Process research on polycrystalline silicon material (PROPSM). Final technical report

Technical Report · Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1984

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6031521· OSTI ID:6031521

Culik, J. S.; Wrigley, C. Y.

Recent reported results of hydrogen-passivated polycrystalline silicon solar cells are summarized. Most of the studies have been performed on very small grain or short minority-carrier diffusion length silicon. Hydrogenated solar cells fabricated from this material appear to have effective minority-carrier diffusion lengths that are still not very long, as shown by the open-circuit voltages of passivated cells that are still significantly less than those of single-crystal solar cells. The short-circuit current of solar cells fabricated from large-grain cast polycrystalline silicon is nearly equivalent to that of single-crystal cells, which indicates long bulk minority-carrier diffusion length. However, the open-circuit voltage, which is sensitive to grain boundary recombination, is sometimes 20 to 40 mV less. The goal of this program was to minimize variations in open-circuit voltage and fill-factor caused by defects by passivating these defects using a hydrogenation process. Treatments with molecular hydrogen showed no effect on large-grain cast polycrystalline silicon solar cells. The program was terminated prior to the planned plasma hydrogenation (atomic hydrogen) phase due to a reduction in personnel available for the contract effort.

• Research Organization: Solarex Corp., Rockville, MD (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: NAS-7-100-956698
• OSTI ID: 6031521
• Report Number(s): DOE/JPL/956698-84/4; ON: DE85006570
• Resource Relation: Other Information: Portions are illegible in microfiche products. Original copy available until stock is exhausted
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
SILICON SOLAR CELLS
PASSIVATION
PERFORMANCE
ELECTRIC CURRENTS
ELECTRIC POTENTIAL
FABRICATION
HYDROGEN
POLYCRYSTALS
CRYSTALS
CURRENTS
DIRECT ENERGY CONVERTERS
ELEMENTS
EQUIPMENT
NONMETALS
PHOTOELECTRIC CELLS
PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS
SOLAR CELLS
SOLAR EQUIPMENT
140501* - Solar Energy Conversion- Photovoltaic Conversion