Influence of the broken symmetry of defect state distribution at the a-Si:H/c-Si interface on the performance of hetero-junction solar cells

Taking into account the fact that the distribution of defect states at the interface does not have strictly symmetrical shape, we present a simulation study of a-Si:H(n)/c-Si(p) and a-Si:H(p)/c-Si(n) structures with regard to the defect states at the interface, band offsets and doping concentration of the emitter. The presented results suggest for a-Si:H(n)/c-Si(p) solar cells a strong influence of the introduced broken symmetry between acceptor and donor defect states on the open-circuit voltage, whereas the a-Si:H(p)/c-Si(n) structure benefits from inherent favorable band alignment and remains unaffected.     

Design of multiple layered a-Si:H(F)/a-SiGex:H(F) films for enhancement in photoresponse in the near-infrared spectrum

Photo-electric properties of a-Si:H(F)/a-SiGe_x:H(F) multilayer films were investigated by measurements of optical absorption, and photoconductivity in both steady and transient modes with the repetition length and the difference in the optical gap between a-Si:H(F) and a-SiGe_x:H(F) as the variables. Measurements of primary photocurrent clarified that photosensitivity for the multilayer films extended to longer wavelengths of around 725 nm, while high resistivity was maintained despite of lowering the band gap.The drift mobility of electrons was measured by the time-of-flight technique, showing 10^–2-10^–3 cm²/Vs, while the drift mobility-lifetime products of electron was maintained to be 10^–7 cm²/V. On the other hand, the drift mobility of holes was 10^–3 cm²/Vs, which was the similar magnitude to that of a-Si:H(F).     

Excitation wavelength dependence of luminescence spectra of a-Si:H

We report large shifts in the photoluminescence spectrum of a-Si:H as the excitation energy is reduced below ～1.8 eV. The shifts in the position of maxima are equal to approximately half the change in excitation energy. Another interesting feature of the data is a sharp high energy cutoff of the spectrum, also at ～1.8 eV, when excited above that energy.     

MBE growth of SiGe with high Ge content for optical applications

The molecular beam epitaxy is a powerful technology for integrating optoelectronic devices in standard Si microelectronics. The MBE growth of high speed germanium detectors is discussed. The necessary lattice accommodation between Si and Ge is realized by an ultra thin virtual substrate. Contact layers with very high doping concentration and very sharp transitions are grown with special doping strategies. As special growth method the differential epitaxy allows the growth of epitaxial layers in oxide windows.     

Optimized spacer layer thickness for plasmonic-induced enhancement of photocurrent in a-Si:H

Journal of Nanoparticle Research - Plasmonic interfaces consisting of silver nanoparticles of different sizes (50–100&;nbsp;nm) have been processed by the self-assembled dewetting...     

p型纳米硅与a-Si∶H不锈钢底衬nip太阳电池

报道了选用厚度为0.05mm的不锈钢箔作衬底,B掺杂P型氢化纳米硅作窗口层,制备成功开路电压和填充因子分别达到0.90V和0.70的nip非晶硅基薄膜单结太阳电池.UV VIS透射谱和微区Raman谱证实所用p层具有典型氢化纳米硅的宽能隙和含有硅结晶颗粒的微结构特征.明确指出导致这种氢化纳米硅能隙展宽的物理机制是量子尺寸效应.     

Low energy excitation of photoluminescence in a-Si:H : Temperature and intensity effects

Photoluminescence (PL) spectra from both glow discharge and sputtered a-Si:H are reported, excited with photons of energies between 2.4eV and 1.55eV. Low energy excitation produces a red shifted PL spectrum, which responds quite differently to changes of temperature compared with PL excited by above-gap photons. With rising temperature, the peak moves more slowly to lower energies, the efficiency falls less rapidly, and the kinetics are bimolecular even at the lowest excitation intensities. We compare two possible models to explain these effects, one based on a thermalisation gap and the other on two centre emission.     

Numerical simulation of blue InGaN light-emitting diodes with polarization-matched AlGaInN electron-blocking layer and barrier layer

The effect of polarization-matched AlGaInN electron-blocking layer and barrier layer on the optical performance of blue InGaN light-emitting diodes is numerically investigated. The polarization-matched AlGaInN electron-blocking layer and barrier layer are employed in an attempt to reduce the polarization effect inside the active region of the light-emitting diodes. The simulation results show that the polarization-matched AlGaInN electron-blocking layer is beneficial for confining the electrons inside the quantum well region. With the use of both polarization-matched AlGaInN electron-blocking layer and barrier layer, the optical performance of blue InGaN light-emitting diodes is greatly improved due to the increased overlap of electron and hole wavefunctions. The method proposed in this paper can also be applied to the light-emitting diodes operating in other spectral range.     

