The preparation, current status and trends are investigated for silicon thin film solar cells. The advantages and disadvantages of amorphous silicon thin film, polycrystalline silicon thin film and mono-crystalline si...The preparation, current status and trends are investigated for silicon thin film solar cells. The advantages and disadvantages of amorphous silicon thin film, polycrystalline silicon thin film and mono-crystalline silicon thin film solar cells are compared. The future development trends are pointed out. It is found that polycrystalline silicon thin film solar cells will be more promising for application with great potential.展开更多
Because crystalline silicon thin film(CSiTF) solar cells possess the advantages of crystalline silicon solar cells such as high efficiency and stable performance and those of thin film solar cells such as low cost and...Because crystalline silicon thin film(CSiTF) solar cells possess the advantages of crystalline silicon solar cells such as high efficiency and stable performance and those of thin film solar cells such as low cost and so on,it is regarded as the next generation solar cell technology,which is most likely to replace the existing crystalline silicon solar cell technology.In this paper,we performed device simulation on the epitaxial CSiTF solar cell by using PC1D software.In order to make simulation results closer to the actual situation,we adopted a more realistic device structure and parameters.On this basis,we comprehensively and systematically investigated the effect of physical parameters of back surface field(BSF) layer,base and emitter,electrical quality of crystalline silicon active layer,situation of surface passivation,internal recombination and p-n junction leakage on the optoelectronic performance of the epitaxial CSiTF solar cell.Among various factors affecting the efficiency of the epitaxial CSiTF solar cell,we identified the three largest efficiency-affecting parameters.They are the base minority carrier diffusion length,the diode dark saturation current and the front surface recombination velocity in order.Through simulations,we found that the base is not the thicker the better,and the base minority carrier diffusion length must be taken into account when determining the optimal base thickness.When the base minority carrier diffusion length is smaller,the optimal base thickness should be less than or equal to the base minority carrier diffusion length;when the base minority carrier diffusion length is larger,the base minority carrier diffusion length should be at least twice the optimal base thickness.In addition,this paper not only illustrates the simulation results but also explains their changes from the aspect of physical mechanisms.Because epitaxial CSiTF solar cells possess a device structure that is similar to crystalline silicon solar cells,the conclusions drawn in this paper are also applied to crystalline silicon solar cells to a certain extent,particularly to thin silicon solar cells which are the hottest research topic at present.展开更多
Hydrogenated silicon (Si:H) thin films for application in solar ceils were deposited by using very high frequency plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition (VHF PECVD) at a substrate temperature of about 170 ℃,...Hydrogenated silicon (Si:H) thin films for application in solar ceils were deposited by using very high frequency plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition (VHF PECVD) at a substrate temperature of about 170 ℃, The electrical, structural, and optical properties of the films were investigated. The deposited films were then applied as i-layers for p-i-n single junction solar cells. The current-voltage (I - V) characteristics of the cells were measured before and after the light soaking. The results suggest that the films deposited near the transition region have an optimum properties for application in solar cells. The cell with an i-layer prepared near the transition region shows the best stable performance.展开更多
A novel type of n/i/i/p heterojunction solar cell with a-Si:H(15 nm)/a-Si:H(10 nm)/epitaxial c-Si(47 p.m)/epitaxial c-Si(3 um) structure is fabricated by using the layer transfer technique, and the emitter l...A novel type of n/i/i/p heterojunction solar cell with a-Si:H(15 nm)/a-Si:H(10 nm)/epitaxial c-Si(47 p.m)/epitaxial c-Si(3 um) structure is fabricated by using the layer transfer technique, and the emitter layer is deposited by hot wire chemical vapour deposition. The effect of the doping concentration of the emitter layer Sd (Sd=PH3/(PH3 +SiH4+H2)) on the performance of the solar cell is studied by means of current density-voltage and external quantum efficiency. The results show that the conversion efficiency of the solar cell first increases to a maximum value and then decreases with Sd increasing from 0.1% to 0.4%. The best performance of the solar cell is obtained at Sd = 0.2% with an open circuit voltage of 534 mV, a short circuit current density of 23.35 mA/cm2, a fill factor of 63.3%, and a conversion efficiency of 7.9%.展开更多
