Window layer with p doped silicon oxide for high V-oc thin-film silicon n-i-p solar cells

We investigate the influence of the oxygen content in boron-doped nanocrystalline silicon oxide films (p-nc-SiOx) and introduce this material as window layer in n-i-p solar cells. The dependence of both, optical and electrical properties on the oxygen content is consistent with a bi-phase model which describes the p-nc-SiOx material as a mixture of an oxygen-rich (O-rich) phase and a silicon-rich (Si-rich) phase. We observe that increasing the oxygen content enhances the optical gap E-04 while deteriorating the activation energy and the planar conductivity. These trends are ascribed to a higher volume fraction of the O-rich phase. Incorporated into n-i-p a-Si: H cells, p-nc-SiOx layers with moderate oxygen content yield open circuit voltage (V-oc) up to 945mV, which corresponds to a relative gain of 11% compared to an oxygen-free p-layer. As a similar gain is obtained on planar and on textured substrates, we attribute the increase in V-oc to the higher work function of the p-nc-SiOx layer made possible by its wider band gap. These results are attained without changing the dilution ratio of the 250 nm thick intrinsic layer. We also observe an enhancement of 0.6mA cm(-2) in short circuit current density in the short wavelengths due to the higher transparency of the p-nc-SiOx layer. Finally, an initial efficiency of 9.9% for a single junction 250 nm a-Si:H n-i-p solar cell on plastic foil is achieved with the optimization of the p layer thickness, the doping ratio of the front transparent conductive oxide, and the optical properties of the back reflector. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3669389]

L'oxyde de zinc par dépôt chimique en phase vapeur comme contact électrique transparent et diffuseur de lumière pour les cellules solaires

Sylvie Faÿ

Zinc oxide (ZnO) is a material that belongs to the family of Transparent Conductives Oxides (TCO). Its non-toxicity and the abundant availability in the Earth's crust of its components make it an ideal candidate as electrical transparent contact for thin-film amorphous and/or microcrystalline silicon solar cells. The Low-Pressure Chemical Vapour Deposition (LP-CVD) method allows one to obtain rough ZnO layers, which can effectively scatter the light that passes through them. This high scattering capacity increases the path of the light within the solar cell and therefore enhances its probability to be absorbed by the solar cell, and consequently the photogenerated current. This thesis work studies in detail the LP-CVD technology used for deposition of ZnO layers, which are employed as TCO layers for amorphous, microcrystalline and "micromorph" (microcrystalline/amorphous tandem) solar cells developped at the Institute of Microtechnology of the University of Neuchâtel. The chapter 3 is a detailed study of the growth of ZnO layers on a glass substrate. This study reveals a columnar microstructure of the ZnO layers, which are composed of large conical monocrystals. The tops of these monocrystals emerge at the surface of the ZnO layers as pyramids, which give to such layers their rough aspect and therefore their capacity of scattering the light. The two following chapters represent a study of the effect of variations in deposition parameters on the optical properties (transparency and scattering power), electrical properties (conductivity), and structural properties of ZnO layers. The deposition parameters varied thereby are the various gas flows, the substrate temperature, and the process pressure. In particular, a strong influence of the substrate temperature on the microstructure of the ZnO layers is observed. A variation of ten degrees of this deposition temperature leads to abrupt variations of the optical and electrical properties of the layers. From these various studies, a strong correlation is established, between the scattering power, the electrical properties, and the microstructure of the ZnO layers deposited by LP-CVD: The higher the pyramidal grains at the surface of the layers, the higher the scattering capacity of these layers. The larger the monocrystals within the bulk of the layers, the higher the mobility of the free electrons. This enhanced mobility leads to an increase of the conductivity of the layers. Finally, the chapter 6 of this thesis work describes the various situations where LP-CVD ZnO layers are used as transparent electrical contacts and light scattering layers in thin-film silicon solar cells. It is schown that, by incorporating ZnO layers developped in this work in the photovoltaic devices, an increase of 8% in the photogenerated current is obtained, compared to the performances of solar cells using standard commercially available TCO.

