Effect of grain size and dislocation density on the performance of thin film polycrystalline silicon solar cells

Journal Article · Sun Jun 01 04:00:00 EDT 1997 · Journal of Applied Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.365341· OSTI ID:503607

Imaizumi, M; Ito, T; Yamaguchi, M ^[1]; Kaneko, K ^[2]

---

1. Toyota Technological Institute, 2-12-1 Hisakata, Tempaku-ku, Nagoya 468 (Japan)
2. Sumitomo SiTiX Corp., 1 Higashihama-cho, Amagasaki, Hyogo 660 (Japan)

Three kinds of important properties of the solar cell were calculated: short-circuit current density, open-circuit voltage, and conversion efficiency. Two equations which show the relationship between the minority-carrier diffusion length and the grain size or the etch pit density were used for the calculation. The dependence of the properties on the cell thickness were estimated as a function of grain size and etch-pit density. The effect of the internal reflectance with varying minority-carrier diffusion length was also examined. The results show that thin film polycrystalline silicon solar cells have the potential to attain an efficiency of 17{percent} even at a film thickness of 2 {mu}m if the grain size is bigger than 10 {mu}m and the etch-pit density of less than 1{times}10{sup 6}cm{sup {minus}2}. The principal requirement is to achieve efficient light trapping. {copyright} {ital 1997 American Institute of Physics.}

• OSTI ID: 503607
• Journal Information: Journal of Applied Physics, Journal Name: Journal of Applied Physics Journal Issue: 11 Vol. 81; ISSN JAPIAU; ISSN 0021-8979
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
CARRIER LIFETIME
CRYSTAL DEFECTS
CURRENT DENSITY
DISLOCATIONS
EFFICIENCY
ETCHING
GRAIN SIZE
REFLECTION
SILICON
SILICON SOLAR CELLS
THICKNESS
THIN FILMS