Amorphous silicon ( a-Si ) thin films were deposited on glass substrate by PECVD, and polycrystalline silicon ( poly- Si ) thin films were prepared by aluminum- induced crystallization ( AlC ). The effects of an...Amorphous silicon ( a-Si ) thin films were deposited on glass substrate by PECVD, and polycrystalline silicon ( poly- Si ) thin films were prepared by aluminum- induced crystallization ( AlC ). The effects of annealing temperature on the microstructure and morphology were investigated. The AlC poly-Si thin films were characterized by XRD, Raman and SEM. It is found that a-Si thin film has a amorphous structure after annealing at 400℃ for 20 min, a-Si films begin to crystallize after annealing at 450 ℃ for 20 min, and the crystallinity of a-Si thin films is enhanced obviously with the increment of annealing termperature.展开更多
Polycrystalline Si (poly-Si) films are in situ grown on Al-coated glass substrates by inductively coupled plasma chemical vapour deposition at a temperature as low as 350℃. Compared to the traditional annealing cry...Polycrystalline Si (poly-Si) films are in situ grown on Al-coated glass substrates by inductively coupled plasma chemical vapour deposition at a temperature as low as 350℃. Compared to the traditional annealing crystalliza- tion of amorphous Si/Al-layer structures, no layer exchange is observed and the resultant poly-Si film is much thicker than Al layer. By analysing the depth profiles of the elemental composition, no remains of A1 atoms are detected in Si layer within the limit (〈0.01 at.%) of the used evaluations. It is indicated that the poly-Si material obtained by Al-induced crystallization growth has more potential applications than that prepared by annealing the amorphous Si/Al-layer structures.展开更多
The application of a p~+/p configuration in the window layer of hydrogenated amorphous silicon thin film solar cells is simulated and analyzed utilizing an AMPS-ID program.The differences between p~+-p-i-n configura...The application of a p~+/p configuration in the window layer of hydrogenated amorphous silicon thin film solar cells is simulated and analyzed utilizing an AMPS-ID program.The differences between p~+-p-i-n configuration solar cells and p-i-n configuration solar cells are pointed out.The effects of dopant concentration, thickness of p~+-layer,contact barrier height and defect density on solar cells are analyzed.Our results indicate that solar cells with a p~+-p-i-n configuration have a better performance.The open circuit voltage and short circuit current were improved by increasing the dopant concentration of the p~+ layer and lowering the front contact barrier height.The defect density at the p/i interface which exceeds two orders of magnitude in the intrinsic layer will deteriorate the cell property.展开更多
This study deals with the optimization of direct current(DC) sputtered aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO) thin films and their incorporation into a-Si:H/μc-Si:H tandem junction thin film solar cells aiming for hig...This study deals with the optimization of direct current(DC) sputtered aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO) thin films and their incorporation into a-Si:H/μc-Si:H tandem junction thin film solar cells aiming for high conversion efficiency.Electrical and optical properties of AZO films,i.e.mobility,carrier density,resistivity, and transmittance,were comprehensively characterized and analyzed by varying sputtering deposition conditions, including chamber pressure,substrate temperature,and sputtering power.The correlations between sputtering processes and AZO thin film properties were first investigated.Then,the AZO films were textured by diluted hydrochloric acid wet etching.Through optimization of deposition and texturing processes,AZO films yield excellent electrical and optical properties with a high transmittance above 81%over the 380-1100 nm wavelength range,lowsheet resistance of 11Ω/□and high haze ratio of 41.3%.In preliminary experiments,the AZO films were applied to a-Si:H/μc-Si:H tandem thin film solar cells as front contact electrodes,resulting in an initial conversion efficiency of 12.5%with good current matching between subcells.展开更多
We focused on developing penetration-type semitransparent thin-film solar cells(STSCs) using hydrogenated amorphous Si(a-Si:H) for a building-integrated photovoltaic(BIPV) window system. Instead of conventional p-type...We focused on developing penetration-type semitransparent thin-film solar cells(STSCs) using hydrogenated amorphous Si(a-Si:H) for a building-integrated photovoltaic(BIPV) window system. Instead of conventional p-type a-Si:H, p-type hydrogenated microcrystalline Si oxide(p-μc-SiOx:H) was introduced for a wide-bandgap and conductive window layer. For these purposes, we tuned the CO2/SiH4 flow ratio(R) during p-μc-SiOx:H deposition. The film crystallinity decreased from 50% to 13% as R increased from 0.2 to 1.2. At the optimized R of 0.6, the quantum efficiency was improved under short wavelengths by the suppression of p-type layer parasitic absorption. The series resistance was well controlled to avoid fill factor loss at R = 0.6. Furthermore, we introduced dual buffers comprising p-a-SiOx:H/i-a-Si:H at the p/i interface to alleviate interfacial energy-band mismatch. The a-Si:H STSCs with the suggested window and dual buffers showed improvements in transmittance and efficiency from 22.9% to 29.3% and from 4.62% to 6.41%, respectively, compared to the STSC using a pristine p-a-Si:H window.展开更多
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 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+ poly-silicon has little impact on the device when the thickness varies from 20 μm to 300 μm. The effects of impurity concentration in polycrystalline are analyzed. The conclusion is drawn that the open-circuit voltage (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.展开更多
