Critical Electric Field of InGaN p-i-n Solar Cell

2013 ◽  
Vol 284-287 ◽  
pp. 1168-1172
Author(s):  
Der Yuh Lin ◽  
Chao Yu Chi

We present a study of electric field effect on the efficiency of GaN/In0.1Ga0.9N p-i-n solar cells by using the advanced physical models of semiconductor devices (APSYS) simulation program. In this study, the electric field strength and other parameters such as optimum thickness of p-type layer and efficiency of GaN/In0.1Ga0.9N p-i-n solar cells with different i-layer thicknesses have been performed. On the basis of simulating results, for a high efficiency solar cell, it is found that the optimum p-type layer concentration is above 4×1016cm-3and the suitable thickness is between 0.1 to 0.2 μm. For different i-layer thickness and p-doping concentrations, a critical electric field (Fc) has been found at 100 kV/cm. It is worth to note that when the electric field strength of i-layer below Fc value, the solar cell efficiency will dramatically decrease. Thus Fc can be seen as an index for acquiring the quality of solar device.

2006 ◽  
Vol 910 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qi Wang ◽  
Matt P. Page ◽  
Eugene Iwancizko ◽  
Yueqin Xu ◽  
Yanfa Yan ◽  
...  

AbstractWe have achieved an independently-confirmed 17.8% conversion efficiency in a 1-cm2, p-type, float-zone silicon (FZ-Si) based heterojunction solar cell. Both the front emitter and back contact are hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) deposited by hot-wire chemical vapor deposition (HWCVD). This is the highest reported efficiency for a HWCVD silicon heterojunction (SHJ) solar cell. Two main improvements lead to our most recent increases in efficiency: 1) the use of textured Si wafers, and 2) the application of a-Si:H heterojunctions on both sides of the cell. Despite the use of textured c-Si to increase the short-circuit current, we were able to maintain the same 0.65 V open-circuit voltage as on flat c-Si. This is achieved by coating a-Si:H conformally on the c-Si surfaces, including covering the tips of the anisotropically-etched pyramids. A brief atomic H treatment before emitter deposition is not necessary on the textured wafers, though it was helpful in the flat wafers. It is essential to high efficiency SHJ solar cells that the emitter grows abruptly as amorphous silicon, instead of as microcrystalline or epitaxial Si. The contact on each side of the cell comprises a thin (< 5 nm) low substrate temperature (~100°C) intrinsic a-Si:H layer, followed by a doped layer. Our intrinsic layers are deposited at 0.3-1.2 nm/s. The doped emitter and back-contact layers were deposited at a higher temperature (>200°C) and grown from PH3/SiH4/H2 and B2H6/SiH4/H2 doping gas mixtures, respectively. This combination of low (intrinsic) and high (doped layer) growth temperatures was optimized by lifetime and surface recombination velocity measurements. Our rapid efficiency advance suggests that HWCVD may have advantages over plasma-enhanced (PE) CVD in fabrication of high-efficiency heterojunction c-Si cells; there is no need for process optimization to avoid plasma damage to the delicate, high-quality, Si wafers.


2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 315-322
Author(s):  
Samah Mohammed Al-Karawi ◽  
Mohammed Fawzi Mohammed Altemimi

The effect of metal nanoparticles (MNPs) on the electric field strength and distribution for improvement solar cell performance is investigated and simulated. By manipulating the properties of nanoparticles, distribution of the electric field was altered. In this paper, classical solar cell (p-n junction) and improved structure (add an extra layer of SiO2 and gold nanoparticles on the top of p-n junction) is simulated. Different sizes of NPs, thickness of SiO2 sublayer, and spacing distance between NPs is done to improving the electric field and showing plamonic effect. Gold NPs deposition on single crystalline silicon solar cell is modelled by COMSOL 5.2 2D, Electromagnetic wave propagation in the frequency domain with periodic boundary conditions. The best wavelength found in our work is 550 nm. The electric field enhances when the size of NPs increases but it must be limited. When gold NPs are deposited on the SiO2 sublayer, the plasmonic effect appears due to decreasing the refractive index. Moreover, separation distance between NPs affect the electric field enhancement by manipulating the number of NPs, the distance decreases and the plasmonic interaction appears.


2013 ◽  
Vol 205-206 ◽  
pp. 346-351 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruy S. Bonilla ◽  
Christian Reichel ◽  
Martin Hermle ◽  
Peter R. Wilshaw

Effective reduction of front surface carrier recombination is essential for high efficiency silicon solar cells. Dielectric films are normally used to achieve such reduction. They provide a) an efficient passivation of surface recombination and b) an effective anti-reflection layer. The conditions that produce an effective anti-reflection coating are not necessarily the same for efficient passivation, hence both functions are difficult to achieve simultaneously and expensive processing steps are normally required. This can be overcome by enhancing the passivation properties of an anti-reflective film using the electric field effect. Here, we demonstrate that thermally grown silicon dioxide is an efficient passivation layer when chemically treated and electrically charged, and it is stable over a period of ten months. Double layers of SiO2 and SiN also provided stable and efficient passivation for a period of a year when the sample is submitted to a post-charge anneal. Surface recombination velocity upper limits of 9 cm/s and 19 cm/s were inferred for single and double layers respectively on n-type, 5 Ωcm, Cz-Si.


2008 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
pp. 1065-1070 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Liu ◽  
S. Zhao ◽  
S.-B. Rim ◽  
J. Wu ◽  
M. Könemann ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
М.Г. Верхолетов ◽  
И.А. Прудаев

The results of studying the transport of charge carriers in GaAs structures doped with deep donor EL2 centers and acceptor levels of Cr for detectors of ionizing radiation and ultrafast photoelectric switches are presented. Three configurations of structures are investigated: p-i-n, n-i-n and p-i-p- types. The system of differential equations for the temperature of charge carriers, Poisson's equations and continuity was solved using a commercial software. It was found that the choice of the type of the barrier layer makes it possible to control the uniformity of the electric field strength in the structures. It is shown that p-i-p- type structures have the best uniformity of the electric field strength.


