Microcrystalline Single-Junction and Micromorph Tandem Thin Film Silicon Solar Cells

1998 ◽  
Vol 507 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Meier ◽  
H. Keppner ◽  
S. Dubail ◽  
U. Kroll ◽  
P. Torres ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Solar Cells ◽  
Fill Factor ◽  
Open Circuit ◽  
Silicon Solar Cells ◽  
Microcrystalline Silicon ◽  
Temperature Dependent ◽  
Cell Temperature ◽  
Recombination Mechanism ◽  
Tandem Cell ◽  
Open Circuit Voltages

ABSTRACTHigher open circuit voltages of the microcrystalline silicon bottom cell have a direct impact on the efficiency of the micromorph (μc-Si:H/a-Si:H) tandem cell. In this paper it is shown that open circuit voltages over 500 mV can be achieved leading to gc-Si:H cell efficiencies of 8.5 %. The behaviour of such cells is characterised both by the illuminated and the dark I-V characteristics in function of cell temperature. Microcrystalline cells with Voc-values higher than 500 mV and micromorph tandems possess in general a lower value of the temperature coefficient of the fill factor and thus of the efficiency, when compared to c-Si. Temperature-dependent dark I-V measurements suggest that the dominant recombination mechanism in lgc-Si:H cells is different from that prevailing in a-Si:H solar cells.

Temperature Dependent Transport in Microcrystalline PIN Diodes

2000 ◽  
Vol 609 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Brammer ◽  
H. Stiebig ◽  
A. Lambertz ◽  
W. Reetz ◽  
H. Wagner
Keyword(s):  
Solar Cells ◽  
Fill Factor ◽  
Extraction Efficiency ◽  
Chemical Vapor ◽  
Open Circuit ◽  
Microcrystalline Silicon ◽  
Temperature Dependent ◽  
Dependent Transport ◽  
Silane Concentration ◽  
Interface Effects

ABSTRACTThe optoelectronic behavior of diodes deposited by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition was investigated for a series of different silane concentrations in the gas phase. The purpose of this work was to correlate device characteristics with inherent properties of microcrystalline silicon by experiments and numerical simulations. Dark diode characteristics and, therefore, the open circuit voltage behavior of this series were dominated by the bulk properties of the i-layer (equilibrium carrier concentration) as shown by numerical modeling. Measurement of the solar cell output parameters as a function of the temperature showed that the fill factor of solar cells with small silane concentrations is dominated by the dark diode characteristics. This is in contrast to the temperature dependent fill factor of solar cells with large silane concentration which is limited by the extraction efficiency of the photogenerated carriers. Interface effects dominated the temperature dependent blue response. The gain in blue response increased with temperature and silane concentration by up to 200 % which revealed transport limiting material properties in the vicinity of the p/i-interface. This behavior was attributed to the nucleation region.

scholarly journals Electrically flat/optically rough substrates for efficiencies above 10% in n-i-p thin-film silicon solar cells

2012 ◽  
Vol 1426 ◽  
pp. 39-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karin Söderström ◽  
Grégory Bugnon ◽  
Franz-Josef Haug ◽  
Christophe Ballif
Keyword(s):  
Solar Cells ◽  
Relative Efficiency ◽  
Light Trapping ◽  
Open Circuit ◽  
High Light ◽  
Silicon Solar Cells ◽  
Efficiency Gain ◽  
Microcrystalline Silicon ◽  
Flat Interface ◽  
Open Circuit Voltages

ABSTRACTSubstrates with extremely low roughness to allow the growth of good-quality silicon material but that nevertheless present high light trapping properties are presented. In a first application, silver reflectors are used in single and tandem-junction amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) solar cells. High initial (stable) efficiencies of 10.4 % (8.1 %) for single-junction a-Si:H cells on glass and 11.1 % (9.2 %) for tandem-junction a-Si:H/a-Si:H cells on plastic are obtained. A second application better suited to multi-junction solar cells based on microcrystalline silicon (μc-Si:H) solar cells is presented: the substrate consists of rough zinc oxide (ZnO) grown on a flat silver reflector which is covered with a-Si:H; polishing of this structure yields an a-Si:H/ZnO interface that provides high light scattering even though the cell is deposited on a flat interface. We present results of ∼ 4-μm-thick μc-Si:H solar cells prepared on such substrates with high open-circuit voltages of 520 mV. A large relative efficiency gain of 20% is observed compared to a co-deposited cell grown directly on an optimized textured substrate.

