Significantly decreased production times for a‐Si/µc‐Si tandem cells on texture‐etched ZnO:Al

Abstract

Several approaches that lead to shorter production times of a-Si/ mc-Si tandem cells are combined in this paper: high-rate sputtering of aluminum-doped zinc oxide, high-rate 40 MHz plasma deposition of microcrystalline silicon and reduced ilayer thicknesses. On standard lab-type texture-etched ZnO:Al, 1 cm 2 a-Si:H/mc-Si:H tandem test cells on a deposition area of 30 Â 30 cm 2 were made that showed an initial efficiency of 9.9%, whereas the total effective deposition time of intrinsic layers was only 22 min (15 min for the top cell and 7 min for the bottom cell). The silicon thickness is only 600 nm. On high-rate texture-etched ZnO:Al an efficiency of 9.4% initial was reached. Standard light-induced degradation experiments showed a degradation rate of only 5.5-7.9% after 1000 h. This regime of very short preparation times and relatively highstabilized efficiencies is highly interesting from the production point-of-view.

Amorphous silicon solar cells deposited with non-constant silane concentration

“…With these profiles average SCs below 4% still resulted in state-of-the-art solar cell performance. These solar cells with improved V oc are especially favorable for inclusion in tandem structures with decreased absorber thickness [22].…”

Silicon based tandem cells: novel photocathodes for hydrogen production

“…A detailed description of the silicon based tandem cells acting as photovoltaic devices and which were used for this study is given elsewhere in the literature. [21][22][23] The cells were used without any changes as described in the PVC research. A rough sketch of the device structure is shown in Fig.…”

Optical properties of Se or S-doped hydrogenated amorphous silicon thin films with annealing temperature and dopant concentration

“…The performance and light-soaking behavior of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) solar cells with absorber layers deposited under non-constant silane concentration, increased open-circuit voltage that is up to 40 mV higher than that of a conventional amorphous silicon solar cell at initial efficiencies above 9% [23,24]. Apart from solar cells, most studies on devices have focused on thin film transistors in which the gate metal is coated with an insulator, usually hydrogenated amorphous silicon nitride or silicon dioxide [25].…”