数值模拟p/i界面对微晶硅薄膜太阳电池性能的影响

采用美国宾州大学开发的AMPS(Analysis of Microelectronic and Photonic Structures)软件模拟了p/i界面缺陷态密度(Npt/i)和非晶孵化层厚度(d)对pin型氢化微晶硅(μc-Si:H)薄膜太阳电池性能的影响.结果表明:随着Npt/i的增大,电池的开路电压Voc和填充因子FF单调减小,短路电流Jsc基本不变;随着d的增大,Jsc和FF单调减小,Voc反而增大;Npt/i和d值的增大均会导致电池光电转换效率η下降.通过对电池内部的电场及能带的分析,对上述模拟结果进行了解释.     

本征微晶硅薄膜和微晶硅电池的制备及其特性研究

本文对VHF-PECVD制备的本征微晶硅薄膜和电池进行了电学特性和结构特性方面的测试分析研究.电学测试结果给出制备薄膜的激活能为0.51eV,符合电池对材料的电学参数要求;拉曼散射谱测试结果计算得到样品的晶化率为63;;X射线衍射结果也证明材料晶化,同时(220)方向择优;首次在国内用VHF-PECVD方法制备出效率为5;的微晶硅电池(Jsc=21mA/cm2,Voc=0.46V,FF=51;,Area=0.253cm2).     

Characterization of thin‐film a‐Si:H/µc‐Si:H tandem solar cells on glass substrates

Techniques, such as photoluminescence (PL) and electron‐beam‐induced current (EBIC), have already proven their effectiveness and applicability for solar materials. Although, the methods are standard techniques for multicrystalline Si PV, their application to thin films is challenging and requires special adjustment and a careful selection of the measuring parameters. Here we report on the investigation of thin‐film tandem solar cells consisting of hydrogenated amorphous (a‐Si:H) and microcrystalline silicon (µc‐Si:H) on glass substrates. We observe a homogeneous spatial distribution of the PL signals caused by the dominance of the surface recombination. A typical PL spectrum exhibits sub‐band gap features of a‐Si:H. We relate the sub‐band‐gap spectral features mainly to transitions of carriers trapped in deep states. Observations on partially processed stacks support this supposition. PL is only detectable on the a‐Si:H layer, while EBIC signal is generated mainly in the µc‐Si:H layer. It is found out that the luminescence features of the thin a‐Si:H layer resemble those on bulk a‐Si:H.     

电阻蒸发铝薄膜结构及其对非晶硅太阳电池性能的影响

本文首先采用电阻蒸发法制备了不同厚度的Al薄膜,并选择了两个典型厚度的Al薄膜制备工艺来制备非晶硅太阳电池的Al背电极,研究了Al背电极厚度对电池性能的影响.结果表明,Al背电极的厚度由800nm减薄到70nm时,电池的Voc平均值由0.826V增加到0.829V,电池的Jsc平均值由11.747mA/cm2减小到11.318 mA/cm2,电池的FF平均值由0.701增加到0.728,而电池效率的平均值略有增加,由6.803;增加到6.833;.用扫描电镜(SEM)和X射线衍射(XRD)研究了玻璃衬底上蒸发的Al薄膜和非晶硅电池Al背电极表面形貌和微观结构的变化,分析了电池性能随Al背电极厚度变化的原因.     

CsGeI3空穴传输层平面异质结钙钛矿太阳电池的模拟优化

采用AFORS-HET软件对CsGeI3空穴传输层(Hole Transport Material, HTM)平面异质结钙钛矿太阳电池进行了模拟,TiO2作为电子传输层,CH3NH3PbI3作为光吸收层,C作为背电极,分别讨论了钙钛矿光吸收层厚度、缺陷浓度,光吸收层/HTM界面态密度和HTM对太阳电池性能参数的影响.模拟优化得到CsGeI3 HTM的PSCs最佳性能参数为:Voc=1.199 V,Jsc=22.2 mA·cm-2,FF=86.22;,PCE=22.95;,效率虽略低于spiro作为HTM的器件,但考虑生产工艺和制备成本,CsGeI3作为HTM的PSCs将具有更好的应用前景.     

绒面ZnO/Si异质结太阳能电池的初步研究

以p型单晶硅<100>作为衬底材料,通过化学腐蚀法得到硅绒面表面结构,采用喷雾热解法沉积掺Al的ZnO薄膜于绒面硅上,结合微电子光刻、磁控溅射和真空蒸镀等工艺制作上、下表面电极,于400 ℃氮气氛围下快速退火合金,得到Ag/Ti/n-ZnO/p-Si/Al异质结太阳能电池.对电池样品进行了原子力显微镜、霍尔效应测试、X射线衍射谱、电流电压特性等分析.得到电池最佳性能为:开路电压V_(oc)=355 mV,短路电流I_(sc)=36 mA,填充因子FF=0.41,电池效率达到5.2;.绒面异质结构有效降低了电池表面的光反射,相对增加了p-n结的有效面积,电池效率得到一定程度的提高.ZnO与Si界面之间SiO_2层的存在是目前影响电池效率的主要因素.     

