Nanostructured Silicon Oxide Dual-Function Layer in Amorphous Silicon Based Solar Cells

2012 ◽  
Vol 1426 ◽  
pp. 69-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tining Su ◽  
Baojie Yan ◽  
Laura Sivec ◽  
Guozhen Yue ◽  
Jessica Owens-Mawson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Solar Cells ◽  
Glow Discharge ◽  
Amorphous Silicon ◽  
Silicon Germanium ◽  
Silicon Oxide ◽  
Cell Structure ◽  
Nanocrystalline Silicon ◽  
Index Of Refraction ◽  
Dual Function ◽  
P Cells

ABSTRACTWe report the results of using n-type hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon oxide alloy (nc-SiOx:H) in hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si:H) and amorphous silicon germanium alloy (a-SiGe:H) single-junction solar cells. We used VHF glow discharge to deposit nc-SiOx:H layers on various substrates for material characterizations. We also used VHF glow discharge to deposit the intrinsic layer in nc-Si:H solar cells. RF glow discharge was used for the deposition of the doped layers and the intrinsic layer in a-SiGe:H solar cells. Various substrates such as stainless steel (SS), Ag coated SS, and ZnO/Ag coated SS were used for different cell structures. We found that by using nc-SiOx:H to replace the ZnO and the a-Si:H n-layer in nc-Si:H solar cells, the cell structure is greatly simplified, while the cell performances remain nearly identical to those made using the conventional n-i-p structure on standard ZnO/Ag BR’s. Solar cells with nc-SiOx:H as the n layer directly deposited on textured Ag show similar quantum efficiency (QE) as the n-i-p cells on ZnO/Ag BRs. In both cases, QE is higher than that in the n-i-p cells made directly on Ag coated SS. This effect is probably caused by the shift of surface plasmon-polariton resonance frequency due to the difference in index of refraction of ZnO, nc-SiOx:H, and Si.

Light-Induced Degradation of Amorphous Silicon-Germanium Alloy Solar Cells Deposited at High Rates

1996 ◽  
Vol 420 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Sugiyama ◽  
X. Xu ◽  
J. Yang ◽  
S. Guha
Keyword(s):  
Solar Cells ◽  
Glow Discharge ◽  
Amorphous Silicon ◽  
Silicon Germanium ◽  
Ion Bombardment ◽  
Ir Absorption ◽  
Film Properties ◽  
Deposition Rates ◽  
Rf Glow Discharge ◽  
Amorphous Silicon Germanium

AbstractWe have studied the light-induced degradation of amorphous silicon-germanium (a-SiGe:H) alloy single-junction solar cells with high initial performance deposited at high rates. The intrinsic layers were deposited using microwave (MW) glow-discharge technique at deposition rates between 10 and 40 Å/s. The results show that light-induced degradation of the cells is higher than that of cells deposited at low rates using RF glow-discharge technique, and it does not strongly depend on deposition rates over this range. The total hydrogen content and the ratio of Si-H2, Ge-H, and Ge-H2 to Si-H bonding estimated by infrared (IR) absorption in films are correlated with the cell degradation results. We have also investigated the effect of ionbombardment on film properties. Films with low ion-bombardment are more porous and have higher composition of Si-H2 and Ge-H2 bonding. Appropriate ion-bombardment makes denser structure in a-SiGe:H alloy films deposited at high rates. This improves the cell performance as well.

Amorphous Silicon and Silicon Germanium Alloy Solar Cells Deposited by VHF at High Rates

2001 ◽  
Vol 664 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey Yang ◽  
Baojie Yan ◽  
Jozef Smeets ◽  
Subhendu Guha
Keyword(s):  
Solar Cells ◽  
Glow Discharge ◽  
Amorphous Silicon ◽  
Silicon Germanium ◽  
Buffer Layers ◽  
Very High Frequency ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Deposition Rates ◽  
Sige Alloy ◽  
Rf Glow Discharge

ABSTRACTA modified very high frequency (MVHF) glow discharge technique is used to deposit amorphous silicon (a-Si) and amorphous silicon-germanium (a-SiGe) alloy solar cells at high deposition rates. High quality a-Si alloy solar cells have been obtained by using MVHF at deposition rates up to ∼10 Å/s. The cells show good initial and stabilized efficiencies comparable to those obtained from conventional radio-frequency (RF) glow discharge deposition at low rates (∼1 Å/s). However, high quality a-SiGe alloy solar cells are more difficult to achieve at high deposition rates. In this paper, we present the progress made on a-SiGe alloy solar cells by incorporating bandgap profiling and appropriate buffer layers. Using the improved a-SiGe alloy solar cells, a-Si/a-SiGe tandem configurations are made and results presented.

Amorphous silicon-germanium alloy multilayers for solar cells

1988 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.P. Conde ◽  
V. Chu ◽  
S. Tanaka ◽  
D.S. Shen ◽  
S. Wagner
Keyword(s):  
Solar Cells ◽  
Amorphous Silicon ◽  
Silicon Germanium ◽  
Germanium Alloy ◽  
Amorphous Silicon Germanium

p-type nc-SiOx:H emitter layer for silicon heterojunction solar cells grown by rf-PECVD

2015 ◽  
Vol 1770 ◽  
pp. 7-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henriette A. Gatz ◽  
Yinghuan Kuang ◽  
Marcel A. Verheijen ◽  
Jatin K. Rath ◽  
Wilhelmus M.M. (Erwin) Kessels ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Solar Cells ◽  
Amorphous Silicon ◽  
Material Properties ◽  
Crystalline Silicon ◽  
Silicon Layer ◽  
Nanocrystalline Silicon ◽  
Emitter Layer ◽  
Heterojunction Solar Cells ◽  
P Type ◽  
Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cells

ABSTRACTSilicon heterojunction solar cells (SHJ) with thin intrinsic layers are well known for their high efficiencies. A promising way to further enhance their excellent characteristics is to enable more light to enter the crystalline silicon (c-Si) absorber of the cell while maintaining a simple cell configuration. Our approach is to replace the amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) emitter layer with a more transparent nanocrystalline silicon oxide (nc-SiOx:H) layer. In this work, we focus on optimizing the p-type nc-SiOx:H material properties, grown by radio frequency plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (rf PECVD), on an amorphous silicon layer.20 nm thick nanocrystalline layers were successfully grown on a 5 nm a-Si:H layer. The effect of different ratios of trimethylboron to silane gas flow rates on the material properties were investigated, yielding an optimized material with a conductivity in the lateral direction of 7.9×10-4 S/cm combined with a band gap of E04 = 2.33 eV. Despite its larger thickness as compared to a conventional window a-Si:H p-layer, the novel layer stack of a-Si:H(i)/nc-SiOx:H(p) shows significantly enhanced transmission compared to the stack with a conventional a-Si:H(p) emitter. Altogether, the chosen material exhibits promising characteristics for implementation in SHJ solar cells.

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