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Photovoltaic Device Applications of Porous Silicon

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2011

Y. S. Tsuo ,
M. J. Heben ,
X. Wu ,
Y. Xiao ,
C. A. Moore ,
P. Verlinden  and
S. K. Deb
Y. S. Tsuo
Affiliation:
National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, CO 80401
M. J. Heben
Affiliation:
National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, CO 80401
X. Wu
Affiliation:
National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, CO 80401
Y. Xiao
Affiliation:
National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, CO 80401
C. A. Moore
Affiliation:
University of Denver, Denver, CO 80208
P. Verlinden
Affiliation:
SunPower Corp., Sunnyvale, CA 94086
S. K. Deb
Affiliation:
National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, CO 80401
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Abstract

We report on the results of our investigation of using porous Si to enhance the performance of crystalline silicon photovoltaic solar cells. Possible approaches include using the porous Si for (1) surface texturing to enhance light trapping, (2) front or back surface fields because of its wider bandgap, and (3) photon color conversion of blue light to longer wavelengths that have higher quantum efficiency in a Si solar cell. In our surface texturing study, a porous-Si-covered single-crystal Si wafer showed an integrated reflectance of only 1.4% at 500-nm wavelength compared to about 40% for a polished Si surface. For our solar cell study, we used a point-contact cell structure with diffused p+ and n+ point contacts on the back of the cell. This cell structure allows us to form the porous Si on the front surface after both the junction formation and the evaporation and alloying of metal contacts.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 283: Symposium F – Microcrystalline Semiconductors–Materials Science and Devices , 1992 , 405
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1993

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References

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