Material Issues in the Commercialization of Amorphous Silicon Alloy Thin-Film Photovoltaic Technology

1998 ◽  
Vol 507 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Guha ◽  
J. Yang ◽  
A. Banerjee ◽  
S. Sugiyama
Keyword(s):  
Amorphous Silicon ◽  
Triple Junction ◽  
Alloy Thin Film ◽  
Critical Material ◽  
Silicon Alloy ◽  
Cell Efficiency ◽  
Spectral Splitting ◽  
Photovoltaic Technology ◽  
Annual Capacity ◽  
Junction Structure

ABSTRACTTwo significant developments took place in 1997 in the field of amorphous silicon alloy photovoltaic technology. First, a world record stable cell efficiency of 13% was demonstrated using a spectral-splitting, triple-junction structure. Second, a triple-junction photovoltaic manufacturing facility of an annual capacity of 5 MW was commissioned. In order to make the transition from R&D to production, critical material issues and deposition methods which ensure the lowest module cost per delivered watt needed to be evaluated. In this paper, we discuss some of these issues with special reference to the cell materials.

Effect of Excitation Frequency on the Performance of Amorphous Silicon Alloy Solar Cells

1998 ◽  
Vol 507 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Yang ◽  
S. Sugiyama ◽  
S. Guha
Keyword(s):  
Solar Cells ◽  
Glow Discharge ◽  
Amorphous Silicon ◽  
Excitation Frequency ◽  
Deposition Rates ◽  
Solar Cell Performance ◽  
Single Junction ◽  
Silicon Alloy ◽  
Double Junction ◽  
Junction Structure

ABSTRACTWe have studied amorphous silicon alloy solar cells made by using a modified-very-highfrequency glow discharge at 75 MHz with a deposition rate of ∼6 Å/s. The solar cell performance is compared with those made from conventional glow discharge at 13.56 MHz with lower deposition rates. Cells made at ∼6 Å/s with 75 MHz showed comparable stabilized efficiency to those made at ∼3 Å/s with 13.56 MHz. The best performance, however, was obtained with ∼1 Å/s, including a stabilized 9.3% a-Si alloy single-junction cell employing conventional glow discharge technique. Using 75 MHz, we have achieved 11.1% and 10.0% initial active-area efficiencies for a-Si alloy and a-SiGe alloy n i p cells, respectively. An initial efficiency of 11.0% has also been obtained in a dual bandgap double-junction structure.

High Efficiency Thin Film Silicon Solar Cells

2013 ◽  
Vol 750-752 ◽  
pp. 970-973
Author(s):  
Chun Rong Xue ◽  
Xia Yun Sun
Keyword(s):  
Thin Film ◽  
Solar Cells ◽  
Amorphous Silicon ◽  
Triple Junction ◽  
High Efficiency ◽  
Silicon Solar Cells ◽  
Cell Efficiency ◽  
High Efficiency Solar Cells ◽  
Alternative Material ◽  
Staebler Wronski Effect

High-efficiency solar cells based on amorphous silicon technology are designed. Multi-junction amorphous silicon solar cells are discussed, how these are made and how their performance can be understood and optimized. Although significant amount of work has been carried out in the last twenty-five years, the Staebler-Wronski effect has limited the development of a-Si:H solar cells. As an alternative material, nc-Si:H has attracted remarkable attention. Taking advantage of a lower degradation in nc-Si:H than a-Si:H and a-SiGe:H alloys, the light induced degradation in triple junction structures has been minimized by designing a bottom-cell-limited current mismatching, and obtained a stable active-area cell efficiency. All this has been investigated in this paper.

Improved Amorphous Silicon Alloy Solar Cells for Module Fabrication

1997 ◽  
Vol 467 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Banerjee ◽  
J. Yang ◽  
S. Guha
Keyword(s):  
Amorphous Silicon ◽  
Triple Junction ◽  
Silicon Germanium ◽  
High Efficiency ◽  
Optical Loss ◽  
Relative Reduction ◽  
Large Area ◽  
Silicon Alloy ◽  
Module Design ◽  
The Status

ABSTRACTAn initial conversion efficiency of 13.5% has been obtained on a triple-junction triple-bandgap device fabricated in a large-area deposition reactor capable of producing one-square-foot modules. The intrinsic layer of the top cell is a wide bandgap amorphous silicon alloy. The middle and bottom cells employ high quality amorphous silicon-germanium alloy. The high efficiency of the triple-junction cell is attributed to the relative reduction of the optical loss in the top tunnel junction and the improvement in the quality of the middle and bottom component cells. Triple-junction devices with initial efficiency of 13.3% have shown saturation at 11.6% after light soaking. Modules of aperture area 909cm2 have been fabricated using an assembly process similar to the one being currently used in our manufacturing line. The module design consists of onelarge-area, high-current monolithic multijunction device. The status of the small-area devices andmodules is described

Theoretical Analysis of Amorphous Silicon Alloy Based Triple Junction Solar Cells

2007 ◽  
Vol 46 (No. 47) ◽  
pp. L1152-L1154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ihsanul Afdi Yunaz ◽  
Akira Yamada ◽  
Makoto Konagai
Keyword(s):  
Solar Cells ◽  
Theoretical Analysis ◽  
Amorphous Silicon ◽  
Triple Junction ◽  
Silicon Alloy

Status of nc-Si:H Solar Cells at United Solar and Roadmap for Manufacturing a-Si:H and nc-Si:H Based Solar Panels

2007 ◽  
Vol 989 ◽  
Author(s):  
Baojie Yan ◽  
Guozhen Yue ◽  
Subhendu Guha
Keyword(s):  
Solar Cells ◽  
Triple Junction ◽  
Cell Structure ◽  
Nanocrystalline Silicon ◽  
Active Area ◽  
Solar Panels ◽  
Very High Frequency ◽  
Cell Efficiency ◽  
Critical Issues ◽  
Junction Structure

AbstractThis paper reviews the research and development of hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si:H) solar cells at United Solar Ovonic LLC. We have been studying nc-Si:H solar cells since 2001 and have made significant progress. We have achieved an initial active-area cell efficiency of 15.1% using an a-Si:H/a-SiGe:H/nc-Si:H triple-junction structure, a stable active-area cell efficiency of 13.3% using an a-Si:H/nc-Si:H/nc-Si:H triple-junction structure, and a stable aperture-area (420 cm2) fully encapsulated module efficiency of 9.5% using an a-Si:H/nc-Si:H double-junction structure. Although the cell efficiencies with nc-Si:H in the middle and/or bottom cells have exceeded the corresponding efficiencies achieved using a-Si:H and a-SiGe:H, we still need to address several critical issues before using nc-Si:H in photovoltaic manufacturing plants. First, the cell efficiency needs to be improved further to show a clear advantage over the conventional a-Si:H/a-SiGe:H/a-SiGe:H triple-junction cell structure. Second, we need to increase the deposition rate further to make the nc-Si:H based technology more cost effective. Third, we need to develop a machine design to overcome the large-area uniformity issue, especially for very high frequency glow discharge deposition. Fourth, we need to qualify nc-Si:H based solar cell product, especially with respect to long term reliability. We have been addressing these critical issues, and will discuss the roadmap for manufacturing a-Si:H and nc-Si:H based solar panels using the roll-to-roll technology.

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