Research on high-efficiency, single-junction, monolithic, thin-film amorphous silicon solar cells

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

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/5496057· OSTI ID:5496057

Catalano, A. W.; Carlson, D. E.; Ayra, R. R.; Bennett, M. S.; D'Aiello, R. V.; Dickson, C. R.; Fortmann, C. M.; Goldstein, B.; McVeigh, J.; Morris, J.; Newton, J. L.; Wiedeman, S. ^[1]

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

This document describes the progress made in obtaining stable, a-Si-based submodules that have a large area and high efficiency. Conversion efficiencies of up to 11.95% were obtained in small-area, single-junction a-Si solar cells using textured TiO{sub 2}, superlattice p-layers, graded carbon concentrations near the p/i interface, and highly reflective ITO/silver back contacts. Single- junction a-SiC and a-SiGe p-i-n cells were also fabricated that had conversion efficiencies of 9%--11%, and some recently fabricated stacked-junction cells had conversion efficiencies of about 10%. In materials research boron-doped microcrystalline SiC films were recently developed containing up to 6 at. % carbon with conductivities of 3 {times} 10{sup {minus}3}/{Omega}-cm at room temperature and activation energies of 0.11 eV. Microcrystalline film growth was shown to be strongly influenced by the nature of the substrate, with nucleation occurring more readily on a-Si substrates than on TiO{sub 2}. Stability studies show that light-induced degradation is usually enhanced by the presence of carbon grading near the p/i interface. In general, adding either germanium (from GeH{sub 4}) or carbon (from CH{sub 4}) to the i-layer of a p-i-n cell leads to enhanced light-induced degradation. 13 refs., 80 figs., 17 tabs.

• Research Organization: Solar Energy Research Inst., Golden, CO (USA)
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE/CE
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-83CH10093
• OSTI ID: 5496057
• Report Number(s): SERI/STR-211-3582; ON: DE89009495; CNN: ZB-7-06003-2
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
140501* -- Solar Energy Conversion-- Photovoltaic Conversion
AMORPHOUS STATE
CHALCOGENIDES
CONVERSION
DAMAGE
DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION
DIRECT ENERGY CONVERTERS
DOCUMENT TYPES
EFFICIENCY
ENERGY CONVERSION
EQUIPMENT
FILMS
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PHOTOELECTRIC CELLS
PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS
PHOTOVOLTAIC CONVERSION
PROGRESS REPORT
SILICON SOLAR CELLS
SOLAR CELLS
SOLAR EQUIPMENT
SUBSTRATES
THIN FILMS
TITANIUM COMPOUNDS
TITANIUM OXIDES
TRANSITION ELEMENT COMPOUNDS