2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (42) ◽  
pp. 16410-16417 ◽  
Author(s):  
Myoung Hee Yun ◽  
Jae Won Kim ◽  
Song Yi Park ◽  
Dong Suk Kim ◽  
Bright Walker ◽  
...  

The first high-efficiency hybrid solar cell of its type comprising p-type silicon with an organic n-type C60 layer is demonstrated.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chandan Yadav ◽  
sushil kumar

Abstract A maximum efficiency of 17% for ultra-thin n-type AZO layer and 17.5% for ultra-thin n-type TiO2 layer based silicon heterojunction solar cell is reported by optimizing its properties which is much higher than practically obtained efficiency signifying a lot of improvements can be performed to improve efficiency of TiO2/Si and AZO/Si heterojunction solar cell. AZO layer and TiO2 layer is used as n-type emitter layer and crystalline silicon wafer is used as p-type (p-cSi) layer for modelling AZO/Si and TiO2/Si heterojunctions solar cell respectively using AFORS HET automat simulation software. Various parameters like thickness of AZO, TiO2 layer, p-cSi layer, doping concentration of donors (Nd) and effective conduction band density (Nc) are optimized. Finally, texturing at different angle is studied and maximum efficiency is reported at 70 µm thick p-type crystalline Silicon (p-cSi) wafer, that can be very helpful for manufacturing low cost HJ solar cells at industrial scale because of thin wafer and removal of additional processing setup required for deposition of amorphous silicon i-layer. Utilization of TiO2 and Aluminium doped Zinc Oxide as n-type layer and p-cSi as p-type layer can help in producing low cost and efficient heterojunction (HJ) than compared to HJ with intrinsic thin layer HIT solar cells.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tian Pu ◽  
Honglie Shen ◽  
Quntao Tang

Abstract In this paper, a charged Al2O3 tunneling film as an assisting for amorphous Si (a-Si) passivated contact layer is proposed and theoretically simulated for its potential application in improving a-Si passivated contact p-type (a-PC-p) solar cell. The concept is based on an Ag/n+ c-Si/p c-Si/Al2O3/p+ a-Si/Al structure. The key feature is the introduction of a charged Al2O3 layer, which facilitates the tunneling of holes through an Al2O3 insulator layer accompanied by the reduction of interface defect density (Dit). The negative charge in the Al2O3 layer makes the energy band of p-type c-Si bend upward, realizing the accumulation of holes and repelling of electrons at the c-Si/a-Si interface simultaneously. The influence of interface negative charges (Qit) between a-Si and c-Si, Al2O3 thickness, Al2O3 bandgap, interface defect density (Dit) at the a-Si/c-Si interface are systematically investigated on the output parameters of a-PC-p cells. Inserting a charged Al2O3 film between the c-Si/a-Si interface, a +4.2 % relative efficiency gain is predicted theoretically compared with the a-PC-p cells without the Al2O3 layer. Subsequently, the device performance under various temperatures is simulated, and the insertion of a charged Al2O3 layer obviously decreases the Pmax temperature coefficient from -0.336 % /℃ to -0.247 % /℃, which is analogous to that of Heterojunction with Intrinsic Thin layer (HIT) solar cell. The above results demonstrate a better temperature response for a-PC-p cells with a charged Al2O3 layer, paving a road for its potential application in high-efficiency and high thermal stability a-PC-p solar cells.


Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 110
Author(s):  
Soo Min Kim ◽  
Sanghoon Jung ◽  
Yoonkap Kim ◽  
Junhee Kim

As the importance of the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) increases in the solar cell industry, the demand for high-efficiency solar cells is rapidly increasing. Typically, p-type passivated emitter rear contact (PERC) solar cells are the most commonly used in the industry, and their efficiency is approximately 22–23%. P-type solar cells are reported to exhibit a light-induced degradation (LID) phenomenon, in which their output constantly decreases during power generation under solar radiation, and the output significantly reduces as their reference efficiency increases. Ultra-high-efficiency solar cells, which are on high demand, have a considerable output reduction due to the LID phenomenon; hence, technologies to prevent the LID phenomenon are required. However, research on this phenomenon has not been conducted because there is no method to transfer heat to solar cells inside the encapsulant when the modules are produced. In this study, a regeneration state was formed by remotely heating solar cells without damaging the encapsulant of the solar cell module. This was accomplished by using a heating method based on an induction magnetic field. A half-bridge resonance circuit was used to apply the induction magnetic field, and the temperature of the solar cell was controlled by adjusting the magnitude of the current flowing through the coil. To determine whether only the solar cell was heated, the temperature distribution inside the module was analyzed using an IR camera. The minority carrier lifetime was examined by real-time observation of the open-circuit voltage pattern of the solar cell. Finally, the observed real-time open-circuit voltage data were used, and dynamic simulation of the regeneration process was applied to analyze the LID activation energy generated in the regeneration process of the solar cell module. In conclusion, research was conducted on applying the regeneration state to prevent the LID phenomenon in the solar-cell-module stage, and the LID activation energy of the solar cell module was extracted. Based on this, a nondestructive degradation prevention technology for the solar cell module was developed.


2016 ◽  
Vol 136 (10) ◽  
pp. 1420-1421
Author(s):  
Yusuke Tanaka ◽  
Yuji Nagaoka ◽  
Hyeon-Gu Jeon ◽  
Masaharu Fujii ◽  
Haruo Ihori

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