Wide-Range Enhancement of Spectral Response by Highly Conductive and Transparentμc-SiOx:H Doped Layers inμc-Si:H and a-Si:H/μc-Si:H Thin-Film Solar Cells

The enhancement of optical absorption of silicon thin-film solar cells by the p- and n-typeμc-SiOx:H as doped and functional layers was presented. The effects of deposition conditions and oxygen content on optical, electrical, and structural properties ofμc-SiOx:H films were also discussed. Regarding the dopedμc-SiOx:H films, the wide optical band gap (E04) of 2.33 eV while maintaining a high conductivity of 0.2 S/cm could be obtained with oxygen incorporation of 20 at.%. Compared to the conventionalμc-Si:H(p) as window layer inμc-Si:H single-junction solar cells, the application ofμc-SiOx:H(p) increased theVOCand led to a significant enhancement in the short-wavelength spectral response. Meanwhile, the employment ofμc-SiOx:H(n) instead of conventional ITO as back reflecting layer (BRL) enhanced the external quantum efficiency (EQE) ofμc-Si:H single-junction cell in the long-wavelength region, leading to a relative efficiency gain of 10%. Compared to the reference cell, the optimized a-Si:H/μc-Si:H tandem cell by applying p- and n-typeμc-SiOx:H films achieved aVOCof 1.37 V,JSCof 10.55 mA/cm2, FF of 73.67%, and efficiency of 10.51%, which was a relative enhancement of 16%.

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Doping-free silicon thin film solar cells using a vanadium pentoxide window layer and a LiF/Al back electrode

Applied Physics Letters ◽

10.1063/1.4818714 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 103 (7) ◽

pp. 073903 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Hyung Hwan Jung ◽

Jung-Dae Kwon ◽

Sunghun Lee ◽

Chang Su Kim ◽

Kee-Seok Nam ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Thin Film ◽

Solar Cells ◽

Vanadium Pentoxide ◽

Thin Film Solar Cells ◽

Window Layer ◽

Silicon Thin Film ◽

Free Silicon

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Improvement of Single-Junction a-Si:H Thin-Film Solar Cells Toward 10% Efficiency

MRS Proceedings ◽

10.1557/opl.2011.931 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 1321 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

P. H. Cheng ◽

S. W. Liang ◽

Y. P. Lin ◽

H. J. Hsu ◽

C. H. Hsu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Thin Film ◽

Solar Cells ◽

Amorphous Silicon ◽

Chemical Vapor ◽

Thin Film Solar Cells ◽

Window Layer ◽

Electron Hole ◽

Single Junction ◽

Boron Doped ◽

Hydrogenated Amorphous

ABSTRACTThe hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) single-junction thin-film solar cells were fabricated on SnO2:F-coated glasses by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) system. The boron-doped amorphous silicon carbide (a-SiC:H) was served as the window layer (p-layer) and the undoped a-SiC:H was used as a buffer layer (b-layer). The optimization of the p/b/i/n thin-films in a-Si:H solar cells have been carried out and discussed. Considering the effects of light absorption, electron-hole extraction and light-induced degradation, the thicknesses of p, b, n and i layers have been optimized. The optimal a-Si:H thin-film solar cell having an efficiency of 9.46% was achieved, with VOC=906 mV, JSC=14.42 mA/cm2 and FF=72.36%.

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Theory of Grain Boundary Effects upon Single Junction and Multijunction Polycrystalline Silicon Thin Film Solar Cells

Solid State Phenomena ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/ssp.51-52.509 ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 51-52 ◽

pp. 509-514

Author(s):

M.A. Green

Keyword(s):

Thin Film ◽

Solar Cells ◽

Grain Boundary ◽

Polycrystalline Silicon ◽

Thin Film Solar Cells ◽

Boundary Effects ◽

Silicon Thin Film ◽

Single Junction ◽

Grain Boundary Effects

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Light Scattering and Current Enhancement for Microcrystalline Silicon Thin-Film Solar Cells on Aluminium-Induced Texture Glass Superstrates with Double Texture

International Journal of Photoenergy ◽

10.1155/2015/358276 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 2015 ◽

pp. 1-8 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Yunfeng Yin ◽

Nasim Sahraei ◽

Selvaraj Venkataraj ◽

Sonya Calnan ◽

Sven Ring ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Thin Film ◽

Solar Cells ◽

Short Circuit ◽

Short Circuit Current ◽

Optical Scattering ◽

Thin Film Solar Cells ◽

Surface Topology ◽

Microcrystalline Silicon ◽

Silicon Thin Film ◽

Wide Range

Microcrystalline silicon (μc-Si:H) thin-film solar cells are processed on glass superstrates having both micro- and nanoscale surface textures. The microscale texture is realised at the glass surface, using the aluminium-induced texturing (AIT) method, which is an industrially feasible process enabling a wide range of surface feature sizes (i.e., 700 nm–3 μm) of the textured glass. The nanoscale texture is made by conventional acid etching of the sputter-deposited transparent conductive oxide (TCO). The influence of the resulting “double texture” on the optical scattering is investigated by means of atomic force microscopy (AFM) (studying the surface topology), haze measurements (studying scattering into air), and short-circuit current enhancement measurements (studying scattering into silicon). A predicted enhanced optical scattering efficiency is experimentally proven by a short-circuit current enhancementΔIscof up to 1.6 mA/cm2(7.7% relative increase) compared to solar cells fabricated on a standard superstrate, that is, planar glass covered with nanotextured TCO. Enhancing the autocorrelation length (or feature size) of the AIT superstrates might have the large potential to improve theμc-Si:H thin-film solar cell efficiency, by reducing the shunting probability of the device while maintaining a high optical scattering performance.

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Enhancement of Spectral Response inμc-Si1-xGex:H Thin-Film Solar Cells with a-Si:H/μc-Si:H P-Type Window Layers

International Journal of Photoenergy ◽

10.1155/2015/841614 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 2015 ◽

pp. 1-8 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Yen-Tang Huang ◽

Cheng-Hang Hsu ◽

Chuang-Chuang Tsai

Keyword(s):

Thin Film ◽

Solar Cells ◽

Conversion Efficiency ◽

Spectral Response ◽

Short Circuit ◽

Thin Film Solar Cells ◽

Window Layer ◽

Microcrystalline Silicon ◽

P Type ◽

20 Nm

The hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H)/hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon (μc-Si:H) double p-type window layer has been developed and applied for improving microcrystalline silicon-germanium p-i-n single-junction thin-film solar cells deposited on textured SnO2:F-coated glass substrates. The substrates of SnO2:F, SnO2:F/μc-Si:H(p), and SnO2:F/a-Si:H(p) were exposed to H2plasma to investigate the property change. Our results showed that capping a thin layer of a-Si:H(p) on SnO2:F can minimize the Sn reduction during the deposition process which had H2-containing plasma. Optical measurement has also revealed that a-Si:H(p) capped SnO2:F glass had a higher optical transmittance. When the 20 nmμc-Si:H(p) layer was replaced by a 3 nm a-Si:H(p)/17 nmμc-Si:H(p) double window layer in the cell, the conversion efficiency (η) and the short-circuit current density (JSC) were increased by 16.6% and 16.4%, respectively. Compared to the standard cell with the 20 nmμc-Si:H(p) window layer, an improved conversion efficiency of 6.19% can be obtained for the cell having a-Si:H(p)/μc-Si:H(p) window layer, withVOC = 490 mV,JSC = 19.50 mA/cm2, and FF = 64.83%.

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