Influence of p-layer on the performance of n-i-p μc-Si:H thin film solar cells

The high pressure radio frequency plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (RF-PECVD) process was adopted to prepare the n-i-p microcrystalline silicon solar cells,the influence of p-type layers on the performance of the solar cells was investigated,and the optimum p layer suited to the n-i-p microcrystalline silicon solar cells was obtained.The experimental results demonstrate that the performance of the solar cells can be highly affected by the structural and optical properties of the p-layers,and the performance of solar cells can be greatly improved by optimizing p layers.We have achieved an initial active-area efficiency of 8.17% (V oc =0.49 V,J sc =24.9 mA/cm 2 ,FF=67%) for the μc-Si:H single-junction n-i-p solar cells and an initial active-area efficiency of 10.93% (V oc =1.31 V,J sc =13.09 mA/cm 2 ,FF=64%) for the a-Si:H/μc-Si:H tandem n-i-p solar cells.     

The study of a new n/p tunnel recombination junction and its application in a-Si：H/μc-Si：H tandem solar cells

This paper reports that a double N layer (a-Si:H/μc-Si:H) is used to substitute the single microcrystalline silicon n layer (n-μc-Si:H) in n/p tunnel recombination junction between subcells in a-Si:H/μc-Si:H tandem solar cells. The electrical transport and optical properties of these tunnel recombination junctions are investigated by current-voltage measurement and transmission measurement. The new n/p tunnel recombination junction shows a better ohmic contact. In addition, the n/p interface is exposed to the air to examine the effect of oxidation on the tunnel recombination junction performance. The open circuit voltage and FF of a-Si:H/μc-Si:H tandem solar cell are all improved and the current leakage of the subcells can be effectively prevented efficiently when the new n/p junction is implemented as tunnel recombination junction.     

Effect of emitter layer doping concentration on the performance of a silicon thin film heterojunction solar cell

A novel type of n/i/i/p heterojunction solar cell with a-Si:H(15nm)/a-Si:H(10nm)/ epitaxial c-Si(47μm)/epitaxial c-Si(3μm) structure is fabricated by using the layer transfer technique, and the emitter layer is deposited by hot wire chemical vapour deposition. The effect of the doping concentration of the emitter layer S d (Sd =PH3 /(PH3 +SiH4 +H2 )) on the performance of the solar cell is studied by means of current density-voltage and external quantum efficiency. The results show that the conversion efficiency of the solar cell first increases to a maximum value and then decreases with S d increasing from 0.1% to 0.4%. The best performance of the solar cell is obtained at S d = 0.2% with an open circuit voltage of 534 mV, a short circuit current density of 23.35mA/cm2 , a fill factor of 63.3%, and a conversion efficiency of 7.9%.     

The p recombination layer in tunnel junctions for micromorph tandem solar cells

A new tunnel recombination junction is fabricated for n–i–p type micromorph tandem solar cells. We insert a thin heavily doped hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) p + recombination layer between the n a-Si:H and the p hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si:H) layers to improve the performance of the n–i–p tandem solar cells. The effects of the boron doping gas ratio and the deposition time of the p-a-Si:H recombination layer on the tunnel recombination junctions have been investigated. The current-voltage characteristic of the tunnel recombination junction shows a nearly ohmic characteristic, and the resistance of the tunnel recombination junction can be as low as 1.5 ·cm 2 by using the optimized p-a-Si:H recombination layer. We obtain tandem solar cells with open circuit voltage V oc = 1.4 V, which is nearly the sum of the V oc s of the two corresponding single cells, indicating no V oc losses at the tunnel recombination junction.     

Highly surface-textured and conducting ZnO：Al films fabricated from oxygen-deficient target for Cu（In,Ga）Se2 solar cell application

Highly conducting ZnO:Al(AZO) films are normally prepared through substrate heating and post-annealing in reducing atmosphere, which is deleterious to maintain the high transparency of films and the overall solar cell performance. Here we fabricate AZO films through one-step sputtering at room temperature using oxygen-deficient targets prepared via double crucible method. The best-performed AZO film achieves a low resistivity of 4.4 × 10-4 ? cm, a high haze factor of 35.0%, and optimizes the efficiency of Cu(In, Ga)Se2 solar cell with a high value of 14.15%. This letter demonstrates that oxygen deficiency can induce high surface texture, conductivity, and boost solar cell performance.     

