. This phenomenon contrasts markedly with the light-induced degradation known for thin-film a-Si:H solar cells. We associate our performance gain with an increase in surface passivation, which we find is specific to doped a-Si:H/c-Si structures. Our experiments suggest that this improvement originates from a reduced density of recombination-active interface states. To understand the time dependence of the observed phenomena, a kinetic model is presented.

Light-induced performance increase of silicon heterojunction solar cells

KAUST Repository

Kobayashi, Eiji

2016-10-11

Silicon heterojunction solar cells consist of crystalline silicon (c-Si) wafers coated with doped/intrinsic hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) bilayers for passivating-contact formation. Here, we unambiguously demonstrate that carrier injection either due to light soaking or (dark) forward-voltage bias increases the open circuit voltage and fill factor of finished cells, leading to a conversion efficiency gain of up to 0.3% absolute. This phenomenon contrasts markedly with the light-induced degradation known for thin-film a-Si:H solar cells. We associate our performance gain with an increase in surface passivation, which we find is specific to doped a-Si:H/c-Si structures. Our experiments suggest that this improvement originates from a reduced density of recombination-active interface states. To understand the time dependence of the observed phenomena, a kinetic model is presented.

Solar Imagery - Photosphere - Sunspot Drawings - McMath-Hulbert Observatory

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The McMath-Hulbert Observatory is a decommissioned solar observatory in Lake Angelus, Michigan, USA. It was established in 1929 as a private observatory by father...

Roll-to-roll manufacturing of amorphous silicon alloy solar cells with in situ cell performance diagnostics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Izu, M.; Ellison, T.

2003-01-01

In order to meet the price target necessary for widespread use of solar cell products, Energy Conversion Devices, Inc., ECD, has developed and commercialized a continuous roll-to-roll manufacturing technology for the production of a-Si alloy solar cells. Since the early 1980s, we have advanced this technology from a small-scale pilot machine to a large-scale production machine. In 2002, ECD commissioned a 30 MW per year machine for United Solar Systems Corp. in Auburn Hills, Michigan. The RF PECVD a-Si alloy solar cell processor, designed and built by ECD, deposits triple-junction solar cell materials consisting of nine layers of a-Si alloys in a continuous roll-to-roll operation simultaneously on six coils of 130 μm thick, 0.36 m wide, 2.6 km long stainless-steel substrate at 1 cm/s. In order to minimize production losses due to undetected deviations of production conditions and carry on a continuous program of device optimization, we have developed and are incorporating in situ cell performance diagnostic systems. (author)

Embedded Metal Electrode for Organic-Inorganic Hybrid Nanowire Solar Cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Um, Han-Don; Choi, Deokjae; Choi, Ahreum; Seo, Ji Hoon; Seo, Kwanyong

2017-06-27

We demonstrate here an embedded metal electrode for highly efficient organic-inorganic hybrid nanowire solar cells. The electrode proposed here is an effective alternative to the conventional bus and finger electrode which leads to a localized short circuit at a direct Si/metal contact and has a poor collection efficiency due to a nonoptimized electrode design. In our design, a Ag/SiO 2 electrode is embedded into a Si substrate while being positioned between Si nanowire arrays underneath poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS), facilitating suppressed recombination at the Si/Ag interface and notable improvements in the fabrication reproducibility. With an optimized microgrid electrode, our 1 cm 2 hybrid solar cells exhibit a power conversion efficiency of up to 16.1% with an open-circuit voltage of 607 mV and a short circuit current density of 34.0 mA/cm 2 . This power conversion efficiency is more than twice as high as that of solar cells using a conventional electrode (8.0%). The microgrid electrode significantly minimizes the optical and electrical losses. This reproducibly yields a superior quantum efficiency of 99% at the main solar spectrum wavelength of 600 nm. In particular, our solar cells exhibit a significant increase in the fill factor of 78.3% compared to that of a conventional electrode (61.4%); this is because of the drastic reduction in the metal/contact resistance of the 1 μm-thick Ag electrode. Hence, the use of our embedded microgrid electrode in the construction of an ideal carrier collection path presents an opportunity in the development of highly efficient organic-inorganic hybrid solar cells.

Impact of Nickel silicide Rear Metallization on Series Resistance of Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells

KAUST Repository

Bahabry, Rabab R

2018-01-11

The Silicon-based solar cell is one of the most important enablers toward high efficiency and low-cost clean energy resource. Metallization of silicon-based solar cells typically utilizes screen printed silver-Aluminium (Ag-Al) which affects the optimal electrical performance. To date, metal silicide-based ohmic contacts are occasionally used as an alternative candidate only to the front contact grid lines in crystalline silicon (c-Si) based solar cells. In this paper, we investigate the electrical characteristics of nickel mono-silicide (NiSi)/Cu-Al ohmic contact on the rear side of c-Si solar cells. We observe a significant enhancement in the fill factor of around 6.5% for NiSi/Cu-Al rear contacts leading to increasing the efficiency by 1.2% compared to Ag-Al. This is attributed to the improvement of the parasitic resistance in which the series resistance decreased by 0.737 Ω.cm². Further, we complement experimental observation with a simulation of different contact resistance values, which manifests NiSi/Cu-Al rear contact as a promising low-cost metallization for c-Si solar cells with enhanced efficiency.

