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On the Way Towards High Efficiency Thin Film Silicon Solar Cells by the “Micromorph” Concept

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 February 2011

J. Meier ,
P. Torres ,
R. Platz ,
S. Dubail ,
U. Kroll ,
J. A. Anna Selvan ,
N. Pellaton Vaucher ,
Ch. Hof ,
D. Fischer  and
H. Keppner
...Show all authors
J. Meier
Affiliation:
Institut de Microtechnique, A.-L. Breguet 2, Université de Neuchâtel, CH-2000 Neuchâtel, Switzerland
P. Torres
Affiliation:
Institut de Microtechnique, A.-L. Breguet 2, Université de Neuchâtel, CH-2000 Neuchâtel, Switzerland
R. Platz
Affiliation:
Institut de Microtechnique, A.-L. Breguet 2, Université de Neuchâtel, CH-2000 Neuchâtel, Switzerland
S. Dubail
Affiliation:
Institut de Microtechnique, A.-L. Breguet 2, Université de Neuchâtel, CH-2000 Neuchâtel, Switzerland
U. Kroll
Affiliation:
Institut de Microtechnique, A.-L. Breguet 2, Université de Neuchâtel, CH-2000 Neuchâtel, Switzerland
J. A. Anna Selvan
Affiliation:
Institut de Microtechnique, A.-L. Breguet 2, Université de Neuchâtel, CH-2000 Neuchâtel, Switzerland
N. Pellaton Vaucher
Affiliation:
Institut de Microtechnique, A.-L. Breguet 2, Université de Neuchâtel, CH-2000 Neuchâtel, Switzerland
Ch. Hof
Affiliation:
Institut de Microtechnique, A.-L. Breguet 2, Université de Neuchâtel, CH-2000 Neuchâtel, Switzerland
D. Fischer
Affiliation:
Institut de Microtechnique, A.-L. Breguet 2, Université de Neuchâtel, CH-2000 Neuchâtel, Switzerland
H. Keppner
Affiliation:
Institut de Microtechnique, A.-L. Breguet 2, Université de Neuchâtel, CH-2000 Neuchâtel, Switzerland
A. Shah
Affiliation:
Institut de Microtechnique, A.-L. Breguet 2, Université de Neuchâtel, CH-2000 Neuchâtel, Switzerland
K. -D. Ufert
Affiliation:
Siemens Solar, Frankfurter Ring, D-8000 Müinchen, Germany
P. Giannoulès
Affiliation:
SAES Getters GmbH, D-50937 Köln 41, Germany
J Koehler
Affiliation:
University of Konstanz, D-78434 Konstanz, Germany
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Abstract

Recently the authors have demonstrated that compensated or “midgap” intrinsic hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon (μc-Si:H), as deposited by the Very High Frequency Glow Discharge (VHF-GD) technique, can be used as active layer in p-i-n solar cells. Compared to amorphous silicon (a-Si:H), μc-Si:H was found to have a significantly lower energy bandgap of around 1 eV. The combination of both materials (two absorbers with different gap energies) leads to a “real” tandem cell structure, which was called the “micromorph” cell. Micromorph cells can make better use of the sun's spectrum in contrast to conventional double-stacked a-Si:H / a-Si:H tandems.

The present study will show that the compensation technique (involving boron “microdoping”) used sofar for obtaining midgap μc-Si:H can be replaced by the application of a gas purifier. The use of this gas purifier has a beneficial influence on the transport properties of undoped intrinsic μc-Si:H. By this procedure, increased cell efficiencies in both, single microcrystalline silicon p-i-n as well as micromorph cells could be obtained. In the first case 7.7 % stable, and in the second case 13.1% initial efficiency could be achieved under AM1.5 conditions. Preliminary light-soaking experiments performed on the tandem cells indicate that microcrystalline silicon could contribute to an enhancement of the stable efficiency performance. Micromorph cell manufacturing is fully compatible to a-Si:H technology; however, its deposition rate is still too low. With further increase of the rate, a similar cost reduction potential like in a-Si:H technology can be extrapolated.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 420: Symposium A – Amorphous Silicon Technology-1996 , 1996 , 3
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1996

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