Research on high-efficiency, large area amorphous silicon based solar cells

Technical Report · Sat Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 1990

OSTI ID:6895124

Arya, R R; Bennett, M; Fleselmann, B; Morris, J; Newton, J; Podlesny, R; Twesme, E; Wiedeman, S; Yang, L ^[1]; Rothwarf, A; Shapiro, F ^[2]

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1. Solarex Corp., Newtown, PA (USA). Thin Film Div.
2. Drexel Univ., Philadelphia, PA (USA)

This document presents the results of studies in three areas: materials research, non-semiconductor materials research, and submodule research. In materials research, hydrogen dilution of a SiGe:H alloys improved alloys homogeneity and reduced light-induced degradation. Performance improvements were made in both microcrystalline and amorphous doped films, and a method was demonstrated that appears to overcome nucleation and film growth problems by recrystallizing the amorphous n-layer. In non-semiconductor materials research, ITO/Ag production was scaled up to successfully coat 1000-cm{sup 2} submodules. Work on atmospheric chemical vapor deposition of zinc oxide produced 2-{mu}m-thick films with 50--80 {Omega}/sq. sheet resistance. In submodule research, all processes were scaled up and single-junction submodules were prepared with 9.9% aperture-area conversion efficiencies. Triple-junction submodules were produced with 8.98% aperture-area efficiencies, and laser scribing was improved to allow only a 2% loss in area. Modeling was used to optimize module performance by predicting parasitic losses given the material constraints of a given device design. Modules were laser patterned to define an array of small-area devices, and topographic maps were produced to alloy visualization of both isolated defects and performance gradients. 27 refs., 41 figs., 7 tabs.

• Research Organization: Solar Energy Research Inst., Golden, CO (USA); Solarex Corp., Newtown, PA (USA). Thin Film Div.
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE/CE
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-83CH10093
• OSTI ID: 6895124
• Report Number(s): SERI/TP-211-3906; ON: DE90000356; CNN: ZB-7-06003-2
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
140501* -- Solar Energy Conversion-- Photovoltaic Conversion
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
360603 -- Materials-- Properties
ALLOYS
AMORPHOUS STATE
BONDING
BORON
CHALCOGENIDES
CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
CRYSTALS
CURRENT DENSITY
DEFECTS
DIMENSIONS
DIRECT ENERGY CONVERTERS
DOCUMENT TYPES
DOPED MATERIALS
EFFICIENCY
ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
ELEMENTS
EQUIPMENT
ETCHING
FABRICATION
FILMS
FLUIDS
FREQUENCY ANALYSIS
GASES
JOINING
JUNCTIONS
LASER BEAM MACHINING
MACHINING
MASSLESS PARTICLES
MATERIALS
MATERIALS TESTING
OPTIMIZATION
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PERFORMANCE TESTING
PHOTOELECTRIC CELLS
PHOTONS
PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
PROGRESS REPORT
QUANTUM EFFICIENCY
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
SEMICONDUCTOR JUNCTIONS
SEMIMETALS
SILICON SOLAR CELLS
SOLAR CELLS
SOLAR EQUIPMENT
SURFACE FINISHING
TESTING
TOPOGRAPHY
VAPORS
ZINC COMPOUNDS
ZINC OXIDES