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

2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
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.

Analysis of short circuit current gains by an anti-reflective textured cover on silicon thin film solar cells

2012 ◽  
Vol 21 (8) ◽  
pp. 1672-1681 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolin Ulbrich ◽  
Andreas Gerber ◽  
Ko Hermans ◽  
Andreas Lambertz ◽  
Uwe Rau
Keyword(s):  
Thin Film ◽  
Solar Cells ◽  
Short Circuit ◽  
Short Circuit Current ◽  
Thin Film Solar Cells ◽  
Silicon Thin Film

Optics in Thin-film Silicon Solar Cells with Integrated Lamellar Gratings

2009 ◽  
Vol 1153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rahul Dewan ◽  
Darin Madzharov ◽  
Andrey Raykov ◽  
Dietmar Knipp
Keyword(s):  
Thin Film ◽  
Solar Cells ◽  
Light Trapping ◽  
Short Circuit ◽  
Incident Light ◽  
Short Circuit Current ◽  
Microcrystalline Silicon ◽  
Silicon Thin Film ◽  
Diffracted Waves ◽  
Difference Time

AbstractLight trapping in microcrystalline silicon thin-film solar cells with integrated lamellar gratings was investigated. The influence of the grating dimensions on the short circuit current and quantum efficiency was investigated by numerical simulation of Maxwell’s equations by a Finite Difference Time Domain approach. For the red and infrared part of the optical spectrum, the grating structure leads to scattering and higher order diffraction resulting in an increased absorption of the incident light in the silicon thin-film solar cell. By studying the diffracted waves arising from lamellar gratings, simple design rules for optimal grating dimensions were derived.

scholarly journals Advances in Evaporated Solid-Phase-Crystallized Poly-Si Thin-Film Solar Cells on Glass (EVA)

2008 ◽  
Vol 2008 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
O. Kunz ◽  
Z. Ouyang ◽  
J. Wong ◽  
A. G. Aberle
Keyword(s):  
Thin Film ◽  
Solar Cells ◽  
Solid Phase ◽  
Short Circuit ◽  
Short Circuit Current ◽  
Device Fabrication ◽  
Thin Film Solar Cells ◽  
Large Area ◽  
Silicon Thin Film ◽  
Numerical Device

Polycrystalline silicon thin-film solar cells on glass obtained by solid-phase crystallization (SPC) of PECVD-deposited a-Si precursor diodes are capable of producing large-area devices with respectable photovoltaic efficiency. This has not yet been shown for equivalent devices made from evaporated Si precursor diodes (“EVA” solar cells). We demonstrate that there are two main problems for the metallization of EVA solar cells: (i) shunting of the p-n junction when the air-side metal contact is deposited; (ii) formation of the glass-side contact with low contact resistance and without shunting. We present a working metallization scheme and first current-voltage and quantum efficiency results of 2 cm2 EVA solar cells. The best planar EVA solar cells produced so far achieved fill factors up to 64%, series resistance values in the range of 4-5 Ωcm2, short-circuit current densities of up to 15.6 mA/cm2, and efficiencies of up to 4.25%. Using numerical device simulation, a diffusion length of about 4 μm is demonstrated for such devices. These promising results confirm that the device fabrication scheme presented in this paper is well suited for the metallization of EVA solar cells and that the electronic properties of evaporated SPC poly-Si materials are sufficient for PV applications.

scholarly journals Improved Metal Oxide Electrode for CIGS Solar Cells: The Application of an AgOX Wetting Layer

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nils Neugebohrn ◽  
Norbert Osterthun ◽  
Maximilian Götz-Köhler ◽  
Kai Gehrke ◽  
Carsten Agert
Keyword(s):  
Thin Film ◽  
Solar Cells ◽  
Metal Oxide ◽  
Metal Layer ◽  
Short Circuit ◽  
Short Circuit Current ◽  
Thin Film Solar Cells ◽  
Wetting Layer ◽  
Transparent Conductive Oxides ◽  
Effective Measure

AbstractOxide/metal/oxide (OMO) layer stacks are used to replace transparent conductive oxides as front contact of thin-film solar cells. These multilayer structures not only reduce the overall thickness of the contact, but can be used for colouring of the cells utilizing interference effects. However, sheet resistance and parasitic absorption, both of which depend heavily on the metal layer, should be further reduced to reach higher efficiencies in the solar cells. In this publication, AgOX wetting layers were applied to OMO electrodes to improve the performance of Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) thin-film solar cells. We show that an AgOX wetting layer is an effective measure to increase transmission and conductivity of the multilayer electrode. With the presented approach, we were able to improve the short-circuit current density by 18% from 28.8 to 33.9 mA/cm2 with a metal (Ag) film thickness as low as 6 nm. Our results highlight that OMO electrodes can be an effective replacement for conventional transparent conductive oxides like aluminium-doped zinc oxide on thin-film solar cells.

scholarly journals 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

2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Pei-Ling Chen ◽  
Po-Wei Chen ◽  
Min-Wen Hsiao ◽  
Cheng-Hang Hsu ◽  
Chuang-Chuang Tsai
Keyword(s):  
Thin Film ◽  
Solar Cells ◽  
Spectral Response ◽  
Wavelength Region ◽  
Thin Film Solar Cells ◽  
Window Layer ◽  
Efficiency Gain ◽  
Silicon Thin Film ◽  
Single Junction ◽  
Wide Range

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%.

Nanoimprint Photonic Crystal Film Enhanced Light-Trapping in a-Si Thin Film Solar Cells

2011 ◽  
Vol 110-116 ◽  
pp. 497-502
Author(s):  
Wei Ping Chu ◽  
Fuh Shyang Juang ◽  
Jian Shian Lin ◽  
Tien Chai Lin ◽  
Chen Wei Kuo
Keyword(s):  
Thin Film ◽  
Solar Cells ◽  
Photonic Crystals ◽  
Current Density ◽  
Light Trapping ◽  
Short Circuit ◽  
Short Circuit Current ◽  
Short Circuit Current Density ◽  
Thin Film Solar Cells ◽  
Uv Lamp

We utilize photonic crystals to enhanced lighttrapping in a-Si:H thin film solar cells. The photonic crystals effectively increase Haze ratio of glass and decrease reflectance of a-Si:H solar cells. Therefore, increase the photon path length to obtain maximum absorption of the absorber layer. The photonic crystals can effective in harvesting weakly absorbing photons with energies just above the band edge. We were spin coated UV glue on the glass, and then nanoimprint of photonic crystals pattern. Finally, used UV lamp was curing of UV glue on the glass. When the 45∘composite photonic crystals structures, the haze was increase to 87.9 %, resulting the short circuit current density and efficiency increasing to 13.96 mA/cm2 and 7.39 %, respectively. Because 45∘composite photonic crystals easy to focus on the point of light lead to the effect of scattering can’t achieve. So, we designs 90∘V-shaped photonic crystals structures to increase scattering. When the 90∘V-shaped photonic crystals structures, the Haze was increase to 93.9 %. Therefore, the short circuit current density and Efficiency increasing to 15.62 mA/cm2 and 8.09 %, respectively. We observed ~35 % enhancement of the short-circuit current density and ~31 % enhancement of the conversion efficiency.

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