We demonstrate high-efficiency thin-film silicon solar cells with transparent nanotextured front electrodes fabricated via ultraviolet nanoimprint lithography on glass substrates. By replicating the morphology of state-of-the-art nanotextured zinc oxide front electrodes known for their exceptional light trapping properties, conversion efficiencies of up to 12.0% are achieved for micromorph tandem junction cells. Excellent light incoupling results in a remarkable summed short-circuit current density of 25.9 mA/cm 2 for amorphous top cell and microcrystalline bottom cell thicknesses of only 250 and 1100 nm, respectively. As efforts to maximize light harvesting continue, our study validates nanoimprinting as a versatile tool to investigate nanophotonic effects of a large variety of nanostructures directly on device performance.

Lower absorption, lower refractive index, and tunable resistance are three advantages of amorphous silicon oxide containing nanocrystalline silicon grains (nc-SiOx) compared to microcrystalline silicon (μc-Si), when used as a p-type layer in μc-Si thin-film solar cells. We show that p-nc-SiOx with its particular nanostructure increases μc-Si cell efficiency by reducing reflection and parasitic absorption losses depending on the roughness of the front electrode. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the p-nc-SiOx reduces the detrimental effects of the roughness on the electrical characteristics, and significantly increases μc-Si and Micromorph cell efficiency on substrates until now considered too rough for thin-film silicon solar cells.

Nanometer wide silicon filaments embedded in an amorphous silicon oxide matrix are grown at low temperatures over a large area. The optical and electrical properties of these mixed-phase nanomaterials can be tuned independently, allowing for advanced light management in high efficiency thin-film silicon solar cells and for band-gap tuning via quantum confinement in third-generation photovoltaics.

This short communication highlights our latest results towards high-efficiency microcrystalline silicon single-junction solar cells. By combining adequate cell design with high-quality material, a new world record efficiency was achieved for single-junction microcrystalline silicon solar cell, with a conversion efficiency of 10.69%, independently confirmed at ISE CalLab PV Cells. Such significant conversion efficiency could be achieved with only 1.8 mm of Si.

The deposition of thin-film silicon solar cells on highly textured substrates results in improved light trapping in the cell. However, the growth of silicon layers on rough substrates can often lead to undesired current drains, degrading performance and reliability of the cells. We show that the use of a silicon oxide interlayer between the active area and the back contact of the cell permits in such cases to improve the electrical properties. Relative increases of up to 7.5% of fill factor and of 6.8% of conversion efficiency are shown for amorphous silicon cells deposited on highly textured substrates, together with improved yield and low-illumination performance.

We propose the use of transparent replicated random nanostructures fabricated via nanoimprinting on glass as next-generation superstrates for thin film silicon solar cells. We validate our approach by demonstrating short-circuit current densities for p-i-n hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon solar cells as high as for state-of-the-art nanotextured ZnO front electrodes. Our methodology opens exciting possibilities to integrate a large variety of nanostructures into p-i-n solar cells and allows to systematically investigate the influence of interface morphology on the optical and electronic properties of the device in order to further improve device performance.

To further lower production costs and increase conversion efficiency of thin‐film silicon solar modules, challenges are the deposition of high‐quality microcrystalline silicon (μc‐Si:H) at an increased rate and on textured substrates that guarantee efficient light trapping. A qualitative model that explains how plasma processes act on the properties of μc‐Si:H and on the related solar cell performance is presented, evidencing the growth of two different material phases. The first phase, which gives signature for bulk defect density, can be obtained at high quality over a wide range of plasma process parameters and dominates cell performance on flat substrates. The second phase, which consists of nanoporous 2D regions, typically appears when the material is grown on substrates with inappropriate roughness, and alters or even dominates the electrical performance of the device. The formation of this second material phase is shown to be highly sensitive to deposition conditions and substrate geometry, especially at high deposition rates. This porous material phase is more prone to the incorporation of contaminants present in the plasma during film deposition and is reported to lead to solar cells with instabilities with respect to humidity exposure and post‐deposition oxidation. It is demonstrated how defective zones influence can be mitigated by the choice of suitable plasma processes and silicon sub‐oxide doped layers, for reaching high efficiency stable thin film silicon solar cells.

No abstract