温度对CIGS太阳电池输出特性的影响

温度特性是太阳电池的一个重要特征,本文研究了Cu(In,Ga)Se2(CIGS)薄膜太阳电池的输出特性随温度变化(120~260K))的规律.发现,随着温度升高,开路电压Voc明显降低,温度系数为-1.08mV/K,短路电流Isc小幅升高,温度系数为0.01401mA/K.这是因为:随着温度上升,禁带宽度下降,暗电流增加,造成开路电压的降低;更多的光生载流子被激发,串联电阻有所下降,使得短路电流增加.两者共同作用,电池效率有所下降.     

The case for sharp band edges in amorphous Ge and Si

Must the absence of long range order alone result in the loss of well defined valence and conduction band edges in the density of states? The available experimental data for amorphous Ge and Si is examined. It is concluded that, for samples where the density of microvoids and other extrinsic defects are kept sufficiently small, the experimental data strongly suggests sharp band edges.     

Photoelectrochemical solar cells: Stabilization of small band GAP semiconductor in aqueous solution by surface-attached organic conducting polymer

Surface-attached polypyrrole films have been shown to produce a marked improvement in the stability of n-type single-crystal and polycrystalline Si against oxidation in an aqueous electrolyte. The current production of n-type polycrystalline Si coated with polypyrrole deteriorates less than 30% during 122 hr of irradiation whereas the unprotected bare electrode stops producing photocurrent within 30 s. The polymer protection of the n-type single-crystal Si is significantly less than that of the polycrystalline material because of differences in the adhesion of the polymer film to the electrode surfaces. The adhesion strength is shown to depend on various surface properties of Si and other electrode materials. Moreover, the surface morphology of the electrode affects the topography of the growing surface of the polypyrrole film. Requirements are discussed for the applications of organic conducting polymers to photoelectrochemical devices utilized for solar energy conversion.     

Influence of surface treatments on crystalline germanium heterojunction solar cell characteristics

Hydrogenated amorphous Si (a-Si:H) has been applied to crystalline germanium (c-Ge) heterojunction solar cells and the influence of the surface treatments applied before a-Si:H deposition process has been studied. We found that PH₃ exposure treatment after surface oxide removal by annealing is effective to improve c-Ge heterojunction solar cell performance. The conversion efficiency of the c-Ge heterojunction solar cell applied PH₃ exposure treatment was up to 5.29% and the solar cell had better temperature coefficient than the c-Ge homojunction solar cell. These results suggest that the c-Ge substrate surface after oxide removal by annealing is covered with negatively charged dangling bonds, and the phosphorus adsorbed onto the c-Ge surface provides electron as a donor and corrects the band bending induced by negatively charged dangling bonds.     

实现受激光发射探索Si基激光器

本文首先评论了近5年来各类Si基纳米材料在光增益和受激光发射特性研究方面所取得的最新进展.进而指出,晶粒有序的小尺寸和高密度纳米晶Si(nc-Si),具有载流子三维量子受限的局域化纳米结构和具有高激活浓度Er掺杂的nc-Si:Er/SiO2纳米薄膜,将是实现Si基激光器的主要有源区材料.最后,对这一领域的今后发展趋势进行了初步展望.预计在今后的3～5年内,实现Si基激光器的探索性研究高潮即将到来,并极有可能获得重大突破性进展,即在进一步提高发光效率的基础上,实现稳定可靠的光增益和受激光发射特性.而后再用3～5年的时间,通过优化结构形式与工艺技术,研制出具有器件实用化水平的Si基激光器.     

Modeling of energy bands in ultra-thin layer quantum nanostructures for solar cell applications

In this paper we propose a simple calculation of the energy band in nano-structured meta-materials based on ultra-thin periodic Si/SiO₂ layers (quantum-well superlattice) for third-generation solar cell application. For this purpose, the Schrödinger equation (with periodic Bloch's conditions) is numerically solved considering the exact potential profiles of both the valence and conduction bands of the Si/SiO₂ system. This method allows us to analyze the carrier energy band structure and to extract the essential electronic properties (bandgaps, miniband widths) of such 1-D periodic nanostructures. The energy band structure and more particularly the meta-material bandgap is found to strongly depend on quantum well thickness and spacing.     

