Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-25wd4 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T11:24:37.881Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Optical developments for silicon thin film solar cells in the substrate configuration

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2011

Thomas Soderstrom ,
Franz-Joseph Haug ,
Xavier Niquille ,
Oscar Cubero ,
Stéphanie Perregaux  and
Christophe Ballif
Thomas Soderstrom
Affiliation:
thomas.soderstrom@unine.ch, IMT/UNINE, PV-LAB, Breguet 2, Neuchâtel, 2000, Switzerland, +41327183371
Franz-Joseph Haug
Affiliation:
franz-josef.haug@unine.ch, IMT/UNINE, Rue A.-L. Breguet 2, Neuchâtel, 2000, Switzerland
Xavier Niquille
Affiliation:
xavier.niquille@unine.ch, IMT/UNINE, Rue A.-L. Breguet 2, Neuchâtel, 2000, Switzerland
Oscar Cubero
Affiliation:
oscar.cubero@unine.ch, IMT/UNINE, Rue A.-L. Breguet 2, Neuchâtel, 2000, Switzerland
Stéphanie Perregaux
Affiliation:
fanny.perregaux@unine.ch, IMT/UNINE, Rue A.-L. Breguet 2, Neuchâtel, 2000, Switzerland
Christophe Ballif
Affiliation:
ballif@unine.ch, IMT/UNINE, Rue A.-L. Breguet 2, Neuchâtel, 2000, Switzerland
Get access

Abstract

In the nip or substrate configuration thin film silicon solar cells, the choice of front TCO contact is critical because there is a trade off between its transparency which influences the current in the solar cell and its conductivity which influences the series resistance. Here, we investigate the optical behavior of two different TCO front contacts, either a 70 nm thick, nominally flat ITO or a 2 μm thick rough LPCVD ZnO. The back contact consists of LP-CVD ZnO with random texture. First we investigate the influence of the rough and flat front TCOs in μc-Si:H and a-Si:H solar cells. With the back contact geometries used in this work, the antireflection properties of ITO are effective at providing as much light trapping as the rough LP-CVD ZnO. In the second part, we demonstrate that total of 25 to 26 mA/cm2is achievable in nip micromorph tandem cells and show short circuit current up to 11.7 mA/cm2 using an SIO based intermediate reflector.

Keywords

photovoltaicthin filmamorphous
Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 1101: Symposium KK – Light Management in Photovoltaic Devices–Theory and Practice , 2008 , 1101-KK04-05
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

[1] Banerjee, A. and Guha, S. Journal of Applied Physics 69 (1991) 1030.Google Scholar
[2] Bailat, J. Terrazzoni-Daudrix, V., Guillet, J. Freitas, F. Niquille, X. Shah, A. Ballif, C. Scharf, T., Morf, R. Hansen, A. Fischer, D. Ziegler, Y. and Closset, A. 20th European PVSEC (2005)Google Scholar
[3] Ichikawa, Y. Fujikake, S. Ohta, H. Sasaki, T. and Sakai, H. Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 1991., Conference Record of the Twenty Second IEEE (1991) 1296.Google Scholar
[4] Saito, K. Sano, M. Matuda, K. Kondo, T. Nishimoto, T. Ogawa, K. and Kajita, I. Proc. 2nd World Conf. Vienna (1998) 351.Google Scholar
[5] Yan, B. Yue, G. Owens, J. M. Yang, J. and Guha, S. Conference Record of the 2006 IEEE 4th World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion (IEEE Cat. No. 06CH37747) (2006) 4 pp.Google Scholar
[6] Söderström, T., Haug, F.-J. Terrazzoni-Daudrix, V., Niquille, X. Perregeaux, S. Fahland, M., and Ballif, C. Proc. 22nd European PVSEC (2007)Google Scholar
[7] Staebler, D. L. and Wronski, C. R. Applied Physics Letters 31 (1977) 292.Google Scholar
[8] Fay, S. Kroll, U. Bucher, C. Vallat-Sauvain, E., and Shah, A. Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells 86 (2005) 385.Google Scholar
[9] Steinhauser, J. Faÿ, S., Oliveira, N. Vallat-Sauvain, E., and Ballif, C. Applied Physics Letters 90 (2007) 142107.Google Scholar
[10] Steinhauser, J. Feitknecht, L. Faÿ, S., Schlüchter, R., Shah, A. Ballif, C. Springer, J. Mullerova-Hodakova, L., Purkrt, A. Poruba, A. and Vanecek, M. Proceedings of the 20th EU Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference (2005) pp. 1608.Google Scholar
[11] Dominé, D., Bailat, J. Steinhauser, J. Shah, A. and Ballif, C. in 4th World PVSEC, Hawaii, 2006, p. 1465.Google Scholar
[12] Bailat, J. Domine, D. Schluchter, R. Steinhauser, J. Fay, S. Freitas, F. Bucher, C. Feitknecht, L., Niquille, X. Tscharner, T. Shah, A. and Ballif, C. Conference Record of the 2006 IEEE 4th World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion (IEEE Cat. No. 06CH37747) (2006) 4 pp.Google Scholar
[13] Buehlmann, P. Bailat, J. Domine, D. Billet, A. Meillaud, F. Feltrin, A. and Ballif, C. Applied Physics Letters 91 (2007) 143505.Google Scholar
[14] Ichikawa, M. Meguro, T. Sezaki, F. Kuchiyama, T. Yoshikawa, K. and Yamamoto, K. Technical Digest of the International PVSEC-17, Fukuoka, Japan, 2007 Google Scholar