Transparent conducting indium-tin-oxide(ITO) film as full front electrode in Ⅲ–Ⅴ compound solar cell

The application of transparent conducting indium-tin-oxide(ITO) film as full front electrode replacing the conventional bus-bar metal electrode in Ⅲ–Ⅴ compound GaInP solar cell was proposed. A high-quality, non-rectifying contact between ITO and 10 nm N~+-GaAs contact layer was formed, which is benefiting from a high carrier concentration of the terrilium-doped N~+-GaAs layer, up to 2×10~(19)cm~(-3). A good device performance of the GaInP solar cell with the ITO electrode was observed. This result indicates a great potential of transparent conducting films in the future fabrication of larger area flexible Ⅲ–Ⅴ solar cell.     

Effect of RF power on the properties of transparent conducting zirconium-doped zinc oxide films prepared by RF magnetron sputtering

Transparent and conducting zirconium-doped zinc oxide films with high transparency and relatively low resistivity have been successfully prepared by radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering at room temperature. The RF power is varied from 75 to 150W. At first the crystallinity and conductivity of the film are improved and then both of them show deterioration with the increase of the RF power. The lowest resistivity achieved is 2.07×10^-3\Omegacm at an RF power of 100W with a Hall mobility of 16cm²V^-1s^-1 and a carrier concentration of 1.95×10²⁰cm^-3. The films obtained are polycrystalline with a hexagonal structure and a preferred orientation along the c-axis. All the films have a high transmittance of approximately 92% in the visible range. The optical band gap is about 3.33eV for the films deposited at different RF powers.     

Improved performance of microcrystalline silicon solar cell with graded-band-gap silicon oxide buffer layer

Microcrystalline silicon(μc-Si:H) solar cell with graded band gap microcrystalline silicon oxide(μc-Si Ox:H) buffer layer is prepared by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition and exhibits improved performance compared with the cell without it. The buffer layer moderates the band gap mismatch by reducing the barrier of the p/i interface, which promotes the nucleation of the i-layer and effectively eliminates the incubation layer, and then enhances the collection efficiency of the cell in the short wavelength region of the spectrum. The p/i interface defect density also decreases from 2.2 × 1012cm-2to 5.0 × 1011cm-2. This graded buffer layer allows to simplify the deposition process for the μc-Si:H solar cell application.     

β-FeSi2 as the bottom absorber of triple-junction thin-film solar cells: A numerical study

Using β-FeSi2 as the bottom absorber of triple-junction thin-film solar cells is investigated by a numerical method for widening the long-wave spectral response. The presented results show that the β-FeSi2 subcell can contribute 0.273 V of open-circuit voltage to the a-Si/μc-Si/β-FeSi2 triple-junction thin-film solar cell. The optimized absorber thicknesses for a- Si, μ-Si, and/3-FeSi2 subcells are 260 nm, 900 nm, and 40 nm, respectively. In addition, the temperature coefficient of the conversion efficiency of the a-Si/μc-Si//3-FeSi2 cell is -0.308 %/K, whose absolute value is only greater than that of the a-Si subcell. This result indicates that the a-Si/μc-Si/β-FeSi2 triple-junction solar cell has a good temperature coefficient. As a result, using β-FeSi2 as the bottom absorber can improve the thin-film solar cell performance, and the a-Si/μc-Si/β-FeSi2 triple-junction solar cell is a promising structure configuration for improving the solar cell efficiency.     

Significant Improvement of Passivation Performance by Two-Step Preparation of Amorphous Silicon Passivation Layers in Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cells

The key feature of amorphous/crystalline silicon heterojunction solar cells is extremely low surface recombination,which is related to superior passivation on the crystalline silicon wafer surface using thin hydrogenated amorphous silicon(a-Si:H)layers,leading to a high open-circuit voltage.In this work,a two-step method of a-Si:H passivation is introduced,showing excellent interface passivation quality,and the highest effective minority carrier lifetime exceeds 4500 μs.By applying a buffer layer deposited through pure silane plasma,the risk of film epitaxial growth and plasma damage caused by hydrogen diluted silane plasma is effectively reduced.Based on this,excellent passivation is realized through the following hydrogen diluted silane plasma process with the application of high density hydrogen.In this process,hydrogen diffuses to a-Si/c-Si interface,saturating residual dangling bonds which are not passivated by the buffer layer.Employing this two-step method,a heterojunction solar cell with an area of 239 cm~2 is prepared,yielding to open-circuit voltage up to 735 mV and total-area efficiency up to 22.4%.     

