Thermal Annealing Recovery and Saturation of Light-Induced Degradation of Amorphous Silicon Alloy Solar Cells with Different Microvoid Density

1993 ◽  
Vol 297 ◽  
Author(s):  
X. Xu ◽  
J. Yang ◽  
S. Guha
Keyword(s):  
Solar Cells ◽  
Amorphous Silicon ◽  
Thermal Annealing ◽  
Deposition Rate ◽  
Annealing Time ◽  
Light Exposure ◽  
Silicon Alloy ◽  
Long Duration ◽  
Careful Comparison ◽  
Sun Light

We have studied the light-induced degradation and thermal annealing recovery of amorphous silicon alloy solar cells with different microvoid density in the intrinsic layer. The microvoid density was changed by altering the deposition rate. The experiments show that cells with higher microvoid density need longer annealing time to recover after prolonged light-soaking. As a consequence, cells with high density of microvoids do not seem to saturate even after long duration of light exposure. The cells with high microvoid density also show much lower degraded efficiency. A careful comparison between degradations caused by accelerated and one-sun light soaking and subsequent annealing recovery indicates that the defects created in the two cases have different nature.

Improved Stability Against Light-Exposure in Deuterated Amorphous Silicon Alloy Solar Cells

1997 ◽  
Vol 467 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Sugiyama ◽  
J. Yang ◽  
S. Guha
Keyword(s):  
Solar Cells ◽  
Low Temperature ◽  
Amorphous Silicon ◽  
Light Exposure ◽  
The Other ◽  
Silicon Alloy ◽  
Improved Stability ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Microstructure Of The Material ◽  
Hydrogen Effusion

ABSTRACTWe have studied light-induced degradation in hydrogenated and deuterated amorphous silicon alloy solar cells in which intrinsic layers were deposited by using SiH4+H2 and SiD4+D2 gas mixtures respectively. Replacing hydrogen with deuterium in the intrinsic layer of the cell improves stability against light exposure. On the other hand, cells in which intrinsic layers were deposited from SiD4+H2 and SiH4+D2 do not show any improvement in stability. This result shows that improved stability in deuterated cell does not originate from simple replacement of hydrogen with deuterium. From deuterium/hydrogen effusion measurements, we found similar effusion at low temperature (400 °C) in both deuterated film and hydrogenated film prepared with heavy dilution. The latter film was shown to have oriented microstructure which was correlated with higher stability. This correlation strongly indicates that microstructure of the material plays a key role in improving the stability.

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.

A novel design for amorphous silicon alloy solar cells

1988 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Guha ◽  
J. Yang ◽  
A. Pawlikiewicz ◽  
T. Glatfelter ◽  
R. Ross ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Solar Cells ◽  
Amorphous Silicon ◽  
Silicon Alloy ◽  
Novel Design

Band‐gap profiling for improving the efficiency of amorphous silicon alloy solar cells

1989 ◽  
Vol 54 (23) ◽  
pp. 2330-2332 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Guha ◽  
J. Yang ◽  
A. Pawlikiewicz ◽  
T. Glatfelter ◽  
R. Ross ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Solar Cells ◽  
Amorphous Silicon ◽  
Band Gap ◽  
Silicon Alloy

a-SiGe:H Alloy and its Application to Tandem-Type Solar Cell

1986 ◽  
Vol 70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Yukimoto ◽  
M. Aiga
Keyword(s):  
Solar Cells ◽  
Solar Cell ◽  
Amorphous Silicon ◽  
Cell Size ◽  
Conversion Efficiency ◽  
High Conversion ◽  
High Conversion Efficiency ◽  
Silicon Alloy

ABSTRACTAmorphous SiGe:H alloy is the key material in achieving high conversion efficiency with tandem-type amorphous silicon alloy solar cells. Status and issues for this key material are discussed, and efforts made to irprove it are reviewed to obtain directions for higher quality a-SiGe:H alloys. An application of the improved alloy to tandem-type solar cell to achieve 9.6% efficiency for the cell size of 100 cm2 is reported.

Amorphous Silicon-Carbon Alloys for Solar Cells

1993 ◽  
Vol 297 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuan-Min Li
Keyword(s):  
Solar Cells ◽  
Solar Cell ◽  
Amorphous Silicon ◽  
Light Exposure ◽  
Open Circuit ◽  
Hydrogen Dilution ◽  
Silicon Carbon ◽  
Hydrogenated Amorphous ◽  
Substrate Temperatures ◽  
Open Circuit Voltages

Recent efforts to optimize undoped, glow-discharge hydrogenated amorphous silicon-carbon alloys (a-SiC:H) with 1.9-2.0 eV bandgaps for solar cell applications are reviewed. Hydrogen dilution coupled with relatively low substrate temperatures (below 200 °C) have led to great improvements in the optical and phototransport properties of a-SiC:H films. The issue of alternative carbon feedstocks other than methane (CH4) will be explored. The improved a-SiC:H alloys have resulted in solar cells with high open circuit voltages (V∞ > 1.0 volt) and high fill factors (> 0.7). Further, the a-SiC:H solar cell instability upon prolonged light exposure has been much reduced. Correlation will be made between the properties of bulk undoped a-SiC:H films and the performance of p-i-nsingle junction solar cells using corresponding a-SiC:H thin i-layers.

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