Irradiation effects on the OH-related infrared absorption band in synthetic wet silica

The effects of β-irradiation on the OH-related infrared (IR) absorption band in synthetic wet silica samples have been investigated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Depending on the accumulated doses, β-irradiation affects different zones of the IR composite band at about 3670 cm⁻¹, assigned to the OH stretching modes of silanol groups. These modifications are independent of the original OH content. The results are discussed considering possible radiation-induced changes of the silanol bonding configuration and of the glass network. These are monitored by revealing the IR band a 2260 cm⁻¹, which is related to the distribution of Si–O–Si bond angle. We have identified the existence of two regimes as a function of radiation dose; low radiation doses produce the reduction of the Si-OH hydrogen-bonded states in favor of the isolated ones, while the opposite effect is observed at higher doses, where the formation of H-bonded pairs seems to be favored.     

Alternative designs for nanocrystalline silicon solar cells

We discuss the use of two alternative design techniques for enhancing the performance of nanocrystalline Si solar cells. The first technique involves the use of alternating layers of nanocrystalline and amorphous silicon, where the amorphous silicon layer is used to effectively passivate the grain boundaries in nano Si. We show that the use of amorphous Si layer increases photon absorption and leads to higher quantum efficiency in infrared wavelength. The second design involves enhancing the grains in nano Si by growing at higher temperatures, followed by anneal in a hydrogen plasma to preserve grain boundary passivation. This technique results in significant improvement in infrared quantum efficiency of solar cells while preserving good electronic properties.     

Thermoelectric power of amorphous compound semiconductors

Thermoelectric power measurements as a function of temperature have been made on four V–VI amorphous chalcogenides, ten IV–VI amorphous chalcogenides of the Ge_xTe_1?x system, and five amorphous IV–V materials. In the IV–V and the intermediate composition IV–VI materials, the charge transport cannot be described on the basis of conduction at only one energy level. The former exhibit characteristics of conduction both in extended states and in localized states at the Fermi level. Transport in the V–VI materials can be formally described in terms of conduction at one level in either the chaotic band or the small polaron models, but the use of a two-channel model with transport simultaneously in both p-type extended and localized states seems the most promising.     

Substrate engineering for high efficiency thin film solar cells

The design considerations for a spectra modifying, light scattering layer for amorphous silicon solar cells were investigated. Efficient commercially available phosphors absorb one near IR photon and one near UV photon and emit one photon in the visible spectrum. Thereby such phosphors offer the possibility to convert two poorly utilized portions of the solar spectrum to photons that are converted to electric energy with high quantum efficiency in amorphous silicon-based solar cells. Large band gap, conductive, a-SiC:H and a-SiN:H are attractive matrices for phosphors as scattered light and emitted photons are thereby directed towards the underlying solar cell structure.     

Band offsets of high dielectric constant gate oxides on silicon

High dielectric constant oxides will soon be needed to replace silicon dioxide as the gate dielectric material in complementary metal oxide semiconductor technology. The oxides must have band offsets with silicon of over 1 eV for both electrons and holes in order to have low leakage currents. We have calculated the band offsets for many candidate oxides using the method of charge neutrality levels. Ta₂O₅ and SrTiO₃ have small or vanishing conduction band offsets on Si. La₂O₃, Y₂O₃, Gd₂O₃, ZrO₂, HfO₂, Al₂O₃ and silicates like ZrSiO₄ have offsets over 1.4 eV for both electrons and holes, making them better gate dielectrics. Zirconates are better than titanates as they have wider gaps.     

Photoluminescence properties of erbium-doped structures of silicon nanocrystals in silicon dioxide matrix

We present a study of the photoluminescence (PL) of structures of Si nanocrystals (nc-Si) in erbium-doped amorphous silicon dioxide. It is shown that the energy of excitons confined in nc-Si of 2–5 nm sizes is efficiently transferred to Er³⁺ ions in surrounding SiO₂ and a strong PL line at 1.5 μm appears. At high excitation intensity the population inversion of Er³⁺ ion states is achieved. These results demonstrate good perspectives of Er-doped nc-Si/SiO₂ structures for possible applications in Si-based optical amplifiers and lasers.     

Femtosecond transmission studies of n-type and p-type hydrogenated amorphous silicon pumped in the exponential band tails

The results of transient transmission studies utilizing femtosecond laser pulses on n-type and p-type hydrogenated amorphous silicon are presented. In these studies, both the pump and probe photon energies are tuned through the exponential band tail region. The responses of the different materials are quite different, allowing the technique to clearly distinguish between them. It is shown that while recombination is dominant in intrinsic a-Si:H, trapping becomes important in the doped material. A model of the experimental results gives additional insight into the density of states in the band tail region.     

Defect levels in the band gap of amorphous selenium

Energy locations in the band gap have been determined for the thermally accessible levels of the negative-U defect centers in amorphous selenium. Both the temperature dependence of the steady-state photocurrents, and an analysis of emission currents in the post-transit regime of a time-of-flight transient photoconductivity experiment on the same samples, agree on the presence of defect levels at (0.42 ± 0.04) eV above the valence band mobility edge and (0.53 ± 0.06) eV below the conduction band. Both measured current levels and the resolved energy positions of the defects are subject to the Poole-Frenkel effect.