EPFL2003

Influence of the substrate geometrical parameters on microcrystalline silicon growth for thin-film solar cells

Christophe Ballif, Omid Madani Ghahfarokhi, Martin Python

The effect of substrate morphology on the growth and electrical properties of single-junction microcrystalline silicon cells is investigated. A large variety of V-shaped and U-shaped substrates are characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and the growth of thin-film microcrystalline silicon (mc-Si:H) devices is observed by cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (TEM). It is shown that enhanced electrical properties of solar cells are obtained when U-shaped substrates are used and the effect is universal, i.e. independent of the substrate or feature size. U-shaped substrates prevent the formation of two dimensional ‘‘cracks’’, which are identified as zones of porous material, from propagating throughout the active part of the solar cell. A numerical growth simulation program reproduces satisfactorily these experimental observations. According to these simulations, shadowing effect due to surface morphology and low adatom surface diffusion length are responsible for the formation of cracks in mc-Si:H material.

2009

Computational Modeling of Thin-Film Silicon Solar Cells and Modules

Thomas Andreas Lanz

Solar photovoltaic energy production relies on the direct conversion of sunlight into electricity. Silicon thin-film solar cells represent a reliable and environmentally friendly technology to make photovoltaics economically viable. As these solar cells do not contain any rare or toxic materials they are an ideal candidate for the large scale deployment of solar energy. At the same time photovoltaic energy production is ideal for off-grid, stand-alone installations. This thesis presents new methods and results on computational engineering of thin-film silicon solar cells and modules. Computational engineering employs numerical methods and simulation techniques to address engineering challenges. Predictive numerical simulations allow for device optimizations that otherwise require substantial experimental effort and they may lead to new insights into the device physics which is the basis for further improvements in terms of cell efficiency and lifetime. We discuss the development of two new simulation methods and present several case studies that illustrate their use in solar cell characterization and optimization. The first presented method addresses optical simulations, i.e. the interaction of the solar cell with sunlight. Our optical model is based on the net-radiation method that considers incoherent, ray-like propagation of light. We extend the net-radiation method with thin-film optics to allow for arbitrary sequences of thick and thin layers. Experimentally, advanced techniques such as optimized surface textures have been developed to increase the absorption in the solar cell and thereby to increase the produced current. We illustrate how our optical model takes into account these textures by means of azimuth integrated light scattering properties to formulate a computationally efficient model of light propagation within the solar cell. Our optical model thus integrates coherent and incoherent propagation of light as well as a non-iterative treatment of ligth scattering. It bridges the gap between wave and ray optics that alternative approaches are most often facing. We first apply the method to study a recently proposed rear electrode architecture based on lithium fluoride and aluminum in amorphous silicon solar cells. Our model-based optical analysis identifies the increased reflectivity of this back electrode as its main advantage. Secondly, we then explore the potential performance gains in microcrystalline silicon solar cells that can be reached by eliminating absorption in layers that do not contribute to the photogeneration of solar cell current. Finally, our optical model is also suited for other solar cell technologies and we illustrate its extension and application to light extraction calculations in light emitting diodes (LEDs). Our optical model has been incorporated into the software package setfos, commercialized by Fluxim Inc. It is thus available to the research community. We then turn to address large area solar modules. A new method based on the finite element method (FEM) is presented to calculate the electrical charge and heat transport in these devices and how it is influenced by defects as well as partial shading. We identify such defects with surface temperature measurements by means of lock-in thermography and demonstrate how our model accounts for the thermal signature of localized defects. Taking into account the large aspect ratio of thin-film solar modules we show how geometrical projections can be used to reduce the model complexity, leading to a numerically efficient approach based on the finite element method. We demonstrate this by presenting full current-voltage curves of solar modules under partial shading.