Si tandem solar cells are attractive for new applications such as photovoltaic-powered vehicles because of their high-efficiency and low-cost potential. In particular, III-V/Si tandem solar cells have higher efficiency potential compared to perovskite/Si and other Si tandem solar cells. Although the direct growth of III-V layers on Si is very attractive for cost reduction and simple processing potential, high-quality growth of the III-V thin-film layer on Si is necessary. The paper discusses the effectiveness of the low-temperature growth of III-V layer on Si substrates for realizing low-density dislocations on Si substrates. Low dislocation density of less than 3 × 105 cm−2 in GaAs-on-Si by low-temperature growth is demonstrated in this study. According to our analytical results, this low dislocation density shows high potential efficiency of more than 33% and 38% for III-V/Si 2-junction and 3-junction tandem solar cells, respectively.
Si heterojunction solar cells were fabricated on p-type single-crystal Si (sc-Si) substrates using phosphorus-doped Si nanocrystals (Si-NCs) embedded in SiNx (Si-NCs/SiNx) films as emitters. The Si-NCs were formed by post-annealing of silicon-rich silicon nitride films deposited by electron cyclotron resonance chemical vapor deposition. We investigate the influence of the N/Si ratio in the Si-NCs/SiNx films on their electrical and optical properties, as well as the photovoltaic properties of the fabricated heterojunction devices. Increasing the nitrogen content enhances the optical gap E04 while deteriorating the electrical conductivity of the Si-NCs/SiNx film, leading to an increased short-circuit current density and a decreased fill factor of the heterojunction device. These trends could be interpreted by a bi-phase model which describes the Si-NCs/SiNx film as a mixture of a high-transparency SiNx phase and a low-resistivity Si-NC phase. A preliminary efficiency of 8.6% is achieved for the Si-NCs/sc-Si heterojunction solar cell.
Light harvesting by indium oxide nanowires (InO NWs) as an antireflection layer on multi‐crystalline silicon (mc‐Si) solar cells has been investigated. The low‐temperature growth of InO NWs was performed in electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) plasma with an O2–Ar system using indium nanocrystals as seed particles via the self‐catalyzed growth mechanism. The size‐dependence of antireflection properties of InO NWs was studied. A considerable enhancement in short‐circuit current (from 35.39 to 38.33 mA cm−2) without deterioration of other performance parameters is observed for mc‐Si solar cells coated with InO NWs.
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