Reduction of the phosphorus contamination for plasma deposition of p-i-n microcrystalline silicon solar cells in a single chamber

This paper investigates several pretreatment techniques used to reduce the phosphorus contamination between solar cells. They include hydrogen plasma pretreatment, deposition of a p-type doped layer, i-a-Si:H or μc-Si:H covering layer between solar cells. Their effectiveness for the pretreatment is evaluated by means of phosphorus concentration in films, the dark conductivity of p-layer properties and cell performance.     

Preparation and Characterization of Transparent Conductive Nb-Doped ZnO Films by Radio-Frequency Sputtering

Niobium-doped ZnO （NZO） transparent conductive films are deposited on glass substrates by rt sputtering at 300℃. Effects of sputtering power on the structural, morphologie, electrical, and optical properties of NZO films are investigated by x-ray diffraction （XRD）, field emission scanning electron microscopy （FESEM）, Hall measurement, and optical transmission spectroscopy. The obtained films are polycrystalline with a hexagonal wurtzite structure and preferentially oriented in the （002） crystallographic direction. The minimum resistivity of 4.0×10^-4Ω·cm is obtained from the film grown at the sputtering power of 170W. The average optical transmittance of the films is over 90%.     

Effects of deposition pressure and plasma power on the growth and properties of boron-doped microcrystalline silicon films

Using diborane as doping gas, p-doped μc-Si：H layers are deposited by using the plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition （PECVD） technology. The effects of deposition pressure and plasma power on the growth and the properties of μc-Si：H layers are investigated. The results show that the deposition rate, the electrical and the structural properties are all strongly dependent on deposition pressure and plasma power. Boron-doped μc-Si：H films with a dark conductivity as high as 1.42 Ω^-1·cm^-1 and a crystallinity of above 50% are obtained. With this p-layer, μc-Si：H solar cells are fabricated. In addition, the mechanism for the effects of deposition pressure and plasma power on the growth and the properties of boron-doped μc-Si：H layers is discussed.     

非晶Si1-xGex:H薄膜太阳能电池研究

The AMPS-ID program is used to investigate electrical and optical properties of the thin film solar cell of a-SiC:H/a-Si1-xGex:H/a-Si:H. The short circuit current density, open circuit voltage, fill factor and efficiency of the solar cell are investigated. The efficiency of the solar cell is 9.19% as thickness of a-Si1-xGex:H is 340 nm with Ge content x=0.1. In addition, we also discuss the factors which affect solar cell efficiency.     

An All-Thin-Film Electrochromic Device Composed of MoO3--LiBSO--NiOx Multilayer Structure

An all-thin-tilm （ATF） electrochromic device for modulating the optical transmittance is manufactured using magnetron sputtering. The devices consists of MoO3 as the main electrochromic layer, LiBO2 ＋Li2SO4 （LiBSO） as the ion conductor layer, and NiOx as the complementary electrochromic layer. Glass covered with indium tin oxide （ITO） is used as the substrate and the ITO film is used as the bottom electrode. The ITO film deposited on the top of the devices is used as the other electrode. The structure and morphology of the films are characterized by x-ray diffraction （XRD） and scanning electron microscopy （SEM）. The devices exhibit good optical properties with low transmittance values in the coloured state, and the optical modulation is measured by spectrophotometer in the wavelength range from 400 to 800nm. The average visible light transmittance reaches 50.2% and 3.7% in bleached and coloured state, respectively. The results indicate that such a monolithic system has great potential to be applied in smart windows.     