文摘The preparation, current status and trends are investigated for silicon thin film solar cells. The advantages and disadvantages of amorphous silicon thin film, polycrystalline silicon thin film and mono-crystalline silicon thin film solar cells are compared. The future development trends are pointed out. It is found that polycrystalline silicon thin film solar cells will be more promising for application with great potential.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 50802118)Science & Technology Research Project of Guangdong Province (Grant Nos. 2011A032304001,2010B090400020)the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant No. 2011300003161469)
文摘Because crystalline silicon thin film(CSiTF) solar cells possess the advantages of crystalline silicon solar cells such as high efficiency and stable performance and those of thin film solar cells such as low cost and so on,it is regarded as the next generation solar cell technology,which is most likely to replace the existing crystalline silicon solar cell technology.In this paper,we performed device simulation on the epitaxial CSiTF solar cell by using PC1D software.In order to make simulation results closer to the actual situation,we adopted a more realistic device structure and parameters.On this basis,we comprehensively and systematically investigated the effect of physical parameters of back surface field(BSF) layer,base and emitter,electrical quality of crystalline silicon active layer,situation of surface passivation,internal recombination and p-n junction leakage on the optoelectronic performance of the epitaxial CSiTF solar cell.Among various factors affecting the efficiency of the epitaxial CSiTF solar cell,we identified the three largest efficiency-affecting parameters.They are the base minority carrier diffusion length,the diode dark saturation current and the front surface recombination velocity in order.Through simulations,we found that the base is not the thicker the better,and the base minority carrier diffusion length must be taken into account when determining the optimal base thickness.When the base minority carrier diffusion length is smaller,the optimal base thickness should be less than or equal to the base minority carrier diffusion length;when the base minority carrier diffusion length is larger,the base minority carrier diffusion length should be at least twice the optimal base thickness.In addition,this paper not only illustrates the simulation results but also explains their changes from the aspect of physical mechanisms.Because epitaxial CSiTF solar cells possess a device structure that is similar to crystalline silicon solar cells,the conclusions drawn in this paper are also applied to crystalline silicon solar cells to a certain extent,particularly to thin silicon solar cells which are the hottest research topic at present.
文摘Hydrogenated silicon (Si:H) thin films for application in solar ceils were deposited by using very high frequency plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition (VHF PECVD) at a substrate temperature of about 170 ℃, The electrical, structural, and optical properties of the films were investigated. The deposited films were then applied as i-layers for p-i-n single junction solar cells. The current-voltage (I - V) characteristics of the cells were measured before and after the light soaking. The results suggest that the films deposited near the transition region have an optimum properties for application in solar cells. The cell with an i-layer prepared near the transition region shows the best stable performance.
基金Project supported by the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2006AA03Z219)the Jiangsu Innovation Program for Graduate Education, China (Grant No. CXZZ11 0206)the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions, China
文摘A novel type of n/i/i/p heterojunction solar cell with a-Si:H(15 nm)/a-Si:H(10 nm)/epitaxial c-Si(47 p.m)/epitaxial c-Si(3 um) structure is fabricated by using the layer transfer technique, and the emitter layer is deposited by hot wire chemical vapour deposition. The effect of the doping concentration of the emitter layer Sd (Sd=PH3/(PH3 +SiH4+H2)) on the performance of the solar cell is studied by means of current density-voltage and external quantum efficiency. The results show that the conversion efficiency of the solar cell first increases to a maximum value and then decreases with Sd increasing from 0.1% to 0.4%. The best performance of the solar cell is obtained at Sd = 0.2% with an open circuit voltage of 534 mV, a short circuit current density of 23.35 mA/cm2, a fill factor of 63.3%, and a conversion efficiency of 7.9%.
文摘Amorphous silicon ( a-Si ) thin films were deposited on glass substrate by PECVD, and polycrystalline silicon ( poly- Si ) thin films were prepared by aluminum- induced crystallization ( AlC ). The effects of annealing temperature on the microstructure and morphology were investigated. The AlC poly-Si thin films were characterized by XRD, Raman and SEM. It is found that a-Si thin film has a amorphous structure after annealing at 400℃ for 20 min, a-Si films begin to crystallize after annealing at 450 ℃ for 20 min, and the crystallinity of a-Si thin films is enhanced obviously with the increment of annealing termperature.
