Large area silicon sheet by EFG. Second quarterly report, April 1, 1977--June 30, 1977

Technical Report · Wed Jun 15 00:00:00 EDT 1977

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/7089351· OSTI ID:7089351

Wald, F. V.

During the quarter on which this document reports significant amounts of 2'' wide ribbon have been grown from both growth systems at speeds up to 2''/min. Solar cells prepared from the material have shown conversion efficiencies up to 8% (AM1). Thus, it is believed that the basic effort to produce reasonably clean conditions in these resistance heated furnaces has succeeded. However, the ribbons produced show a cross-sectional structure which is significantly different from that of induction furnace grown ribbon (1'' wide at a rate of 1''/min). Also, the ribbon produced in this program has unusually large inhomogeneities across its width. Some hypotheses to explain both of these features are advanced and the possible implications for solar cell performance are touched upon. The multiple ribbon growth system (JPL No. 3A) has shown a number of flaws with respect to the reliability of the basic furnace design. These definitely need to be rectified before any significant demonstration of multiple ribbon growth can proceed. The cartridges, however, have performed quite well. The work on 3'' cartridge design and automatic controls has proceeded nearly on schedule and the report contains a detailed description of the approach and the equipment to be used for automatic control of ribbon width.

• Research Organization: Mobil Tyco Solar Energy Corp., Waltham, Mass. (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: NAS-7-100-954355
• OSTI ID: 7089351
• Report Number(s): ERDA/JPL/954355-77/2
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
SILICON
CRYSTAL GROWTH
SILICON SOLAR CELLS
FABRICATION
AUTOMATION
CONTROL EQUIPMENT
DIFFUSION LENGTH
FURNACES
IMPURITIES
PLANNING
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
SHEETS
DIRECT ENERGY CONVERTERS
ELEMENTS
PHOTOELECTRIC CELLS
PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS
SEMIMETALS
SOLAR CELLS
140501* - Solar Energy Conversion- Photovoltaic Conversion