An 8.68% efficiency chemically-doped-free graphene-silicon solar cell using silver nanowires network buried contacts.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Lifei; Yu, Xuegong; Hu, Weidan; Wu, Xiaolei; Zhao, Yan; Yang, Deren

2015-02-25

Graphene-silicon (Gr-Si) heterojunction solar cells have been recognized as one of the most low-cost candidates in photovoltaics due to its simple fabrication process. However, the high sheet resistance of chemical vapor deposited (CVD) Gr films is still the most important limiting factor for the improvement of the power conversion efficiency of Gr-Si solar cells, especially in the case of large device-active area. In this work, we have fabricated a novel transparent conductive film by hybriding a monolayer Gr film with silver nanowires (AgNWs) network soldered by the graphene oxide (GO) flakes. This Gr-AgNWs hybrid film exhibits low sheet resistance and larger direct-current to optical conductivity ratio, quite suitable for solar cell fabrication. An efficiency of 8.68% has been achieved for the Gr-AgNWs-Si solar cell, in which the AgNWs network acts as buried contacts. Meanwhile, the Gr-AgNWs-Si solar cells have much better stability than the chemically doped Gr-Si solar cells. These results show a new route for the fabrication of high efficient and stable Gr-Si solar cells.

III-V-on-silicon solar cells reaching 33% photoconversion efficiency in two-terminal configuration

Science.gov (United States)

Cariou, Romain; Benick, Jan; Feldmann, Frank; Höhn, Oliver; Hauser, Hubert; Beutel, Paul; Razek, Nasser; Wimplinger, Markus; Bläsi, Benedikt; Lackner, David; Hermle, Martin; Siefer, Gerald; Glunz, Stefan W.; Bett, Andreas W.; Dimroth, Frank

2018-04-01

Silicon dominates the photovoltaic industry but the conversion efficiency of silicon single-junction solar cells is intrinsically constrained to 29.4%, and practically limited to around 27%. It is possible to overcome this limit by combining silicon with high-bandgap materials, such as III-V semiconductors, in a multi-junction device. Significant challenges associated with this material combination have hindered the development of highly efficient III-V/Si solar cells. Here, we demonstrate a III-V/Si cell reaching similar performances to standard III-V/Ge triple-junction solar cells. This device is fabricated using wafer bonding to permanently join a GaInP/GaAs top cell with a silicon bottom cell. The key issues of III-V/Si interface recombination and silicon's weak absorption are addressed using poly-silicon/SiOx passivating contacts and a novel rear-side diffraction grating for the silicon bottom cell. With these combined features, we demonstrate a two-terminal GaInP/GaAs//Si solar cell reaching a 1-sun AM1.5G conversion efficiency of 33.3%.

Printed Nano Cu and NiSi Contacts and Metallization for Solar Cell Modules

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Carmody, Michael John [Intrinsiq Materials Inc., Rochester, NY (United States)

2017-10-11

There has long been a desire to replace the front-side silver contacts in silicon solar cells. There are two driving forces to do this. First, silver is an expensive precious metal. Secondly, the process to use silver requires that it be formulated into screen print pastes that need a lead-containing glass frit, and the use of lead is forbidden in many parts of the world. Because of the difficulty in replacing these pastes and the attendant processes, lead exemptions have granted to solar cells. Copper has been the replacement metal of choice because it is significantly cheaper than silver and is very close to silver in electrical conductivity. Using processes which do not use lead, obviates it as an environmental contaminant. However, copper cannot be in contact with the silicon of the cell since it migrates through the silicon and causes defects which severely damage the efficiency of the cell. Hence, a conductive barrier must be placed between the copper and silicon and nickel, and especially nickel silicide, have been shown to be materials of choice. However, nickel must be sputtered and annealed to create the nickel silicide barrier, and copper has either been sputtered or plated. All of these processes require expensive, specialized equipment and plating uses environmentally unfriendly chemicals. Therefore, Intrinsiq proposed using printed nano nickel silicide ink (which we had previously invented) and printed nano copper ink to create these electrodes and barriers. We found that nano copper ink could be readily printed and sintered under a reducing atmosphere to give highly conductive grids. We further showed that nano nickel silicide ink could be readily jetted into grids on top of the silicon cell. It could then be annealed to create a barrier. However, it was found that the combination of printed NiSi and printed Cu did not give contact resistivity good enough to produce efficient cells. Only plated copper on top of the printed NiSi gave useful contact

Titanium dioxide antireflective coating for silicon solar cells by spinning technique

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Murozono, M; Kitamura, S

1982-01-01

Antireflective (AR) TiO2 films for Si solar cells are presently obtained by coating a solution that is derived from organotitanium compounds (with an acetylacetone ligand and an ethanol solvent) on the Si surface using a spinning technique, and then firing at high temperature. AR film thickness can be controlled by up to 1200 A by changing solution concentration and spin speed. Si solar cells with these AR films exhibit as much as a 50 percent improvement in conversion efficiency over uncoated cells. 12 references.

Development of scientific and technological basis for the fabrication of thin film solar cells on the basis of a-Si:H and {mu}c-Si:H using the 'hot-wire' deposition technique. Final report; Entwicklung wissenschaftlicher und technischer Grundlagen fuer die Herstellung von Duennschichtsolarzellen auf der Basis des a-Si:H und {mu}c-Si:H mit der 'Hot-Wire'-Depositionstechnik. Abschlussbericht

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schroeder, B.

