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Porous Microcrystalline Silicon Solar Cells

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 February 2011

S. P. Duttagupta ,
S. K. Kurinec  and
P. M. Fauchet
S. P. Duttagupta
Affiliation:
Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Rochester, Rochester NY 14627
S. K. Kurinec
Affiliation:
Department of Microelectronic Engineering, R.I.T., Rochester, NY 14623
P. M. Fauchet
Affiliation:
Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Rochester, Rochester NY 14627
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Abstract

We report the fabrication of photovoltaic devices by the anodization of microcrystalline silicon films on single crystal silicon substrates. The porosity of the films was varied from 20% to 60% by changing the anodization conditions. An unetched μc-Si based device was used for reference. The influence of the porosity on the series resistance (Rs), the reflectance, and the spectral response of the devices was studied in detail. In order to determine Rs, the current-voltage characteristics were analyzed, both in the dark and under illumination. We observed that the value of Rs increased from 3.1 Ω to 97 Ω and the value of the reflectance decreased from 24% to 7% when the porosity increased from 20% to 60%. Initially, an optimum device performance (fill factor of 0.53 and efficiency of 7.2%) was achieved for a porosity of 40%, which was about a 40% improvement as compared to the reference (unetched) μc-si based device. Due to a further reduction in Rs by using an intermediate ITO layer and a superior grid-contact architecture, a device efficiency of 10% has been recently achieved.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 452 , 1996 , 625
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1997

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References

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