Grain boundary effects in polycrystalline silicon solar cells

Conference · Wed Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 1982 · Conf. Rec. IEEE Photovoltaic Spec. Conf.; (United States)

OSTI ID:5460733

Halder, N C

By solving the three-dimensional diffusion equation by Green's function method, the I-V characteristics of polycrystalline Si solar cells with vertical grain boundaries and n-p junctions have been investigated. The procedure includes the effects of grain size, thickness of the cell and the recombination velocity of the minority carriers at the grain boundary. The results of this study suggest that an efficiency as high as 15% may be achieved with samples of grain size 100 ..mu..m, thickness 100 ..mu..m, and velocity 100 m/sec when other loss mechanisms are negligibly small or absent.

• Research Organization: Dept. of Physics, Univ. of South Florida, Tampa, FL
• OSTI ID: 5460733
• Report Number(s): CONF-820906-
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Conf. Rec. IEEE Photovoltaic Spec. Conf.; (United States)
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
140501* -- Solar Energy Conversion-- Photovoltaic Conversion
CHARGE CARRIERS
CRYSTAL STRUCTURE
CRYSTALS
DIFFUSION
DIMENSIONS
DIRECT ENERGY CONVERTERS
EFFICIENCY
ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES
ELEMENTS
EQUIPMENT
FUNCTIONS
GRAIN BOUNDARIES
GRAIN SIZE
GREEN FUNCTION
JUNCTIONS
MICROSTRUCTURE
P-N JUNCTIONS
PHOTOELECTRIC CELLS
PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
POLYCRYSTALS
QUANTUM EFFICIENCY
RECOMBINATION
SEMICONDUCTOR JUNCTIONS
SEMIMETALS
SILICON
SILICON SOLAR CELLS
SIZE
SOLAR CELLS
SOLAR EQUIPMENT
THICKNESS
THREE-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS
VELOCITY