2002-01-22

Two new deposition systems were realized enabling the entire and respectively, large area deposition of a-Si:H based solar cells using the so called 'hot-wire' (HW) CVD. The deposition conditions for appropriate n- and p-doped a-Si:H and {mu}c-Si:H layers have been developed. For the first time in the world a-Si:H based pin solar cells were entirely deposited by the HWCVD method. A maximum initial conversion efficiency of {eta}{sub initial}=8.9% was obtained. After the development of a suitable p/n-tunnel/recombination junction pin-pin tandem structures with a-Si:H absorbers could be entirely fabricated by the HWCVD for the first time in the world, too. A conversion efficiency of {eta}=7% was measured for the tandem cell, after some structural degradation took place. In general, the stability of the HWCVD solar cells is not satisfactory, what could be attributed to a structural instability of the HWCVD-p-layers. For the first time we have deposited nip solar cells on stainless steel substrates entirely by HWCVD ({eta}{sub initial}>6%). The incorporation of {mu}c-Si:H absorber layers by HWCVD or ECWR-PECVD into pin solar cells was not successfull until now. Large area deposition of a-Si:H films has been performed in a simple vacuum vessel. Under consideration of appropriate filament and gas supply geometry as well as simulation calculations a good electronic quality and a film thickness uniformity of {delta}d={+-}2.5% of the material was obtained. i-layers for small area solar cells on an area of 20 x 20 cm{sup 2} have been deposited which could be completed to solar cells with very uniform conversion efficiencies of {eta}{sub initial} = 6,1{+-}0.2%. This result represents a proof of concept for the large area deposition of a-Si:H based solar cells using the HWCVD. Also for the first time the HWCVD was used for the deposition of emitter layers on c-Si-wafers to realize hetero solar cells. Hetero solar cells with amorphous, microcrystalline and epitaxial n

Enhancing the Efficiency of Silicon-Based Solar Cells by the Piezo-Phototronic Effect.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Laipan; Wang, Longfei; Pan, Caofeng; Chen, Libo; Xue, Fei; Chen, Baodong; Yang, Leijing; Su, Li; Wang, Zhong Lin

2017-02-28

Although there are numerous approaches for fabricating solar cells, the silicon-based photovoltaics are still the most widely used in industry and around the world. A small increase in the efficiency of silicon-based solar cells has a huge economic impact and practical importance. We fabricate a silicon-based nanoheterostructure (p + -Si/p-Si/n + -Si (and n-Si)/n-ZnO nanowire (NW) array) photovoltaic device and demonstrate the enhanced device performance through significantly enhanced light absorption by NW array and effective charge carrier separation by the piezo-phototronic effect. The strain-induced piezoelectric polarization charges created at n-doped Si-ZnO interfaces can effectively modulate the corresponding band structure and electron gas trapped in the n + -Si/n-ZnO NW nanoheterostructure and thus enhance the transport process of local charge carriers. The efficiency of the solar cell was improved from 8.97% to 9.51% by simply applying a static compress strain. This study indicates that the piezo-phototronic effect can enhance the performance of a large-scale silicon-based solar cell, with great potential for industrial applications.

Fabrication and characterization of Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} /Si composite nanodome structures for high efficiency crystalline Si thin film solar cells

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhang, Ruiying, E-mail: ryzhang2008@sinano.ac.cn [Key lab of nanodevices and applications, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Division of nano-devices and related materials, Suzhou Institute of Nano-tech and Nano-bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Suzhou, 215123 (China); State Key Laboratory of Functional Materials for Informatics, Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 865 Changning Road, Shanghai 200050 China (China); Zhu, Jian; Zhang, Zhen; Wang, Yanyan; Qiu, Bocang [Key lab of nanodevices and applications, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Division of nano-devices and related materials, Suzhou Institute of Nano-tech and Nano-bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Suzhou, 215123 (China); Liu, Xuehua; Zhang, Jinping; Zhang, Yi [Platform for Characterization & Test, Suzhou Institute of Nano-tech and Nano-bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Suzhou, 215123 (China); Fang, Qi; Ren, Zhong [Oxford Instruments Plasma Technology, Yatton, Bristol, BS49 4AP (United Kingdom); Bai, Yu [School of Nano-Science and Nano-Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Suzhou, 215123 (China)

2015-12-15

We report on our fabrication and characterization of Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}/Si composite nanodome (CND) structures, which is composed of Si nanodome structures with a conformal cladding Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} layer to evaluate its optical and electrical performance when it is applied to thin film solar cells. It has been observed that by application of Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}thin film coating using atomic layer deposition (ALD) to the Si nanodome structures, both optical and electrical performances are greatly improved. The reflectivity of less than 3% over the wavelength range of from 200 nm to 2000 nm at an incident angle from 0° to 45° is achieved when the Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} film is 90 nm thick. The ultimate efficiency of around 27% is obtained on the CND textured 2 μm-thick Si solar cells, which is compared to the efficiency of around 25.75% and 15% for the 2 μm-thick Si nanodome surface-decorated and planar samples respectively. Electrical characterization was made by using CND-decorated MOS devices to measure device’s leakage current and capacitance dispersion. It is found the electrical performance is sensitive to the thickness of the Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} film, and the performance is remarkably improved when the dielectric layer thickness is 90 nm thick. The leakage current, which is less than 4x10{sup −9} A/cm{sup 2} over voltage range of from -3 V to 3 V, is reduced by several orders of magnitude. C-V measurements also shows as small as 0.3% of variation in the capacitance over the frequency range from 10 kHz to 500 kHz, which is a strong indication of surface states being fully passivated. TEM examination of CND-decorated samples also reveals the occurrence of SiO{sub x} layer formed between the interface of Si and the Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} film, which is thin enough that ensures the presence of field-effect passivation, From our theoretical and experimental study, we believe Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} coated CND structures is a truly viable approach to achieving higher device

