Thin-film polycrystalline silicon solar cells formed by flash lamp annealing of a-Si films

Endo, Yohei; Fujiwara, Tomoko; Ohdaira, Keisuke; Nishizaki, Shogo; Nishioka, Kensuke; Matsumura, Hideki

doi:10.1016/j.tsf.2010.03.008

Cited by 21 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…Although the actual operation of solar cells fabricated using the flash-lamp-crystallized (FLC) poly-Si films has been confirmed [14], their performance is insufficient at present. One approach to improve solar cell properties is to decrease defects in poly-Si films by enlarging grains, for which the suppression of frequent solid-phase nucleation (SPN) is required.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Liquid-phase explosive crystallization of electron-beam-evaporated a-Si films induced by flash lamp annealing

Ohdaira

Matsumura

2013

Journal of Crystal Growth

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Liquid-phase explosive crystallization of electron-beam-evaporated a-Si films induced by flash lamp annealing

Ohdaira

Matsumura

2013

Journal of Crystal Growth

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“…The surfaces of FLC poly-Si films were then etched off by using HF/HNO3 solution for 0-15 s, corresponding to the etching depths of approximately 0-500 nm. The termination of defects in the etched poly-Si films were performed through highpressure water vapor annealing (HPWVA) at 400 ºC for 10 min under a pressure of 0.9 MPa [9]. We then formed 10-nm-thick p + -a-Si emitter layers by Cat-CVD, indium tin oxide (ITO) films by sputtering, and 0.2 × 0.2 mm 2 -sized Al films by evaporation through a hard mask on the surfaces of defect-terminated FLC poly-Si films.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Due to its proper pulse duration, a few µm-thick a-Si films can be sufficiently heated and crystallized by a single pulse of FLA without heating entire glass substrates. We have so far succeeded in the formation of µm-thick poly-Si films on glass substrates by crystallizing precursor a-Si films [8], and FLC poly-Si films can be processed to solar cells that actually show rectifying and photovoltaic properties [9,10]. The conversion efficiencies of FLC poly-Si solar cells are, however, only about 1% at present.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Carrier recombination mechanisms in solar cells fabricated using flash-lamp-crystallized polycrystalline silicon films

Ohdaira

Ishii

Tomura

et al. 2011

2011 37th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference

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Flash lamp annealing (FLA), millisecond-order discharge from a Xe lamp array, can form a few µm-thick polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) films on low-cost glass substrates by crystallizing precursor a-Si films, and flashlamp-crystallized (FLC) poly-Si films can be processed to solar cells that actually show rectifying and photovoltaic properties. The conversion efficiencies of FLC poly-Si solar cells are, however, only about 1% at present. In order to clarify the cause of the low conversion efficiency, we have investigated carrier recombination mechanisms in p + -a-Si/FLC poly-Si heterojunction solar cells from their I-V characteristics. The saturation current densities (J0) of the solar cells fabricated using FLC poly-Si films with surface voids have an activation energy (Ea) of ~0.8 eV, which is close to the energy of effective barrier height, the sum of absorber built-in energy and the energy difference of the bulk Fermi level to the valence band. This means that carrier recombination tends to occur at a p + -a-Si/FLC polySi interface. On the other hand, the use of FLC poly-Si films after etching off surface voids, which are formed during crystallization, leads to higher Ea of J0 of 1.12 eV, accompanied with improvement in conversion efficiency. This value is equivalent to the band gap energy (Eg) of cSi, which means that carrier recombination mainly occurs inside FLC poly-Si. These facts indicate that the removal of surface voids is essential to realize a high-quality heterojunction interface, and more effective defect termination in FLC poly-Si films would result in further improvement in solar cell properties.

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“…In light of these merits, the thin film polycrystalline-silicon solar cells have been studied through many methods. Thin-film solar cells which are fabricated by polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) films prepared by flash lamp annealing have been fabricated by Yohei Endo et al [3]. They had the open circuit voltage (Voc) of 0.21 V and fill factor (FF) of 0.404.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Simulation of high conversion efficiency and open-circuit voltages of α-si/poly-silicon solar cell

Chen

Shao

2011

Sci. China Phys. Mech. Astron.

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The P + α-Si /N + polycrystalline solar cell is molded using the AMPS-1D device simulator to explore the new high efficiency thin film poly-silicon solar cell. In order to analyze the characteristics of this device, and the thickness of N + poly-silicon, we consider the impurity concentration in the N + poly-silicon layer and the work function of transparent conductive oxide (TCO) in front contact in the calculation. The thickness of N + polysilicon had little impact on the device when the thickness varied from 20μm to 300μm. The effects of impurity concentration in polycrystalline are analyzed. The conclusion is drawn that the open-circuit voltages (Voc) of P + α-Si /N + polycrystalline solar cell is very high reaching 752 mV, and the conversion efficiency reaches 9.44%. Therefore, based on the above optimum parameters the study on the device formed by P + α-Si/N + poly-silicon is significant in exploring the high efficiency poly-silicon solar cell.

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Thin-film polycrystalline silicon solar cells formed by flash lamp annealing of a-Si films

Cited by 21 publications

References 14 publications

Liquid-phase explosive crystallization of electron-beam-evaporated a-Si films induced by flash lamp annealing

Liquid-phase explosive crystallization of electron-beam-evaporated a-Si films induced by flash lamp annealing

Carrier recombination mechanisms in solar cells fabricated using flash-lamp-crystallized polycrystalline silicon films

Simulation of high conversion efficiency and open-circuit voltages of α-si/poly-silicon solar cell

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