Double layer a-Si:H/SiN:H deposited at low temperature for the passivation of N-type silicon

This work shows the influence of conditioning the Bi target previous to the pulsed laser deposition of Bi nanocomposite films on their optical and thermo-optical properties. The nanostructured films prepared by alternate pulsed laser deposition at room temperature in vacuum consist of Bi nanostructures (NSs) with different characteristic sizes that are organized in layers and embedded in an amorphous Al₂O₃ host. Preablation of the Bi target prior to deposition leads to higher Bi concentration and Bi NSs with larger average sizes. As a result a lower optical transmission and an enhanced thermo-optical contrast are observed.     

原位等离子体逐层氧化a-Si:H/SiO2多层膜的光致发光研究

采用在等离子体增强化学汽相沉积系统中沉积a-Si:H和原位等离子体逐层氧化的方法制备a-Si:H/SiO2多层膜.改变a-Si:H层的厚度，首次在室温下观察到来自a-Si:H/SiO2多层膜较强的蓝色光致发光和从465到435nm的蓝移.x射线能谱证明，SiO2层是化学配比的SiO2；C-V特性表明，a-Si:H/SiO2界面得到了很好的钝化；透射电子显微镜表明，样品形成了界面陡峭的多层结构.结合光吸收谱和光致发光谱的研究，对其发光机理进行了讨论.用一维量子限制模型对光致发光峰随着a-Si:H层厚度的减小 关键词： a-Si:H/SiO2多层膜 光致发光     

A thin-film transistor with a very thin a-Si:H layer and its application for an LC panel

One of the disadvantages of applying an a-Si:H thin-film transistor (TFT) to an active matrix-addressed liquid crystal (LC) panel is that a TFT with an a-Si:H has a very large photo-leakage current because of the high photo-conductivity of an a-Si:H itself.We have tried decreasing the photo-leakage current by varying the thickness of an a-Si:H layer (L) in TFTs and investigated the characteristics of TFTs, mainly drain voltage versus drain current containing photo-leakage current (I _ph).As a result, it is shown that lnI _ph is proportional to InL, and its gradient is 1.5–2.0. We assume that the thinner an a-Si:H layer is, the more effective the recombination of carriers at the interface states is forI _ph.We have applied TFT with a very thin a-Si:H layer (30nm) to a full-color active matrix-addressed LC panel for a moving picture display and realized a display of good quality under illuminated condition of 5×10⁴lx without a shading layer in it.     

含有本征SiGe层的SiGe异质结双极晶体管集电结耗尽层宽度模型

本文分别建立了含有本征SiGe层的SiGe HBT(异质结双极晶体管)集电结耗尽层各区域的电势、电场分布模型,并在此基础上,建立了集电结耗尽层宽度和延迟时间模型,对该模型进行了模拟仿真,定量地分析了SiGe HBT物理、电学参数对集电结耗尽层宽度和延迟时间的影响,随着基区掺杂浓度和集电结反偏电压的提高,集电结耗尽层延迟时间也随之增大,而随着集电区掺杂浓度的提高和基区Ge组分增加,集电结耗尽层延迟时间随之减小. 关键词： SiGe HBT 集电结耗尽层 延迟时间     

Device and performance parameters of Cu(In,Ga)(Se,S)2-based solar cells with varying i-ZnO layer thickness

In pursuit of low-cost and highly efficient thin film solar cells, Cu(In,Ga)(Se,S)₂/CdS/i-ZnO/ZnO:Al (CIGSS) solar cells were fabricated using a two-step process. The thickness of i-ZnO layer was varied from 0 to 454 nm. The current density-voltage (J-V) characteristics of the devices were measured, and the device and performance parameters of the solar cells were obtained from the J-V curves to analyze the effect of varying i-ZnO layer thickness. The device parameters were determined using a parameter extraction method that utilized particle swarm optimization. The method is a curve-fitting routine that employed the two-diode model. The J-V curves of the solar cells were fitted with the model and the parameters were determined. Results show that as the thickness of i-ZnO was increased, the average efficiency and the fill factor (FF) of the solar cells increase. Device parameters reveal that although the series resistance increased with thicker i-ZnO layer, the solar cells absorbed more photons resulting in higher short-circuit current density (J_sc) and, consequently, higher photo-generated current density (J_L). For solar cells with 303-454 nm-thick i-ZnO layer, the best devices achieved efficiency between 15.24% and 15.73% and the fill factor varied between 0.65 and 0.67.     