Solar Cells from Earth-Abundant Semiconductors with Plasmon-Enhanced Light Absorption

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Atwater, Harry

2012-04-30

Progress is reported in these areas: Plasmonic Light Trapping in Thin Film a-Si Solar Cells; Plasmonic Light Trapping in Thin InGaN Quantum Well Solar Cells; and Earth Abundant Cu{sub 2}O and Zn{sub 3}P{sub 2} Solar Cells.

Fire-through Ag contact formation for crystalline Si solar cells using single-step inkjet printing.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Hyun-Gang; Cho, Sung-Bin; Chung, Bo-Mook; Huh, Joo-Youl; Yoon, Sam S

2012-04-01

Inkjet-printed Ag metallization is a promising method of forming front-side contacts on Si solar cells due to its non-contact printing nature and fine grid resolution. However, conventional Ag inks are unable to punch through the SiN(x) anti-reflection coating (ARC) layer on emitter Si surfaces. In this study, a novel formulation of Ag ink is examined for the formation of fire-through contacts on a SiN(x)-coated Si substrate using the single-step printing of Ag ink, followed by rapid thermal annealing at 800 degrees C. In order to formulate Ag inks with fire-through contact formation capabilities, a liquid etching agent was first formulated by dissolving metal nitrates in an organic solvent and then mixing the resulting solution with a commercial Ag nanoparticle ink at various volume ratios. During the firing process, the dissolved metal nitrates decomposed into metal oxides and acted in a similar manner to the glass frit contained in Ag pastes for screen-printed Ag metallization. The newly formulated ink with a 1 wt% loading ratio of metal oxides to Ag formed finely distributed Ag crystallites on the Si substrate after firing at 800 degrees C for 1 min.

Nanostructural optimization of silicon/PEDOT:PSS hybrid solar cells for performance improvement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, Yanzhou; Shao, Pengfei; Li, Yali; Li, Junshuai; He, Deyan; Chen, Qiang

2017-01-01

In this paper, an inverted silicon (Si) nanopyramid (iSiNP) surface structure with low aspect ratio and remarkable antireflection is developed through sequential treatments of NaOH and HF/CH 3 COOH/HNO 3 solutions to Si nanowire (SiNW)-textured Si wafers, which are prepared by traditional electroless chemical etching. The iSiNP/PEDOT:PSS hybrid solar cell is fabricated through conformally spin-coating poly(3.4-ethylene dioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) onto the iSiNPs; it exhibits enhanced device performance owing to the improved junction and contact quality as compared to the SiNW/PEDOT:PSS counterpart. A power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 9.6% mainly contributed from an increased fill factor (FF) of 0.61 and improved open circuit voltage ( V oc ) of 0.53 V is delivered by the iSiNP/PEDOT:PSS solar cell. As a comparison, the SiNW/PEDOT:PSS structure delivers a 7.1% PCE with a FF of 0.45 and V oc of 0.46 V. Considering the submicro-scale characteristic dimensions, iSiNPs are expected to be applicable to highly efficient thin film Si/PEDOT:PSS hybrid solar cells. (paper)

Drivers of solar radiation variability in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica

Science.gov (United States)

Obryk, Maciej; Fountain, Andrew G.; Doran, Peter; Lyons, Berry; Eastman, Ryan

2018-01-01

Annually averaged solar radiation in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica has varied by over 20 W m−2 during the past three decades; however, the drivers of this variability are unknown. Because small differences in radiation are important to water availability and ecosystem functioning in polar deserts, determining the causes are important to predictions of future desert processes. We examine the potential drivers of solar variability and systematically eliminate all but stratospheric sulfur dioxide. We argue that increases in stratospheric sulfur dioxide increase stratospheric aerosol optical depth and decrease solar intensity. Because of the polar location of the McMurdo Dry Valleys (77–78°S) and relatively long solar ray path through the stratosphere, terrestrial solar intensity is sensitive to small differences in stratospheric transmissivity. Important sources of sulfur dioxide include natural (wildfires and volcanic eruptions) and anthropogenic emission.

Investigation of Near-Surface Defects Induced by Spike Rapid Thermal Annealing in c-SILICON Solar Cells

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Guodong; Ren, Pan; Zhang, Dayong; Wang, Weiping; Li, Jianfeng

2016-01-01

The defects induced by a spike rapid thermal annealing (RTA) process in crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cells were investigated by the photoluminescence (PL) technique and the transmission electron microscopy (TEM), respectively. Dislocation defects were found to form in the near-surface junction region of the monocrystalline Si solar cell after a spike RTA process was performed at 1100∘C. Photo J-V characteristics were measured on the Si solar cell before and after the spike RTA treatments to reveal the effects of defects on the Si cell performances. In addition, the Silvaco device simulation program was used to study the effects of defects density on the cell performances by fitting the experimental data of RTA-treated cells. The results demonstrate that there was an obvious degradation in the Si solar cell performances when the defect density after the spike RTA treatment was above 1×1013cm-3.