Simulation design of P–I–N-type all-perovskite solar cells with high efficiency

According to the good charge transporting property of perovskite, we design and simulate a p–i–n-type all-perovskite solar cell by using one-dimensional device simulator. The perovskite charge transporting layers and the perovskite absorber constitute the all-perovskite cell. By modulating the cell parameters, such as layer thickness values, doping concentrations and energy bands of n-, i-, and p-type perovskite layers, the all-perovskite solar cell obtains a high power conversion efficiency of 25.84%. The band matched cell shows appreciably improved performance with widen absorption spectrum and lowered recombination rate, so weobtain a high J_(sc) of 32.47 m A/cm~2. The small series resistance of the all-perovskite solar cell also benefits the high J_(sc). The simulation provides a novel thought of designing perovskite solar cells with simple producing process, low production cost and high efficient structure to solve the energy problem.     

Microstructure evolution and passivation quality of hydrogenated amorphous silicon oxide(a-SiOx:H) on〈100〉- and 〈111〉-orientated c-Si wafers

Hydrogenated amorphous silicon oxide(a-SiOx:H) is an attractive passivation material to suppress epitaxial growth and reduce the parasitic absorption loss in silicon heterojunction(SHJ) solar cells. In this paper, a-SiOx:H layers on different orientated c-Si substrates are fabricated. An optimal effective lifetime(τ(eff)) of 4743 μs and corresponding implied opencircuit voltage(iV(oc)) of 724 mV are obtained on〈100〉-orientated c-Si wafers. While τ(eff) of 2429 μs and iV_oc of 699 mV are achieved on 111-orientated substrate. The FTIR and XPS results indicate that the a-SiOx:H network consists of SiOx(Si-rich), Si–OH, Si–O–SiHx, SiO2 ≡ Si–Si, and O3 ≡ Si–Si. A passivation evolution mechanism is proposed to explain the different passivation results on different c-Si wafers. By modulating the a-SiOx:H layer, the planar silicon heterojunction solar cell can achieve an efficiency of 18.15%.     

Intrinsic ZnO films fabricated by DC sputtering from oxygen-deficient targets for Cu(In,Ga)Se_2 solar cell application

Intrinsic zinc oxide films,normally deposited by radio frequency(RF) sputtering,are fabricated by direct current(DC) sputtering.The oxygen-deficient targets are prepared via a newly developed double crucible method.The 800-nm-thick film obtaines significantly higher carrier mobility compareing with that of the 800-nm-thick ZnO film.This is achieved by the widely used RF sputtering,which favors the prevention of carrier recombination at the interfaces and reduction of the series resistance of solar cells.The optimal ZnO film is used in a Cu(ln,Ga) Se2(CIGS) solar cell with a high efficiency of 11.57%.This letter demonstrates that the insulating ZnO films can be deposited by DC sputtering from oxygen-deficient ZnO targets to lower the cost of thin film solar cells.     

Annealing induced refinement on optical transmission and electrical resistivity of indium tin oxide

The effect of annealing condition on sputtered indium tin oxide （ITO） films on quartz with the thickness of 200 nm is characterized to show enhanced optical transparency and optimized electrical contact resistivity. The as-deposited grown ITO film exhibits only 65% and 80% transmittance at 532 and 632.8 nm, respectively. After annealing at 475 ℃ for 15 min, the ITO film is refined to show improved transmittance at shorter wavelength region. The transmittances of 88.1% at 532 nm and 90.4% at 632.8 nm can be obtained. The 325-nm transmittance of the post-annealed ITO film is greatly increased from 12.7% to 41.9%. Optimized electrical property can be obtained when annealing below 450 ℃, leading to a minimum sheet resistance of 26 Ω/square. Such an ITO film with enhanced ultraviolet （UV） transmittance has become an alternative candidate for applications in current UV photonic devices. The morphology and conductance of the as-deposited and annealed ITO films are determined by using an atomic force microscopy （AFM）, showing a great change on the uniformity distribution with finite improvement on the surface conductance of the ITO film after annealing.     

Thickness Dependence of Resistivity and Optical Reflectance of ITO Films

Indium-tin-oxide （ITO） films deposited on crystalline silicon wafer and Corning glass are prepared by directcurrent magnetron sputtering method at room temperature with various thicknesses. The thickness dependences of structure, resistance and optical refectance of ITO films are characterized. The results show that when the film thickness is less than 40 nm, the resistivity and optical reflectance of the ITO film changes remarkably with thickness. The optoelectrical properties trend to stabilize when the thickness is over 55 nm. The GXRD result implies that the ITO film begins to crystallize if only the thickness is large enough.