Efficiency enhancement of amorphous silicon p-i-n solar cells by LP-CVD ZnO

Meier, J.; Kroll, U.; Dubail, S.; Golay, S.; Faÿ, S.; Dubail, J.; Shah, A.

doi:10.1109/pvsc.2000.915991

Cited by 26 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…5) as compared to SnO 2 (type U) [17]. Our amorphous silicon p-i-n solar cells on LP-CVD ZnO TCO have independently been confirmed by NREL with an initial efficiency of 10.6% (1 cm 2 ) and a high open circuit voltage of 900 mV.…”

Section: Light-trappingsupporting

confidence: 62%

Microcrystalline silicon and the impact on micromorph tandem solar cells

Meier

Dubail

Golay

et al. 2002

Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells

113

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Intrinsic microcrystalline silicon opens up new ways for silicon thin-film multi-junction solar cells, the most promising being the ''micromorph'' tandem concept. The microstructure of entirely microcrystalline p-i-n solar cells is investigated by transmission electron microscopy. By applying low pressure chemical vapor deposition ZnO as front TCO in p-i-n configurated micromorph tandems, a remarkable reduction of the microcrystalline bottom cell thickness is achieved. Micromorph tandem cells with high open circuit voltages of 1.413 V could be accomplished. A stabilized efficiency of around 11% is estimated for micromorph tandems consisting of 2 mm thick bottom cells. Applying the monolithic series connection, a micromorph module (23.3 cm 2 ) of 9.1% stabilized efficiency could be obtained.

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Section: Light-trappingsupporting

confidence: 62%

Microcrystalline silicon and the impact on micromorph tandem solar cells

Meier

Dubail

Golay

et al. 2002

Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells

113

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“…The approximately 400 nm thick ilayer was deposited at a silane gas phase concentration close to the a-Si:H/lc-Si:H transition. The underlying substrate material is a sodium-free AF-45 glass substrate coated with ZnO deposited by low pressure chemical vapor deposition, the latter being a rough transparent conductive oxide used for solar cells applications [8]. An AFM height scan (scan range of 1 lm, 512 · 512 measurement points) of the substrate (here solar-grade LPCVD ZnO) has been used as a discrete height map for the computer simulations.…”

Section: Growth Experiments and Measurementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Simulation of the growth dynamics of amorphous and microcrystalline silicon

Bailat

Vallat-Sauvain

Vallat

et al. 2004

Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids

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The qualitative description of the major microstructure characteristics of microcrystalline silicon is achieved through a threedimensional discrete dynamical growth model. The model is based on three fundamental processes that determine surface morphology: (1) random deposition of particles, (2) local relaxation and (3) desorption. In this model, the incoming particle reaching the growing surface takes on a state variable representing a particular way of being incorporated into the material. The state variable is attributed according to a simple selection rule that is characteristic of the model. This model reproduces most of the features of the complex microstructure of microcrystalline silicon: transition from amorphous to crystalline phase, conical shape of the crystalline domains, crystalline fraction evolution with respect to the layer thickness and roughness evolution versus layer thickness.

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“…In order to fill this gap, we base our understanding on previous work showing that the morphology observed at the surface of LP-MOCVD ZnO results from a combination of both nucleation-and kinetic-driven phenomena [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17]. In fact, it was demonstrated that temperature induced inter-facet diffusion could lead to the selection of different crystallographic PO [8].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In fact, due to the relatively small values of the amorphous and microcrystalline silicon (a-Si:H and mc-Si:H) absorption coefficients, the optical path of the light inside the active layers of Si PV cells has to be increased to enhance the photo-generated current. One possible solution to achieve this goal is to use nano-textured TCO surfaces [9]. In contrast to LP-MOCVD layers, sputtered ZnO films require one additional wet etching process step to achieve a rough lightscattering surface [5].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%