Task B: Research on stable high-efficiency, large area, amorphous silicon-based solar cells

Technical Report · Sun Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 1989

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/5206295· OSTI ID:5206295

Catalano, A. W.; Ayra, R. R.; Bennett, M. S.; Dickson, C. R.; Fieselmann, B.; Goldstein, B.; Morris, J.; Newton, J. L.; O'Dowd, J. G.; Oswald, R. S.; Twesme, E.; Wiedeman, S.; Yang, L. ^[1]

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1. Solarex Corp., Newtown, PA (USA). Thin Film Div.

This document describes photovoltaic research conducted in four areas: semiconductor materials, high-efficiency cells, nonsemiconductor materials, and submodules. The major focus of semiconductor materials research was on improving the quality of wide-band-gap a-SiC:H alloys and narrow-band-gap a-SiGe:H alloys. Raman spectroscopy suggested that the alloys are inhomogeneous, showing a higher concentration of Ge-Ge bonds than expected from a random mixing model. In high-efficiency device research, silicon-carbon single-junction cells resulted in open-circuit voltages as high as 0.96 V with a higher than 0.6 fill factor. Silicon-germanium cells show far better performance using a p/i-graded interface, an i(a-Si)/i(a-SiGe)-graded interface, and an inverse-graded interface at the i/n junction along with an a-Si n-layer compared with an a-SiGe:H n-layer. In the nonsemiconductor materials research, modeling optical enhancement of long-wavelength light in single-junction cells suggested that several parasitic losses are present in the device structure. In most cases, absorption in the rear contact is the major loss mechanism. In submodule research, the focus was on developing high-efficiency a-Si:H single-junction modules, stable a-Si:H stacked-junction modules, high-efficiency alloy-stacked modules, and advanced laser scribing processes. 74 figs., 13 tabs.

• Research Organization: Solar Energy Research Inst., Golden, CO (USA); Solarex Corp., Newtown, PA (USA). Thin Film Div.
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE/CE
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-83CH10093
• OSTI ID: 5206295
• Report Number(s): SERI/STR-211-3580; ON: DE89009491
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
140501* -- Solar Energy Conversion-- Photovoltaic Conversion
42 ENGINEERING
420500 -- Engineering-- Materials Testing
ALLOYS
AMORPHOUS STATE
BORON
CARBIDES
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
CHEMICAL FEEDSTOCKS
CRYSTAL MODELS
DATA
DIRECT ENERGY CONVERTERS
DOCUMENT TYPES
EFFICIENCY
ELASTIC SCATTERING
ELECTRIC CONDUCTIVITY
ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES
ELEMENTS
ENERGY EFFICIENCY
EQUIPMENT
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
FILMS
FREQUENCY ANALYSIS
GRATINGS
INFORMATION
INFRARED SPECTROMETERS
JUNCTIONS
LASER SPECTROSCOPY
LASERS
LIGHT SOURCES
MATERIALS TESTING
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
MEASURING METHODS
NONDESTRUCTIVE ANALYSIS
NUMERICAL DATA
PERFORMANCE TESTING
PHOTOCONDUCTIVITY
PHOTOELECTRIC CELLS
PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
PROGRESS REPORT
RADIATION ABSORPTION ANALYSIS
RADIATION SOURCES
RAMAN SPECTROSCOPY
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
RUTHERFORD SCATTERING
SCATTERING
SEMICONDUCTOR JUNCTIONS
SEMIMETALS
SILICON ALLOYS
SILICON CARBIDES
SILICON COMPOUNDS
SILICON SOLAR CELLS
SOLAR CELLS
SOLAR CONTROL FILMS
SOLAR EQUIPMENT
SPECTROMETERS
SPECTROSCOPY
TESTING
X-RAY EMISSION ANALYSIS