Mechanical Properties of ZTO, ITO, and a-Si:H Multilayer Films for Flexible Thin Film Solar Cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Hengst, Claudia; Menzel, Siegfried B; Rane, Gayatri K; Smirnov, Vladimir; Wilken, Karen; Leszczynska, Barbara; Fischer, Dustin; Prager, Nicole

2017-03-01

The behavior of bi- and trilayer coating systems for flexible a-Si:H based solar cells consisting of a barrier, an electrode, and an absorption layer is studied under mechanical load. First, the film morphology, stress, Young's modulus, and crack onset strain (COS) were analyzed for single film coatings of various thickness on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrates. In order to demonstrate the role of the microstructure of a single film on the mechanical behavior of the whole multilayer coating, two sets of InSnOx (indium tin oxide, ITO) conductive coatings were prepared. Whereas a characteristic grain-subgrain structure was observed in ITO-1 films, grain growth was suppressed in ITO-2 films. ITO-1 bilayer coatings showed two-step failure under tensile load with cracks propagating along the ITO-1/a-Si:H-interface, whereas channeling cracks in comparable bi- and trilayers based on amorphous ITO-2 run through all constituent layers. A two-step failure is preferable from an application point of view, as it may lead to only a degradation of the performance instead of the ultimate failure of the device. Hence, the results demonstrate the importance of a fine-tuning of film microstructure not only for excellent electrical properties, but also for a high mechanical performance of flexible devices (e.g., a-Si:H based solar cells) during fabrication in a roll-to-roll process or under service.

Mechanical Properties of ZTO, ITO, and a-Si:H Multilayer Films for Flexible Thin Film Solar Cells

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Claudia Hengst

2017-03-01

Full Text Available The behavior of bi- and trilayer coating systems for flexible a-Si:H based solar cells consisting of a barrier, an electrode, and an absorption layer is studied under mechanical load. First, the film morphology, stress, Young’s modulus, and crack onset strain (COS were analyzed for single film coatings of various thickness on polyethylene terephthalate (PET substrates. In order to demonstrate the role of the microstructure of a single film on the mechanical behavior of the whole multilayer coating, two sets of InSnOx (indium tin oxide, ITO conductive coatings were prepared. Whereas a characteristic grain–subgrain structure was observed in ITO-1 films, grain growth was suppressed in ITO-2 films. ITO-1 bilayer coatings showed two-step failure under tensile load with cracks propagating along the ITO-1/a-Si:H-interface, whereas channeling cracks in comparable bi- and trilayers based on amorphous ITO-2 run through all constituent layers. A two-step failure is preferable from an application point of view, as it may lead to only a degradation of the performance instead of the ultimate failure of the device. Hence, the results demonstrate the importance of a fine-tuning of film microstructure not only for excellent electrical properties, but also for a high mechanical performance of flexible devices (e.g., a-Si:H based solar cells during fabrication in a roll-to-roll process or under service.

14th Workshop on Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells& Modules: Materials and Processes; Extended Abstracts and Papers

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sopori, B. L.

2004-08-01

The 14th Workshop will provide a forum for an informal exchange of technical and scientific information between international researchers in the photovoltaic and relevant non-photovoltaic fields. It will offer an excellent opportunity for researchers in private industry and at universities to prioritize mutual needs for future collaborative research. The workshop is intended to address the fundamental properties of PV silicon, new solar cell designs, advanced solar cell processing techniques, and cell-related module issues. A combination of oral presentations by invited speakers, poster sessions, and discussion sessions will review recent advances in crystal growth, new cell designs, new processes and process characterization techniques, cell fabrication approaches suitable for future manufacturing demands, and solar cell encapsulation. This year's theme, ''Crystalline Si Solar Cells: Leapfrogging the Barriers,'' reflects the continued success of crystalline Si PV in overcoming technological barriers to improve solar cell performance and lower the cost of Si PV. The workshop will consist of presentations by invited speakers, followed by discussion sessions. In addition, there will be two poster sessions presenting the latest research and development results. Some presentations will address recent technologies in the microelectronics field that may have a direct bearing on PV. The sessions will include: Advances in crystal growth and material issues; Impurities and defects; Dynamics during device processing; Passivation; High-efficiency Si solar cells; Advanced processing; Thin Si solar cells; and Solar cell reliability and module issues.

Si Hybrid Solar Cells with 13% Efficiency via Concurrent Improvement in Optical and Electrical Properties by Employing Graphene Quantum Dots

KAUST Repository

Tsai, Meng Lin

2015-12-18

By employing graphene quantum dots (GQDs) in PEDOT:PSS, we have achieved an efficiency of 13.22% in Si/PEDOT:PSS hybrid solar cells. The efficiency enhancement is based on concurrent improvement in optical and electrical properties by the photon downconversion process and the improved conductivity of PEDOT:PSS via appropriate incorporation of GQDs. After introducing GQDs into PEDOT:PSS, the short circuit current and the fill factor of rear-contact optimized hybrid cells are increased from 32.11 to 36.26 mA/cm and 62.85% to 63.87%, respectively. The organic-inorganic hybrid solar cell obtained herein holds the promise for developing photon-managing, low-cost, and highly efficient photovoltaic devices.

