The “Micromorph” Cell: a New Way to High-Efficiency-Low-Temperature Crystalline Silicon Thin-Film Cell Manufacturing?

Keppner, H.; Torres, P.; Meier, J.; Platz, R.; Fischer, D.; Kroll, U.; Dubail, S.; Selvan, J. A. Anna; Vaucher, N. Pellaton; Ziegler, Y.; Tscharner, R.; Hof, C.; Beck, N.; Goetz, M.; Pernet, P.; Goerlitzer, M.; Wyrsch, Nicolas; Veuille, J.; Cuperus, J.; Shah, A.; Pohl, J.

doi:10.1557/proc-452-865

Cited by 19 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 19 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…[24,25] A strategy to effectively mitigate TCO-related optical losses is the integration of a p/n recombination junction as widely used in III-V semiconductor and thin-film silicon tandem solar cells. [27,30] By adding either trimethylboron or phosphine to the silane/hydrogen mixture in the reactor, highly doped nc-Si:H can be obtained, [31] which is required for recombination junctions exhibiting low resistance and narrow-potential energy barrier widths. [29] A particularly interesting low-temperature (<200 °C) approach lies in using hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si:H), deposited by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) employing silane gas with high hydrogen dilution.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A first demonstration of a silicon‐based recombination junction for perovskite/silicon tandem cells was made by Mailoa et al, on a diffused‐junction c‐Si solar cell, although with a limited efficiency of 13.7% and requiring a high‐temperature annealing step that is not compatible with SHJ cells . A particularly interesting low‐temperature (<200 °C) approach lies in using hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon (nc‐Si:H), deposited by plasma‐enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) employing silane gas with high hydrogen dilution . By adding either trimethylboron or phosphine to the silane/hydrogen mixture in the reactor, highly doped nc‐Si:H can be obtained, which is required for recombination junctions exhibiting low resistance and narrow‐potential energy barrier widths.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Improved Optics in Monolithic Perovskite/Silicon Tandem Solar Cells with a Nanocrystalline Silicon Recombination Junction

Sahli

Kamino

Werner

et al. 2017

Advanced Energy Materials

202

264

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells are increasingly recognized as promising candidates for next‐generation photovoltaics with performance beyond the single‐junction limit at potentially low production costs. Current designs for monolithic tandems rely on transparent conductive oxides as an intermediate recombination layer, which lead to optical losses and reduced shunt resistance. An improved recombination junction based on nanocrystalline silicon layers to mitigate these losses is demonstrated. When employed in monolithic perovskite/silicon heterojunction tandem cells with a planar front side, this junction is found to increase the bottom cell photocurrent by more than 1 mA cm−2. In combination with a cesium‐based perovskite top cell, this leads to tandem cell power‐conversion efficiencies of up to 22.7% obtained from J–V measurements and steady‐state efficiencies of up to 22.0% during maximum power point tracking. Thanks to its low lateral conductivity, the nanocrystalline silicon recombination junction enables upscaling of monolithic perovskite/silicon heterojunction tandem cells, resulting in a 12.96 cm2 monolithic tandem cell with a steady‐state efficiency of 18%.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improved Optics in Monolithic Perovskite/Silicon Tandem Solar Cells with a Nanocrystalline Silicon Recombination Junction

Sahli

Kamino

Werner

et al. 2017

Advanced Energy Materials

202

264

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Indeed, the deposition rate of p c-Si:H became faster in recent days [33]. However, taking things simply, Rd should be at least 10 times faster than a-SiGe:H in order to fabricate its thicker photovoltaic layer in mass production.…”

Section: Productivitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of Stable a-Si/a-SiGe Tandem Solar Cell Submodules Deposited by a Very High Hydrogen Dilution at Low Temperature

et al. 1998

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The world's highest stabilized efficiency of 9.5% (light-soaked and measured by the Japan Quality Assurance Organization (JQA)) for an a-Si/a-SiGe superstrate-type solar cell submodule (area: 1200 cm 2 ) has been achieved. This value was obtained by investigating the effects of very-high hydrogen dilution of up to 54:1 (= H 2 : SiH 4 ) on hydrogenated amorphous silicon germanium (a-SiGe:H) deposition at a low substrate temperature (Ts). It was found that deterioration of the film properties of a-SiGe:H when Ts decreases under low hydrogen dilution conditions can be suppressed by the high hydrogen dilution. This finding probably indicates that the energy provided by hydrogen radicals substitutes for the lost energy caused by the decrease in Ts and that sufficient surface reactions can occur. In addition, results from an estimation of the hydrogen and germanium contents of a-SiGe:H suggest the occurrence of some kinds of structural variations by the high hydrogen dilution. A guideline for optimization of a-SiGe:H films for solar cells can be presented on the basis of the experimental results. The possibility of a-SiGe:H as a narrow gap material for a-Si stacked solar cells in contrast with microcrystalline silicon (ju c-Si:H) will also be discussed from various standpoints. At present, a-SiGe:H is considered to have an advantage over /1 c-Si:H.

show abstract

“…Hydrogenated amorphous (a‐Si:H) and microcrystalline ( μ c‐Si:H) silicon are well suited for combination in a tandem solar cell . An essential requirement for high efficiency is a good current matching as the cell with lower current limits the whole device.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental and simulation study of thin film silicon solar cells with intermediate reflector

Ostertag

Ramsteiner

Schmidt

et al. 2013

Prog. Photovolt: Res. Appl.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Optical and electrical simulations were carried out for thin film silicon solar tandem cells with intermediate reflector layer (IRL) between top and bottom cell and compared with experimental external quantum efficiency and current voltage characteristics results. Reference data were collected from a series of tandem cells with different thicknesses of the top cell absorber layer (160–240 nm), the bottom cell absorber layer (1750–2100 nm), and the transparent conductive oxides based IRL (10–80 nm). It turned out that for capturing correctly the influence of the IRL on the light management as a function of the IRL thickness, the conventional semicoherent approach is not sufficient. Whereas the optical properties of a very thin IRL are governed by interference effects that are best calculated using a fully coherent model, increasingly thicker IRL show a more and more incoherent behavior. By taking into account, the interface morphology and angular light distribution within the cell stack an algorithm for the effective IRL reflectivity was proposed that explains the experimental findings very well. The consecutive electrical simulations were carried out with the device simulator ASA. The dependence of short circuit current density jsc and fill factor FF on the thickness dIRL of the IRL is in qualitative agreement between simulation and experiment showing coincident extrema in jsc(dIRL) and FF(dIRL) at the current matching point. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

show abstract

The “Micromorph” Cell: a New Way to High-Efficiency-Low-Temperature Crystalline Silicon Thin-Film Cell Manufacturing?

Cited by 19 publications

References 19 publications

Improved Optics in Monolithic Perovskite/Silicon Tandem Solar Cells with a Nanocrystalline Silicon Recombination Junction

Improved Optics in Monolithic Perovskite/Silicon Tandem Solar Cells with a Nanocrystalline Silicon Recombination Junction

Development of Stable a-Si/a-SiGe Tandem Solar Cell Submodules Deposited by a Very High Hydrogen Dilution at Low Temperature

Experimental and simulation study of thin film silicon solar cells with intermediate reflector

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About