Thermal annealing of a-Si:H/a-SiNx:H multilayers

The crystallinity of Si/SiN_x multilayers annealed by a rapid thermal process and furnace annealing is investigated by a Raman-scattering technique and transmission electron microscopy. It is found that the crystallization temperature varies from 900 °C to 1000 °C when the thickness of a-Si:H decreases from 4.0 nm to 2.0 nm. Raman measurements imply that the high crystallization temperature for the a-Si:H sublayers originates from the confinement modulated by the interfaces between a-Si:H and a-SiN_x:H. In addition to the annealing temperature, the thermal process also plays an important role in crystallization of a-Si sublayers. The a-Si:H sublayers thinner than 4.0 nm can not be crystallized by furnace annealing for 30 min, even when the annealing temperature is as high as 1000 °C. In contrast, rapid thermal annealing is advantageous for nucleation and crystallization. The origin of process-dependent crystallization in constrained a-Si:H is briefly discussed. Received: 11 April 2001 / Accepted: 20 June 2001 / Published online: 30 August 2001     

Photo-induced degradation of a-Si: H diodes with an nin structure

Diodes with an nin structure consisting of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) exhibit space-charge-limited currents. We subjected some diodes to both illumination and voltage stresses. Only the illumination treatment led to a degradation of the I(U)-characteristics. The degradation is reversible by annealing. We deduce from these findings that metastable traps are created by recombining photocarriers rather than by single-carrier trapping. The reversible diode degradation is consistent with the Staebler-Wronski effect.     

Current-voltage analysis of a-Si:H Schottky diodes

Direct current (dc)-voltage (I-V) characteristics of the hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) Schottky diode have been measured at different temperatures under dark and light. From the fourth quadrant of illuminated characteristics, fill factor (FF) values were obtained for each temperature measured (173-297 K). We have found that FF increases very little as the temperature is decreased. The measured data from I-V characteristics has been analyzed in detail. In particular, from dark I-V characteristics obtained, the density of state (DOS) near the Fermi level was determined using a simple model based on the space-charge limited current (SCLC). On the other hand, from the illuminated I-V characteristics, the density of carriers was calculated for each temperature using the analysis of diode equation as known. A comparison of the carrier density and the measured photocurrent as a function of the reverse temperature was also made and a good correspondence was obtained.     

Accumulation and annealing of implantation damage in a-Si:H

Hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) films have been irradiated with H⁺, B⁺, P⁺, and Ar⁺ ion beams. The accumulation and the annealing of irradiation-induced defects has been investigated through a series of electronic transport and PDS measurements. We find that for all projectiles damage accumulation is dominated by atomic displacement collisions with the damage saturating for energy transfers in excess of about 10 eV/target atom. Annealing at elevated temperatures causes the conductivity of doped and irradiated a-Si:H films to increase according to stretched exponential decay curves. All annealing parameters derivable from such fits scale with the energy originally dissipated into atomic displacement collisions. For energy transfers up to 10 eV/target atom the activation energy for annealing increases up to a saturation value and, at the same time, an increasing fraction of the irradiation-induced defects becomes stable against annealing at moderate temperatures (T _a<250° C). We discuss these results with respect to damage accumulation data in crystalline silicon (c-Si) and with regard to the annealing of metastable defects in a-Si:H.     

Three dimensional a-Si:H thin-film solar cells with silver nano-rod back electrodes

We present three dimensional (3-D) amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) thin-film solar cells with silver nano-rods as back electrodes, which are fabricated by low cost nano imprint lithography (NIL). After conformal deposition of thin metal and semiconductor layers, we can achieve a dome-shaped geometry, which is shown to be effective in reducing the reflectance at the front surface due to the graded refractive index effect. In addition, the enhancement of the diffused reflectance over a broad wavelength in this dome-shaped geometry provides light trapping due to the increase in the effective light propagation length. Using this 3-D solar cell, we achieved 54% increase in short circuit current density and 45% increase in the conversion efficiency compared to the control cells with flat Ag surfaces. This 3-D structure can be also used for improving light harvesting in various photovoltaic devices regardless of materials and structures.     

非晶/微晶两相硅薄膜电池的计算机模拟

在对不同晶相比硅薄膜的实验研究的基础上，利用有效介质理论估算了这种两相材料的光吸 收系数、迁移率寿命乘积及带隙宽度等参量，计算机模拟了不同结晶比硅薄膜电池的伏安特 性及光谱响应；结果为随着本征层微晶成分的增多，电池的开路电压逐渐减小，短路电流逐 渐增大，本征层的最佳厚度逐渐增大，填充因子有降低的趋势，电池的效率随晶相比的增大 而减小. 电池的光谱响应曲线表明，随晶相比的增大电池的长波响应明显提高. 根据这些模 拟结果，分析讨论了在考虑Lambertian背反射的情况下，非晶/微晶叠层电池的底电池采用 晶相比为40％—50％的两相硅薄膜材料做本征层是最佳选择. 关键词： 两相硅薄膜 太阳能电池 计算机模拟