Si Hybrid Solar Cells with 13% Efficiency via Concurrent Improvement in Optical and Electrical Properties by Employing Graphene Quantum Dots

KAUST Repository

Tsai, Meng Lin; Wei, Wan-Rou; Tang, Libin; Chang, Hung Chih; Tai, Shih Hsiang; Yang, Po Kang; Lau, Shu Ping; Chen, Lih Juann; He, Jr-Hau

2015-01-01

By employing graphene quantum dots (GQDs) in PEDOT:PSS, we have achieved an efficiency of 13.22% in Si/PEDOT:PSS hybrid solar cells. The efficiency enhancement is based on concurrent improvement in optical and electrical properties by the photon downconversion process and the improved conductivity of PEDOT:PSS via appropriate incorporation of GQDs. After introducing GQDs into PEDOT:PSS, the short circuit current and the fill factor of rear-contact optimized hybrid cells are increased from 32.11 to 36.26 mA/cm and 62.85% to 63.87%, respectively. The organic-inorganic hybrid solar cell obtained herein holds the promise for developing photon-managing, low-cost, and highly efficient photovoltaic devices.

Road to Grid Parity through Deployment of Low-Cost 21.5% N-Type Si Solar Cells

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Velundur, Vijay [Suniva, Norcross, GA (United States)

2017-04-19

This project seeks to develop and deploy differentiated 21.5% efficient n-type Si solar cells while reaching the SunShot module cost goal of ≤ $0.50/W. This objective hinges on development of enabling low cost technologies that simplify the manufacturing process and reduce overall processing costs. These comprise of (1) Boron emitter formation and passivation; (2) Simplified processing process for emitter and BSF layers; and (3) Advanced metallization for the front and back contacts.

Dual Band a-Si:H Solar-Slot Antenna for 2.4/5.2GHz WLAN Applications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. V. Shynu

2009-12-01

Full Text Available A simple and compact design of solar-slot antenna for dual band 2.4/5.2GHz wireless local area networks (WLAN applications is proposed. The design employs amorphous silicon (a-Si:H solar cells in polyimide substrate with an embedded twin strip slot structure to generate dual resonant frequencies. A T-shaped microstripline feed is used to excite the twin slot in the a-Si:H solar cell. The measured impedance bandwidths for the proposed solar antenna are 25.9% (642 MHz centered at 2.482 GHz and 8.2% (420 MHz centered at 5.098 GHz. The measured gain at 2.4 and 5.2 GHz are 3.1 dBi and 2.1 dBi respectively.

Role of SiNx Barrier Layer on the Performances of Polyimide Ga2O3-doped ZnO p-i-n Hydrogenated Amorphous Silicon Thin Film Solar Cells

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Fang-Hsing; Kuo, Hsin-Hui; Yang, Cheng-Fu; Liu, Min-Chu

2014-01-01

In this study, silicon nitride (SiNx) thin films were deposited on polyimide (PI) substrates as barrier layers by a plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) system. The gallium-doped zinc oxide (GZO) thin films were deposited on PI and SiNx/PI substrates at room temperature (RT), 100 and 200 °C by radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering. The thicknesses of the GZO and SiNx thin films were controlled at around 160 ± 12 nm and 150 ± 10 nm, respectively. The optimal deposition parameters for the SiNx thin films were a working pressure of 800 × 10−3 Torr, a deposition power of 20 W, a deposition temperature of 200 °C, and gas flowing rates of SiH4 = 20 sccm and NH3 = 210 sccm, respectively. For the GZO/PI and GZO-SiNx/PI structures we had found that the GZO thin films deposited at 100 and 200 °C had higher crystallinity, higher electron mobility, larger carrier concentration, smaller resistivity, and higher optical transmittance ratio. For that, the GZO thin films deposited at 100 and 200 °C on PI and SiNx/PI substrates with thickness of ~000 nm were used to fabricate p-i-n hydrogenated amorphous silicon (α-Si) thin film solar cells. 0.5% HCl solution was used to etch the surfaces of the GZO/PI and GZO-SiNx/PI substrates. Finally, PECVD system was used to deposit α-Si thin film onto the etched surfaces of the GZO/PI and GZO-SiNx/PI substrates to fabricate α-Si thin film solar cells, and the solar cells’ properties were also investigated. We had found that substrates to get the optimally solar cells’ efficiency were 200 °C-deposited GZO-SiNx/PI. PMID:28788494

Role of SiNx Barrier Layer on the Performances of Polyimide Ga2O3-doped ZnO p-i-n Hydrogenated Amorphous Silicon Thin Film Solar Cells

