scholarly journals High Efficiency Amorphous and Microcrystalline Silicon Based Double-Junction Solar Cells made with Very-High-Frequency Glow Discharge

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arindam Banerjee
Keyword(s):  
Solar Cells ◽  
Glow Discharge ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
High Efficiency ◽  
Microcrystalline Silicon ◽  
Very High Frequency ◽  
Double Junction ◽  
Silicon Based ◽  
Very High

Microcrystalline Silicon Solar Cell Deposited Using Modified Very-High-Frequency Glow Discharge and Its Application in Multi-junction Structures

2004 ◽  
Vol 808 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guozhen Yue ◽  
Baojie Yan ◽  
Jessica M. Owens ◽  
Jeffrey Yang ◽  
Subhendu Guha
Keyword(s):  
Solar Cells ◽  
Glow Discharge ◽  
Triple Junction ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Active Area ◽  
Microcrystalline Silicon ◽  
Very High Frequency ◽  
Bottom Cell ◽  
Junction Structure ◽  
Very High

ABSTRACTWe have used the modified very-high-frequency glow discharge technique to deposit hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon (m c-Si:H) solar cells at high rates for use as the bottom cell in a multi-junction structure. We have investigated c-Si:H single-junction, a-Si:H/ c-Si:H double-junction, and a-Si:H/a-SiGe:H/m c-Si:H triple-junction solar cells and achieved initial active area efficiencies of 7.7%, 12.5%, and 12.4%, respectively. Issues related to improving material properties and device structures are addressed. By taking advantage of a lower degradation in m c-Si:H than a-Si:H and a-SiGe:H alloys, we have minimized the light induced effect in multi-junction structures by designing a bottom-cell-limited current mismatching. As a result, we have obtained a stable active-area cell efficiency of 11.2% with an a-Si:H/a-SiGe:H/μ c-Si:H triple-junction structure.

Hydrogenated Microcrystalline Silicon Solar Cells Made with Modified Very-High-Frequency Glow Discharge

2002 ◽  
Vol 715 ◽  
Author(s):  
Baojie Yan ◽  
Kenneth Lord ◽  
Jeffrey Yang ◽  
Subhendu Guha ◽  
Jozef Smeets ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Solar Cells ◽  
Glow Discharge ◽  
Short Circuit ◽  
Short Circuit Current ◽  
Microcrystalline Silicon ◽  
Very High Frequency ◽  
Area Efficiency ◽  
Double Junction ◽  
Stability Data ◽  
The Stability

AbstractHydrogenated microcrystalline silicon (μc-Si:H) solar cells are made using modified veryhigh-frequency (MVHF) glow discharge at deposition rates ∼3-5 Å/s. We find that the solar cells made under certain conditions show degradation in air without intentional light soaking. The short-circuit current drops significantly within a few days after deposition, and then stabilizes. We believe that post-deposition oxygen diffusion along the grain boundaries or cracks is the origin of the ambient degradation. By optimizing the deposition conditions, we have found a plasma regime in which the μc-Si:H solar cells do not show such ambient degradation. The best a-Si:H/μc-Si:H double-junction solar cell has an initial active-area efficiency of 10.9% and is stable against the ambient degradation. The stability data of the solar cells after light soaking are also presented.

High Rate Deposition of Amorphous Silicon Based Solar Cells using Modified Very High Frequency Glow Discharge

2007 ◽  
Vol 989 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guozhen Yue ◽  
Baojie Yan ◽  
Jeffrey Yang ◽  
Subhendu Guha
Keyword(s):  
Solar Cells ◽  
Glow Discharge ◽  
Amorphous Silicon ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Cell Performance ◽  
High Rate ◽  
Active Area ◽  
Very High Frequency ◽  
Single Junction ◽  
Very High

AbstractWe report our recent progress on high rate deposition of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) and silicon germanium (a-SiGe:H) based n-i-p solar cells. The intrinsic a-Si:H and a-SiGe:H layers were deposited using modified very high frequency (MVHF) glow discharge. We found that both the initial cell performance and stability of the MVHF a-Si:H single-junction cells are independent of the deposition rate up to 15 Å/s. The average initial and stable active-area cell efficiencies of 10.0% and 8.5%, respectively, were obtained for the cells on textured Ag/ZnO coated stainless steel substrates. a-SiGe:H single-junction cells were also optimized at a rate of ~10 Å/s. The cell performance is similar to those made using conventional radio frequency technique at 3 Å/s. By combining the optimized component cells made at 10 Å/s, an a-Si:H/a-SiGe:H double-junction solar cell with an initial active-area efficiency of 11.7% was achieved.

On the Way Towards High Efficiency Thin Film Silicon Solar Cells by the “Micromorph” Concept

1996 ◽  
Vol 420 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Meier ◽  
P. Torres ◽  
R. Platz ◽  
S. Dubail ◽  
U. Kroll ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Solar Cells ◽  
High Efficiency ◽  
Cell Structure ◽  
Microcrystalline Silicon ◽  
Very High Frequency ◽  
First Case ◽  
Efficiency Performance ◽  
Compensation Technique ◽  
Similar Cost ◽  
Very High

AbstractRecently the authors have demonstrated that compensated or “midgap” intrinsic hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon (μc-Si:H), as deposited by the Very High Frequency Glow Discharge (VHF-GD) technique, can be used as active layer in p-i-n solar cells. Compared to amorphous silicon (a-Si:H), μc-Si:H was found to have a significantly lower energy bandgap of around 1 eV. The combination of both materials (two absorbers with different gap energies) leads to a “real” tandem cell structure, which was called the “micromorph” cell. Micromorph cells can make better use of the sun's spectrum in contrast to conventional double-stacked a-Si:H / a-Si:H tandems.The present study will show that the compensation technique (involving boron “microdoping”) used sofar for obtaining midgap μc-Si:H can be replaced by the application of a gas purifier. The use of this gas purifier has a beneficial influence on the transport properties of undoped intrinsic μc-Si:H. By this procedure, increased cell efficiencies in both, single microcrystalline silicon p-i-n as well as micromorph cells could be obtained. In the first case 7.7 % stable, and in the second case 13.1% initial efficiency could be achieved under AM1.5 conditions. Preliminary light-soaking experiments performed on the tandem cells indicate that microcrystalline silicon could contribute to an enhancement of the stable efficiency performance. Micromorph cell manufacturing is fully compatible to a-Si:H technology; however, its deposition rate is still too low. With further increase of the rate, a similar cost reduction potential like in a-Si:H technology can be extrapolated.

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