APIVT Epitaxial Growth on Zone-Melt Recrystallized Silicon: Preprint

Conference · Fri Aug 01 00:00:00 EDT 2003

OSTI ID:15004591

Wang, T H; Sims, P E; Page, M R; Bauer, R E; Landry, M D; Reedy, R; Yan, Y; Ciszek, T F

Single-junction thin-film silicon solar cells require large grain sizes to ensure adequate photovoltaic performance. Using 2D silicon solar cell simulations on the quantitative effects of grain-boundary recombination on device performance, we have found that the acceptable value of effective grain boundary recombination velocity is almost inversely proportional to grain size. For example, in a polycrystalline silicon thin film with an intragrain bulk minority-carrier lifetime of 1 s, a recombination velocity of 104 cm/s is adequate if the grain is 20 m across, whereas a very low recombination velocity of 103 cm/s must be accomplished to achieve reasonable performance for a 2-m grain. For this reason, large grain size on the order of hundreds of m is currently a prerequisite for efficient solar cells, although a more effective grain-boundary passivation technique may be developed in the future.

• Research Organization: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO.
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC36-99GO10337
• OSTI ID: 15004591
• Report Number(s): NREL/CP-520-34629
• Conference Information: To be presented at the 13th Workshop on Crystalline Silicon Solar Cell Materials and Processes, 10-13 August 2003, Vail, Colorado
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE CHEMICAL-VAPOR DEPOSITION
ATMOSPHERIC-PRESSURE IODINE VAPOR TRANSPORT
DEVICE PERFORMANCE
GRAIN BOUNDARY
GRAIN SIZE
LIFETIME
MANUFACTURING
MICROELECTRONICS
PASSIVATION
PERFORMANCE
PHOTOVOLTAICS
POLYCRYSTALLINE SILICON
RECOMBINATION
SILICON
SILICON SOLAR CELLS
SOLAR CELLS
Solar Energy - Photovoltaics
THIN FILMS
VELOCITY
ZONE-MELT RECRYSTALLIZATION (ZMR)