Wafer thickness optimization for silicon solar cells of heterogeneous material quality

In this Letter, we introduce a method of calculating the optimal wafer thickness for silicon solar cells with multicrystalline bulk material. The optimal thickness depends on the relation of bulk recombination to surface recombination and the light trapping. For multicrystalline silicon bulk recombination strongly varies laterally and with injection level, which complicates the calculations. A thickness optimization using the “Efficiency Limiting Bulk Recombination Analysis” (ELBA) takes all these effects correctly into account. (© 2013 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

等离子体表面梯度硅沉积对环氧树脂电气性能的影响

环氧树脂作为常见的绝缘材料,在高压直流电场作用下易在其表面积累电荷,发生电场畸变,导致材料绝缘性能下降,影响电力系统运行可靠性。为改善气固界面的电荷特性和绝缘性能,在大气压等离子体射流技术的基础上,对环氧树脂表面进行等离子体梯度硅沉积处理。对改性前后环氧树脂表面理化特性、表面电导率、表面电荷消散和沿面耐压特性进行了多参数测量。实验结果表明,梯度改性对材料表面的物理形貌和化学组分均有明显影响,不同区域的电导率实现了梯度分布,加快了表面电荷消散速度,表面陷阱能级变浅;梯度改性后的样品沿面闪络电压提升幅度可达30.16%。通过等离子体表面梯度硅沉积处理能够改善环氧树脂表面电气性能,在高压直流设备的绝缘设计方面具有广阔的应用前景。     

Formation of a crosslinked POSS network by an unusual hydrosilylation: Thermo‐oxidative stabilization of the α‐cristobalite phase in its amorphous regions

A semicrystalline inorganic–organic hybrid crosslinked network containing polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) cores was constructed by the unusual hydrosilylation of the terminal vinyl groups of an internal acetylene‐containing silane linker by a POSS monomer. Products from the thermal treatments of this network in either argon or air at 250, 550, and 1000 °C, respectively, were characterized by Fourier transform infrared, Solid‐state ¹³C and ²⁹Si magic angle spinning NMR, X‐ray diffraction and XPS analyses. The highly symmetrically functionalized POSS silica clusters, in the fluorite silica phase, in the network were found to remain unchanged on thermal treatment possibly due to the shielding of the silica core by the functionalities and a cancellation of thermal stresses on the silica core. Stabilization of the metastable α‐cristobalite phase, which is typically formed on cooling by a β‐ to α‐transition of the β‐cristobalite phase formed above 1400 °C, was observed in the amorphous regions in the network sample treated only to 1000 °C in air. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2012     

Liquid hydridosilane precursor prepared from cyclopentasilane via sonication at low temperatures without the action of light

We report on a liquid hydridosilane precursor ink prepared via the ultrasonically induced ring-opening polymerisation of cyclopentasilane (Si₅H₁₀) without irradiation by ultraviolet light. The sonication is carried out in N₂ atmosphere at temperatures between 20 and 75 °C. We use size exclusion chromatography (SEC) to show polymer growth and estimate molecular mass with increasing sonication time. In combination with UV–vis transmission measurements, further SEC analysis is used to compare solutions subjected to either purely thermal or ultrasonic treatment at the same process temperature and for the same duration. Our findings provide strong evidence showing that the initiation of the polymerisation is sonocatalytic in nature and not thermic due to the macroscopic temperature of the solution. The liquid precursor is used to produce homogeneous hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) thin films via spin coating and pyrolytic conversion. The optoelectronic properties of the films are subsequently improved by hydrogen radical treatment. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) is used to determine a compact film morphology and electrical conductivity measurements show that the layers attain a light-to-dark photosensitivity ratio of 2 × 10³ making them suitable for application in optoelectronic devices.