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fang-Hsing Wang

2014-02-01

Full Text Available In this study, silicon nitride (SiNx thin films were deposited on polyimide (PI substrates as barrier layers by a plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD system. The gallium-doped zinc oxide (GZO thin films were deposited on PI and SiNx/PI substrates at room temperature (RT, 100 and 200 °C by radio frequency (RF magnetron sputtering. The thicknesses of the GZO and SiNx thin films were controlled at around 160 ± 12 nm and 150 ± 10 nm, respectively. The optimal deposition parameters for the SiNx thin films were a working pressure of 800 × 10−3 Torr, a deposition power of 20 W, a deposition temperature of 200 °C, and gas flowing rates of SiH4 = 20 sccm and NH3 = 210 sccm, respectively. For the GZO/PI and GZO-SiNx/PI structures we had found that the GZO thin films deposited at 100 and 200 °C had higher crystallinity, higher electron mobility, larger carrier concentration, smaller resistivity, and higher optical transmittance ratio. For that, the GZO thin films deposited at 100 and 200 °C on PI and SiNx/PI substrates with thickness of ~1000 nm were used to fabricate p-i-n hydrogenated amorphous silicon (α-Si thin film solar cells. 0.5% HCl solution was used to etch the surfaces of the GZO/PI and GZO-SiNx/PI substrates. Finally, PECVD system was used to deposit α-Si thin film onto the etched surfaces of the GZO/PI and GZO-SiNx/PI substrates to fabricate α-Si thin film solar cells, and the solar cells’ properties were also investigated. We had found that substrates to get the optimally solar cells’ efficiency were 200 °C-deposited GZO-SiNx/PI.

77 FR 31386 - Notice of Availability of a Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Proposed McCoy Solar...

Science.gov (United States)

2012-05-25

... decommission an up to 750 megawatt (MW) photovoltaic solar energy generation facility and necessary ancillary... Impact Statement (EIS) for McCoy Solar, LLC's right-of-way (ROW) application for the McCoy Solar Energy... either available or unavailable for solar energy projects. The CDCA Plan (1980, as amended), while...

Photovoltaic performance of bifacial dye sensitized solar cell using chemically healed binary ionic liquid electrolyte solidified with SiO2 nanoparticles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cosar, Burak; Icli, Kerem Cagatay; Yavuz, Halil Ibrahim; Ozenbas, Macit

2013-01-01

Highlights: ► A bifacial DSSC is realized and irradiated from front and rear sides. ► Maximum efficiency was found for 70% PMII/30% (EMIB(CN) 4 ) electrolyte composition. ► A significant increase in photocurrent using 0.1 M GuSCN and 0.4 M NMB was observed. ► Addition of SiO 2 nanoparticles to the electrolyte enhanced photovoltaic efficiency. ► Dispersed SiO 2 particles are found to be more efficient compared to SiO 2 overlayer. - Abstract: In this study, we investigated the effect of electrolyte composition, photoanode thickness, and the additions of GuSCN (guanidinium thiocyanate), NMB (N-methylbenimidazole), and SiO 2 on the photovoltaic performance of DSSCs (dye sensitized solar cells). A bifacial DSSC is realized and irradiated from front and rear sides. The devices give maximum photovoltaic efficiencies for 70% PMII (1-propyl-3-methyl-imidazolium iodide)/30% (EMIB(CN) 4 ) (1-ethyl-3-methyl-imidazolium tetracyanoborate) electrolyte composition and 10 μm thick photoanode coating which is considered to be the ideal coating thickness for the diffusion length of electrolyte and dye absorption. A significant increase in the photocurrent for DSSCs with optimum molarity of 0.1 M GuSCN was observed due to decreased recombination which is believed to be surface passivation effect at photoanode electrolyte interface suppressing recombination rate. Moreover, optimum NMB molarity was found to be 0.4 for maximum efficiency. Addition of SiO 2 to the electrolyte both as an overlayer and dispersed particles enhanced rear side illuminated cells where dispersed particles are found to be more efficient for the front side illuminated cells due to additional electron transport properties. Best rear side illuminated cell efficiency was 3.2% compared to front side illuminated cell efficiency of 4.2% which is a promising result for future rear side dye sensitized solar cell applications where front side illumination is not possible like tandem structures and for cells

Highly efficient light management for perovskite solar cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Dong-Lin; Cui, Hui-Juan; Hou, Guo-Jiao; Zhu, Zhen-Gang; Yan, Qing-Bo; Su, Gang

2016-01-06

Organic-inorganic halide perovskite solar cells have enormous potential to impact the existing photovoltaic industry. As realizing a higher conversion efficiency of the solar cell is still the most crucial task, a great number of schemes were proposed to minimize the carrier loss by optimizing the electrical properties of the perovskite solar cells. Here, we focus on another significant aspect that is to minimize the light loss by optimizing the light management to gain a high efficiency for perovskite solar cells. In our scheme, the slotted and inverted prism structured SiO2 layers are adopted to trap more light into the solar cells, and a better transparent conducting oxide layer is employed to reduce the parasitic absorption. For such an implementation, the efficiency and the serviceable angle of the perovskite solar cell can be promoted impressively. This proposal would shed new light on developing the high-performance perovskite solar cells.

Radiation effect on the optical and electrical properties of CdSe(In)/p-Si heterojunction photovoltaic solar cells

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

M. Ashry; S. Fares

2012-01-01

The efficiency and radiation resistance of solar cells are graded.They are then fabricated in the form of n-CdeSe(In)/p-Si heterojunction cells by electron beam evaporation of a stoichiomteric mixture of CdSe and In to make a thin film on a p-Si single crystal wafer with a thickness of 100 μm and a resistivity of ～ 1.5Ω·cm at a temperature of 473 K.The short-circuit current density (jsc),open-circuit voltage (Voc),fill factor (ff) and conversion efficiency (η) under 100 mW/cm2 (AM1) intensity,are 20 mA/cm2,0.49 V,0.71 and 6％ respectively.The cells were exposed to different electron doses (electron beam accelerator of energy 1.5 MeV,and beam intensity 25 mA).The cell performance parameters are measured and discussed before and after gamma and electron beam irradiation.