基金Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No 10175030, and the Natural Science Foundation of Gansu Province under Grant No 4WS035-A72-134.
文摘Polycrystalline Si (poly-Si) films are in situ grown on Al-coated glass substrates by inductively coupled plasma chemical vapour deposition at a temperature as low as 350℃. Compared to the traditional annealing crystalliza- tion of amorphous Si/Al-layer structures, no layer exchange is observed and the resultant poly-Si film is much thicker than Al layer. By analysing the depth profiles of the elemental composition, no remains of A1 atoms are detected in Si layer within the limit (〈0.01 at.%) of the used evaluations. It is indicated that the poly-Si material obtained by Al-induced crystallization growth has more potential applications than that prepared by annealing the amorphous Si/Al-layer structures.
基金supported by the Key Programs for Science and Technology Development of Jiangsu,China(Nos.BE20080030,BE2009028)the Qing Lan Project,China(No.2008-04)the Jiangsu"333"Project,China(No.201041)
文摘The application of a p~+/p configuration in the window layer of hydrogenated amorphous silicon thin film solar cells is simulated and analyzed utilizing an AMPS-ID program.The differences between p~+-p-i-n configuration solar cells and p-i-n configuration solar cells are pointed out.The effects of dopant concentration, thickness of p~+-layer,contact barrier height and defect density on solar cells are analyzed.Our results indicate that solar cells with a p~+-p-i-n configuration have a better performance.The open circuit voltage and short circuit current were improved by increasing the dopant concentration of the p~+ layer and lowering the front contact barrier height.The defect density at the p/i interface which exceeds two orders of magnitude in the intrinsic layer will deteriorate the cell property.
文摘This study deals with the optimization of direct current(DC) sputtered aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO) thin films and their incorporation into a-Si:H/μc-Si:H tandem junction thin film solar cells aiming for high conversion efficiency.Electrical and optical properties of AZO films,i.e.mobility,carrier density,resistivity, and transmittance,were comprehensively characterized and analyzed by varying sputtering deposition conditions, including chamber pressure,substrate temperature,and sputtering power.The correlations between sputtering processes and AZO thin film properties were first investigated.Then,the AZO films were textured by diluted hydrochloric acid wet etching.Through optimization of deposition and texturing processes,AZO films yield excellent electrical and optical properties with a high transmittance above 81%over the 380-1100 nm wavelength range,lowsheet resistance of 11Ω/□and high haze ratio of 41.3%.In preliminary experiments,the AZO films were applied to a-Si:H/μc-Si:H tandem thin film solar cells as front contact electrodes,resulting in an initial conversion efficiency of 12.5%with good current matching between subcells.
基金supported by the Energy Technology Development Program of the Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning (KETEP) under grant Nos. 20163010012560 and 20172010104940
文摘We focused on developing penetration-type semitransparent thin-film solar cells(STSCs) using hydrogenated amorphous Si(a-Si:H) for a building-integrated photovoltaic(BIPV) window system. Instead of conventional p-type a-Si:H, p-type hydrogenated microcrystalline Si oxide(p-μc-SiOx:H) was introduced for a wide-bandgap and conductive window layer. For these purposes, we tuned the CO2/SiH4 flow ratio(R) during p-μc-SiOx:H deposition. The film crystallinity decreased from 50% to 13% as R increased from 0.2 to 1.2. At the optimized R of 0.6, the quantum efficiency was improved under short wavelengths by the suppression of p-type layer parasitic absorption. The series resistance was well controlled to avoid fill factor loss at R = 0.6. Furthermore, we introduced dual buffers comprising p-a-SiOx:H/i-a-Si:H at the p/i interface to alleviate interfacial energy-band mismatch. The a-Si:H STSCs with the suggested window and dual buffers showed improvements in transmittance and efficiency from 22.9% to 29.3% and from 4.62% to 6.41%, respectively, compared to the STSC using a pristine p-a-Si:H window.
基金supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Fujian Province of China (Grant No. A0220001)Science Research Project of Leshan Vocational & Technical College (Grant No. KY2011001)the Key Research Project in Science and Technology of Leshan (Grant No. 2011GZD050)
文摘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+ poly-silicon has little impact on the device when the thickness varies from 20 μm to 300 μm. The effects of impurity concentration in polycrystalline are analyzed. The conclusion is drawn that the open-circuit voltage (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.