Epitaxial silicon growth for solar cells. Quarterly report No. 3, April 1--June 30, 1978

Technical Report · Sat Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 1978

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6051333· OSTI ID:6051333

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

The epitaxial growth of thin solar-cell structures was extended to include another potentially low-cost form of silicon: upgraded metallurgical grade silicon obtained from Dow Corning. An AM-1 efficiency of 12.4% was achieved with a cell structure having only 14 ..mu..m of silicon grown on the Dow Corning. The best efficiency obtained was 13% on a 50-..mu..m thick structure. It was found that titanium (2 x 10/sup 14/ A/cm/sup -3/ level) intentionally incorporated into the substrates primarily causes a reduction in the short-circuit current for both epitaxial and bulk cells. However, the epitaxial cells were much less effected by the presence of titanium and efficiencies as high as 11.7% were obtained while the efficiency for bulk cells was approx. 8%. Preliminary experiments in a laboratory model of RCA's advanced rotary disc reactor have produced solar cells with 10 to 12% efficiency. These cells were grown on single-crystal control substrates and the growth which included studies of submicron surface layers showed a trend toward increased short-circuit current density for shallower junctions.

• Research Organization: RCA Labs., Princeton, NJ (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: NAS-7-100-954817
• OSTI ID: 6051333
• Report Number(s): DOE/JPL/954817-3
• 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
COST
CRYSTAL GROWTH
DIRECT ENERGY CONVERTERS
EFFICIENCY
ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES
ELEMENTS
EPITAXY
FABRICATION
IMPURITIES
METALS
PERFORMANCE
PHOTOELECTRIC CELLS
PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
SEMIMETALS
SILICON
SILICON SOLAR CELLS
SOLAR CELLS
SPECTRAL RESPONSE
SUBSTRATES
TITANIUM
TRANSITION ELEMENTS