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Optical Enhancement by Textured Back Reflector in Amorphous and Nanocrystalline Silicon Based Solar Cells

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2011

Baojie Yan ,
Guozhen Yue ,
Chun-Sheng Jiang ,
Yanfa Yan ,
Jessica M. Owens ,
Jeffrey Yang  and
Subhendu Guha
Baojie Yan
Affiliation:
byan@uni-solar.com, Untied Solar Ovonic LLC, Research and Development, 1100 West Maple Road, Troy, MI, 48084, United States, 248-519-5304, 248-362-4442
Guozhen Yue
Affiliation:
gyue@uni-solar.com, United Solar Ovonic LLC, 1100 West Maple Road, Troy, MI, 48084, United States
Chun-Sheng Jiang
Affiliation:
Chun_Sheng_Jiang@nrel.gov, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 1617 Cole Blvd, Golden, CO, 80401, United States
Yanfa Yan
Affiliation:
yanfa_yan@nrel.gov, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 1617 Cole Blvd, Golden, CO, 80401, United States
Jessica M. Owens
Affiliation:
jowens@uni-solar.com, United Solar Ovonic LLC, 1100 West Maple Road, Troy, MI, 48084, United States
Jeffrey Yang
Affiliation:
jyang@uni-solar.com, United Solar Ovonic LLC, 1100 West Maple Road, Troy, MI, 48084, United States
Subhendu Guha
Affiliation:
sguha@uni-solar.com, United Solar Ovonic LLC, 1100 West Maple Road, Troy, MI, 48084, United States
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Abstract

We present the results of systematic studies of optical enhancements by textured Ag/ZnO back reflectors in a-SiGe:H and nc-Si:H solar cells. First, the back reflector materials were characterized by AFM, XRD, and TEM. The results showed that the ZnO layers deposited by sputtering exhibit an increased surface texture with the deposition temperature and film thickness. The material structure showed a strong (002) preferential orientation. The large columnar crystal structure determines the surface texture. Second, the solar cell performance was correlated to the back reflector structure. We found that with a thin ZnO layer, a textured Ag layer results in more light scattering than a flat Ag layer. However, when a thick ZnO layer is used, a flat Ag layer can produce similar or more light scattering than a textured Ag layer. Third, we developed a method to estimate the optical enhancement for a-SiGe:H and nc-Si:H solar cells on various structures of Ag/ZnO back reflectors. Comparing the quantum efficiency data from solar cells made using the same recipe but one on a flat stainless steel substrate and another on a textured Ag/ZnO BR substrate revealed that the optical enhancement for the long wavelength light can be as high as 20 to 30. Compared to the theoretical value of 4n2, there is still scope for further improvement

Keywords

optical propertiesphotovoltaicnanostructure
Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 1101: Symposium KK – Light Management in Photovoltaic Devices–Theory and Practice , 2008 , 1101-KK13-02
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2008

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