Kinetics of Light-Induced Effects in Mixed-Phase Hydrogenated Silicon Solar Cells

2003 ◽  
Vol 762 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guozhen Yuea ◽  
Baojie Yan ◽  
Jeffrey Yang ◽  
Kenneth Lord ◽  
Subhendu Guha
Keyword(s):  
Solar Cells ◽  
Fill Factor ◽  
Equivalent Circuit Model ◽  
Open Circuit ◽  
Mixed Phase ◽  
Silicon Solar Cells ◽  
Initial Increase ◽  
Soaking Time ◽  
Hydrogenated Silicon ◽  
Kinetics Of

AbstractWe have observed a significant light-induced increase in the open-circuit voltage (Voc) of mixed-phase hydrogenated silicon solar cells. In this study, we investigate the kinetics of the light-induced effects. The results show that the cells with different initial Voc have different kinetic behavior. For the cells with a low initial Voc (less than 0.8 V), the increase in Voc is slow and does not saturate for light-soaking time of up to 16 hours. For the cells with medium initial Voc (0.8 ∼ 0.95 V), the Voc increases rapidly and then saturates. Cells with high initial Voc (0.95 ∼ 0.98 V) show an initial increase in Voc, followed bya Voc decrease. All light-soaked cells exhibit a degradation in fill factor. The temperature dependence of the kinetics shows that light soaking at high temperatures causes Voc increase to saturate faster than at low temperatures. The observed results can be explained by our recently proposed two-diode equivalent-circuit model for mixed-phase solar cells.

Microcrystalline silicon solar cells with passivated interfaces for high open-circuit voltage

2015 ◽  
Vol 212 (4) ◽  
pp. 840-845 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Hänni ◽  
Mathieu Boccard ◽  
Grégory Bugnon ◽  
Matthieu Despeisse ◽  
Jan-Willem Schüttauf ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Solar Cells ◽  
Open Circuit Voltage ◽  
Open Circuit ◽  
Silicon Solar Cells ◽  
Microcrystalline Silicon

Bifacial heterojunction silicon solar cells by hot-wire CVD with open-circuit voltages exceeding 600 mV

2006 ◽  
Vol 511-512 ◽  
pp. 415-419 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Voz ◽  
D. Muñoz ◽  
M. Fonrodona ◽  
I. Martin ◽  
J. Puigdollers ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Solar Cells ◽  
Open Circuit ◽  
Silicon Solar Cells ◽  
Hot Wire ◽  
Open Circuit Voltages

Performance of μ-Si:H Solar Cells with Amorphous P-Layer

1998 ◽  
Vol 507 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank Siebke ◽  
Shigeo Yata ◽  
Yoshihiro Hishikawa ◽  
Makoto Tanaka
Keyword(s):  
Solar Cells ◽  
Fill Factor ◽  
Open Circuit Voltage ◽  
Silicon Layer ◽  
Amorphous Layer ◽  
Open Circuit ◽  
Optimized Design ◽  
Microcrystalline Silicon ◽  
Cell Structures ◽  
Proper Design

ABSTRACTWe investigated p-i-n solar cells with microcrystalline absorber but amorphous contact layers. Fill factor and open circuit voltage depend sensitively on the p/i interface. Using an optimized design of the p/i interface, cells with fill factors up to 65% and open circuit voltages of 0.45 V were deposited on amorphous p-layers. They are comparable to cells on micro- crystalline p-layers. A further increase of the open circuit voltage was achieved by variation of the p/i interface treatment but up to now it was accompanied by a decrease of the fill factor. We attribute this effect to a thin undoped amorphous layer at the p/i interface. Under non-optimized deposition conditions an amorphous instead of a microcrystalline silicon layer is grown at the p/i interface which can be detected by Raman measurements on cell structures. While the proper design of the p/i interface is crucial for the cell performance we did not observe significant differences between cells with amorphous and microcrystalline n-layers. The results reveal that the open circuit voltage is limited by the bulk properties of the undoped microcrystalline silicon.

Temperature Dependence of Silicon-based Thin Film Solar Cells on Their Intrinsic Absorber

2007 ◽  
Vol 989 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kobsak Sriprapha ◽  
Ihsanul Afdi Yunaz ◽  
Shuichi Hiza ◽  
Kun Ho Ahn ◽  
Seung Yeop Myong ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Thin Film ◽  
Solar Cells ◽  
Temperature Dependence ◽  
Chemical Vapor ◽  
Open Circuit ◽  
Silicon Solar Cells ◽  
Microcrystalline Silicon ◽  
Solar Simulator ◽  
Lower Temperature ◽  
Silicon Based

AbstractThe temperature dependence of Si-based thin-film single junction solar cells on the phase of the intrinsic absorber is investigated in order to find the optimal absorber at high operating temperatures. For comparison, hydrogenated amorphous, protocrystalline, and microcrystalline silicon solar cells are fabricated by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition and hot-wired CVD techniques. Photo J-V characteristics are measured using a solar simulator at the ambient temperature range of 25-85°C. It is found that the cells with a higher open-circuit voltage usually show lower temperature-dependent behaviors; the protocrystalline silicon solar cells provide the lowest temperature coefficient of efficiency, while the microcrystalline silicon solar cells are highly sensitive to the temperature. Therefore, protocrystalline silicon solar cells are promising for use in high temperature regions.

Photoluminescence energy and open circuit voltage in microcrystalline silicon solar cells

2004 ◽  
Vol 451-452 ◽  
pp. 285-289 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Merdzhanova ◽  
R. Carius ◽  
S. Klein ◽  
F. Finger ◽  
D. Dimova-Malinovska
Keyword(s):  
Solar Cells ◽  
Open Circuit Voltage ◽  
Open Circuit ◽  
Silicon Solar Cells ◽  
Microcrystalline Silicon
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