Correlation between material properties and photovoltaic performance in amorphous silicon solar cells
- Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd., Hirakata, Osaka (Japan). Functional Materials Research Center
The authors have focused on the i-layer material in their efforts to improve in the conversion efficiency of a-Si:H solar cells. Reductions in the defect density has been also investigated from the viewpoints of extrinsic (impurities) and intrinsic effects. The main incorporated impurity in a-Si:H is oxygen, which affects the conversion efficiency of a-Si:H solar cells by increasing the defect density and its donorlike behavior. A unified relationship can be observed among the properties of intrinsic (pure) a-Si:H. The film deposition rate plays an essential role in controlling the properties. A lower or higher deposition rate results in a narrower or wider bandgap, respectively. Therefore, the properties of a-Si:H can be controlled independent of the substrate temperature in a certain range by varying the film deposition rate. The controllability of the a-Si:H properties can be improved by applying vibrational/rotational energy to SiH{sub 4} molecules or related radicals by heating the source gas, and a-Si:H with the same properties as the best conventional one can be deposited at a lower substrate temperature and/or a higher film deposition rate. The highest conversion efficiency of 12% for an integrated a-Si solar cell submodule of 100 cm{sup 2} has been achieved by combining the high-quality i-layer and other technologies.
- OSTI ID:
- 201315
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-930722-; ISBN 0-8194-1266-X; TRN: IM9613%%292
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Annual meeting of the Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE), San Diego, CA (United States), 11-16 Jul 1993; Other Information: PBD: 1993; Related Information: Is Part Of Optical materials technology for energy efficiency and solar energy conversion XII; Lampert, C.M. [ed.] [Lawrence Berkeley Lab., CA (United States). Energy and Environment Div.]; PB: 401 p.; Proceedings/SPIE, Volume 2017
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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