Enhanced photovoltaic performance of ultrathin Si solar cells via semiconductor nanocrystal sensitization: energy transfer vs. optical coupling effects.

Science.gov (United States)

Hoang, Son; Ashraf, Ahsan; Eisaman, Matthew D; Nykypanchuk, Dmytro; Nam, Chang-Yong

2016-03-21

Excitonic energy transfer (ET) offers exciting opportunities for advances in optoelectronic devices such as solar cells. While recent experimental attempts have demonstrated its potential in both organic and inorganic photovoltaics (PVs), what remains to be addressed is quantitative understanding of how different ET modes contribute to PV performance and how ET contribution is differentiated from the classical optical coupling (OC) effects. In this study, we implement an ET scheme using a PV device platform, comprising CdSe/ZnS nanocrystal energy donor and 500 nm-thick ultrathin Si acceptor layers, and present the quantitative mechanistic description of how different ET modes, distinguished from the OC effects, increase the light absorption and PV efficiency. We find that nanocrystal sensitization enhances the short circuit current of ultrathin Si solar cells by up to 35%, of which the efficient ET, primarily driven by a long-range radiative mode, contributes to 38% of the total current enhancement. These results not only confirm the positive impact of ET but also provide a guideline for rationally combining the ET and OC effects for improved light harvesting in PV and other optoelectronic devices.

Enhancing crystalline silicon solar cell efficiency with SixGe1-x layers

Science.gov (United States)

Ali, Adnan; Cheow, S. L.; Azhari, A. W.; Sopian, K.; Zaidi, Saleem H.

Crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cell represents a cost effective, environment-friendly, and proven renewable energy resource. Industrially manufacturing of c-Si solar has now matured in terms of efficiency and cost. Continuing cost-effective efficiency enhancement requires transition towards thinner wafers in near term and thin-films in the long term. Successful implementation of either of these alternatives must address intrinsic optical absorption limitation of Si. Bandgap engineering through integration with SixGe1-x layers offers an attractive, inexpensive option. With the help of PC1D software, role of SixGe1-x layers in conventional c-Si solar cells has been intensively investigated in both wafer and thin film configurations by varying Ge concentration, thickness, and placement. In wafer configuration, increase in Ge concentration leads to enhanced absorption through bandgap broadening with an efficiency enhancement of 8% for Ge concentrations of less than 20%. At higher Ge concentrations, despite enhanced optical absorption, efficiency is reduced due to substantial lowering of open-circuit voltage. In 5-25-μm thickness, thin-film solar cell configurations, efficiency gain in excess of 30% is achievable. Therefore, SixGe1-x based thin-film solar cells with an order of magnitude reduction in costly Si material are ideally-suited both in terms of high efficiency and cost. Recent research has demonstrated significant improvement in epitaxially grown SixGe1-x layers on nanostructured Si substrates, thereby enhancing potential of this approach for next generation of c-Si based photovoltaics.

Nanostructured thin films for multibandgap silicon triple junction solar cells

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schropp, R.E.I.; Li, H. B. T.; Franken, R.H.; Rath, J.K.; van der Werf, C.H.M.; Schuttauf, J.A.; Stolk, R.L.

2009-01-01

A considerable improvement in performance has been achieved for multibandgap proto-Si/proto-SiGe/nc-Si:H triple junction n–i–p solar cells in which hot-wire chemical vapor deposition (HWCVD) is used to obtain the absorber layers of the bottom and the top cell. To achieve this, optimized Ag/ZnO

Investigation of back surface fields effect on bifacial solar cells

Science.gov (United States)

Sepeai, Suhaila; Sulaiman, M. Y.; Sopian, Kamaruzzaman; Zaidi, Saleem H.

2012-11-01

A bifacial solar cell, in contrast with a conventional monofacial solar cell, produces photo-generated current from both front and back sides. Bifacial solar cell is an attractive candidate for enhancing photovoltaic (PV) market competitiveness as well as supporting the current efforts to increase efficiency and lower material costs. This paper reports on the fabrication of bifacial solar cells using phosphorus-oxytrichloride (POCl3) emitter formation on p-type, nanotextured silicon (Si) wafer. Backside surface field was formed through Al-diffusion using conventional screen-printing process. Bifacial solar cells with a structure of n+pp+ with and without back surface field (BSF) were fabricated in which silicon nitride (SiN) anti reflection and passivation films were coated on both sides, followed by screen printing of Argentum (Ag) and Argentum/Aluminum (Ag/Al) on front and back contacts, respectively. Bifacial solar cells without BSF exhibited open circuit voltage (VOC) of 535 mV for front and 480 mV for back surface. With Al-alloyed BSF bifacial solar cells, the VOC improved to 580 mV for the front surface and 560 mV for the back surface. Simulation of bifacial solar cells using PC1D and AFORS software demonstrated good agreement with experimental results. Simulations showed that best bifacial solar cells are achieved through a combination of high lifetime wafer, low recombination back surface field, reduced contact resistance, and superior surface passivation.