Low-cost epitaxial techniques for solar-cell fabrication. Quarterly technical progress report No. 2, 25 December 1979-24 March 1980

Technical Report · Tue Apr 01 04:00:00 EST 1980

OSTI ID:5324157

D'Aiello, R. V.; Robinson, P. H.

Experiments were continued on the material characterization and epitaxial growth of solar-cell structures on three grades of a candidate low-cost upgraded metallurgical grade (UMG) silicon substrate. Enough epitaxial solar cells to characterize the baseline performance of cells on these three substrate grades were fabricated and tested. With a 15-..mu..m-thick epitaxial structure grown on the purest form of UMG substrate, an average cell AM-1 efficiency of 12.5% was obtained. Similar structures grown on the less pure multicrystalline substrate grades result in efficiencies of 9 to 10.3%. A novel way of slicing these substrates which exposes larger grain areas and results in higher cell efficiencies is described. The application of slow-cooling and gettering to the growth of thicker (equal to or greater than 50 ..mu..m) epitaxial solar-cell structures was found ineffective. The use of alternate silicon gas sources was explored by using silane for the growth of cell structures. The initial results are encouraging and will be further pursued.

• Research Organization: RCA Labs., Princeton, NJ (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: EG-77-C-01-4042
• OSTI ID: 5324157
• Report Number(s): SERI/PR-0-8274-2
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
140501* -- Solar Energy Conversion-- Photovoltaic Conversion
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
360601 -- Other Materials-- Preparation & Manufacture
CRYSTAL STRUCTURE
DIRECT ENERGY CONVERTERS
EFFICIENCY
ELEMENTS
EPITAXY
EQUIPMENT
FABRICATION
FILMS
GETTERING
GRAIN BOUNDARIES
HYDRIDES
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
MICROSTRUCTURE
PERFORMANCE
PHOTOELECTRIC CELLS
PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
SEMIMETALS
SILANES
SILICON
SILICON COMPOUNDS
SILICON SOLAR CELLS
SOLAR CELLS
SOLAR EQUIPMENT
SUBSTRATES