Physics underlying improved efficiency of high-low-junction emitter silicon solar cells

Conference · Sat Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1977

OSTI ID:5322448

Fossum, J G; Lindholm, F A; Sah, C T

The physical behavior of a recently proposed device structure, the HLE solar cell, that yields substantial increases in the open-circuit voltage and in the power-conversion efficiency of p-n junction silicon solar cells, is described. The structure differs from the conventional cell structure (n/sup +/-p) in that it contains a high-low (H-L) junction in the emitter (n/sup +/-n-p). For cells having low base resistivities (approximately 0.1 ..cap omega..-cm), efficiency improvements of about 15 percent at AM1 and about 40 percent at 50 suns can be expected. The improvement at 50 suns results in an efficiency of about 20 percent at 27/sup 0/C.

• Research Organization: Sandia Labs., Albuquerque, N.Mex. (USA); Florida Univ., Gainesville (USA); Illinois Univ., Urbana (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: EY-76-C-04-0789
• OSTI ID: 5322448
• Report Number(s): SAND-77-1610C; CONF-771201-6
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
140501* -- Solar Energy Conversion-- Photovoltaic Conversion
CARRIER MOBILITY
CURRENTS
DIRECT ENERGY CONVERTERS
EFFICIENCY
ELECTRIC CURRENTS
ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES
JUNCTIONS
MOBILITY
P-N JUNCTIONS
PHOTOELECTRIC CELLS
PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
RECOMBINATION
SEMICONDUCTOR JUNCTIONS
SILICON SOLAR CELLS
SOLAR CELLS