High-efficiency Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cells: A Review

Wolf, Stefaan De; Descoeudres, Antoine; Holman, Zachary C.; Ballif, Christophe

doi:10.1515/green-2011-0039

Cited by 108 publications

(128 citation statements)

References 94 publications

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“…An ongoing field of research in silicon heterojunction photovoltaics is the development of hole-selective contacts to Si to replace traditional homojunctions formed by diffusion doping. 475 An example of such device is a heterojunction between amorphous Si and crystalline Si in HIT cells ("heterojunction with intrinsic thin layer"). Wide gap p-type transition metal oxides such as MoO x and WO 3 have been reported as hole-selective contacts with high V OC , and transparent graphene and carbon nanotubes have been investigated as well.…”

Section: Additional Pv Applicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wide Band Gap Chalcogenide Semiconductors

et al. 2020

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Wide band gap semiconductors are essential for today's electronic devices and energy applications due to their high optical transparency, as well as controllable carrier concentration and electrical conductivity. There are many categories of materials that can be defined as wide band gap semiconductors. The most intensively investigated are transparent conductive oxides (TCOs) such as tin-doped indium oxide (ITO) and amorphous In-Ga-Zn-O (IGZO) used in displays, carbides (e.g. SiC) and nitrides (e.g. GaN) used in power electronics, as well as emerging halides (e.g. g-CuI) and 2D electronic materials (e.g. graphene) used in various optoelectronic devices. Compared to these prominent materials families, chalcogen-based (Ch = S, Se, Te) wide band gap semiconductors are less heavily investigated but stand out due to their propensity for ptype doping, high mobilities, high valence band positions (i.e. low ionization potentials), and broad applications in electronic devices such as CdTe solar cells. This manuscript provides a review of wide band gap chalcogenide semiconductors. First, we outline general materials design parameters of high performing transparent conductors, as well as the theoretical and experimental underpinnings of the corresponding research methods. We proceed to summarize progress in wide band gap (E G > 2 eV) chalcogenide materials, such as II-VI MCh binaries, CuMCh 2 chalcopyrites, Cu 3 MCh 4 sulvanites, mixed anion layered CuMCh(O,F), and 2D materials, among others, and discuss computational predictions of potential new candidates in this family, highlighting their optical and electrical properties. We finally review applications of chalcogenide wide band gap semiconductors, e.g. photovoltaic and photoelectrochemical solar cells, transparent transistors, and light emitting diodes, that employ wide band gap chalcogenides as either an active or passive layer. By examining, categorizing, and discussing prospective directions in wide band gap chalcogenides, this review aims to inspire continued research on this emerging class of transparent conductors and to enable future innovations for optoelectronic devices.

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Section: Additional Pv Applicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wide Band Gap Chalcogenide Semiconductors

et al. 2020

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“…As discussed earlier, introducing mc-Si:H doped layers into silicon heterojunction solar cells is one path to reducing visible parasitic absorption and thus increasing current [1,4]. Figure 4 investigates samples that are representative of silicon heterojunction solar cells: wafers passivated with 12-nm-thick (intrinsic) a-Si:H layers were coated with mc-Si:H layers, which, for this experiment, had thicknesses Figure 4a shows the UV Raman crystallinity and ellipsometry crystallinity measured for these samples, and Fig.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Substrate‐independent analysis of microcrystalline silicon thin films using UV Raman spectroscopy

Carpenter

Bailly

Boley³

et al. 2017

Physica Status Solidi (b)

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Surface‐sensitive UV Raman spectroscopy is used to analyze the crystallinity of silicon films less than 20 nm thick directly on silicon wafers. The 325‐nm excitation has a Raman detection thickness of only 13 nm within the silicon film, thus eliminating signal from the substrate. We demonstrate measured crystallinities of microcrystalline silicon thin films that are consistent with the microstructure observed in transmission electron microscopy. Comparison is also made to ellipsometry, which is less able to accurately determine crystallinity than UV Raman spectroscopy. The UV Raman approach is particularly useful for layers grown on substrates of the same material but with different microstructure, and can be extended to non‐silicon materials.

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“…Carrier concentrations at the c-Si surface p s and n s can be calculated by having known Ψ s , and subsequently, SRV as a function of excess carrier density can be obtained via Equation (2). In (i)a-Si:H/a-SiN x :H stack structure, Q aSi (Ψ S ) in Equation (12) needs to be replaced by Q fix , which is the positive fixed charge density of a-SiN x :H film.…”

Section: Modeling Of Interface Recombinationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental and simulated analysis of front versus all-back-contact silicon heterojunction solar cells: effect of interface and doped a-Si:H layer defects

Zhang

Das

Allen

et al. 2013

Prog. Photovolt: Res. Appl.

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Front silicon heterojunction and interdigitated all‐back‐contact silicon heterojunction (IBC‐SHJ) solar cells have the potential for high efficiency and low cost because of their good surface passivation, heterojunction contacts, and low temperature fabrication processes. The performance of both heterojunction device structures depends on the interface between the crystalline silicon (c‐Si) and intrinsic amorphous silicon [(i)a‐Si:H] layer, and the defects in doped a‐Si:H emitter or base contact layers. In this paper, effective minority carrier lifetimes of c‐Si using symmetric passivation structures were measured and analyzed using an extended Shockley–Read–Hall formalism to determine the input interface parameters needed for a successful 2D simulation of fabricated baseline solar cells. Subsequently, the performance of front silicon heterojunction and IBC‐SHJ devices was simulated to determine the influence of defects at the (i)a‐Si:H/c‐Si interface and in the doped a‐Si:H layers. For the baseline device parameters, the difference between the two device configurations is caused by the emitter/base contact gap recombination and the back surface geometry of IBC‐SHJ solar cell. This work provides a guide to the optimization of both types of SHJ device performance, predicting an IBC‐SHJ solar cell efficiency of 25% for realistic material parameters. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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High-efficiency Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cells: A Review

Cited by 108 publications

References 94 publications

Wide Band Gap Chalcogenide Semiconductors

Wide Band Gap Chalcogenide Semiconductors

Substrate‐independent analysis of microcrystalline silicon thin films using UV Raman spectroscopy

Experimental and simulated analysis of front versus all-back-contact silicon heterojunction solar cells: effect of interface and doped a-Si:H layer defects

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