硅基太阳电池表面织构的研究进展

介绍了单晶硅、多晶硅和硅薄膜太阳电池绒面的不同制备方法,对这些方法所制备的绒面作了比较.最后展望了绒面技术对硅基太阳电池发展的推动作用.     

快速汽相沉积法制备硅薄膜太阳电池

对在重掺杂抛光单晶硅衬底上用ＲＴＣＶＤ法形成硅薄膜太阳电池进行了研究。衬底为〈１００〉晶向ｐ＋ ＋ 型重掺硅片,电阻率为５×１０－ ３Ωｃｍ 。主要工艺过程为：在衬底上生长一层硅薄膜同时掺硼,膜厚３８μｍ ,扩磷制备ｐ－ｎ 结,背面蒸Ａｌ及Ｔｉ／Ｐｄ／Ａｇ 制背电极,正表面在扩散后生长一层ＳｉＯ２ ,前面用光刻剥离法制备Ｔｉ／Ｐｄ／Ａｇ 电极,制成的１ｃｍ ２ 太阳电池,开路电压ＶＯＣ＝ ６１２．８ｍ Ｖ,短路电流ＩＳＣ＝ ２９．３ｍ Ａ,填充因子ＦＦ＝ ０．７５７９,效率η＝ １３．６１。对一些影响电池特性的因素进行了研究,发现硅薄膜的掺杂浓度、发射层的掺杂浓度以及减反射层都对太阳电池的特性有较大影响。     

高效单晶硅太阳电池的研制

简述了高效单晶硅太阳电池的初步研制结果。对电阻率不同的ＣＺ和ＦＺ材料和不同的电池结构进行了实验。为了提高效率，对发射区钝化工艺、分区轻（ｎ＾＋）重（ｎ＾＋＋）扩散、背场、表面织构化技术和氯清洗等工艺进行试验研究。目前制备的最好电池，其效率为１８．６３％。     

低纯度颗粒硅带上硅薄膜太阳电池

采用廉价国产硅粉拉制的低纯度颗粒硅带（SSP）作为衬底，利用快速热化学气相沉积（RTCVD）方法外延多晶硅薄膜并制作了转换效率达4．5％的薄膜太阳电池，对衬底和薄膜特性，相关工艺及进一步的研究方向做了探讨。     

颗粒硅带为衬底的多晶硅薄膜太阳电池制备工艺

主要阐述了以低纯度颗粒硅带(SSP—Silicon Sheet from Powder)为衬底的多晶硅薄膜(poly-CSiTF)太阳电池的制备，给出制得的太阳电池I—V曲线和光谱响应曲线并由此讨论影响电池性能的可能因素，着重分析了颗粒硅带衬底的作用。目前，在没有任何电池工艺优化的条件下，在低纯度硅带上制得多晶硅薄膜电池的转换效率通常在5％～7％范围(电池面积1cm^2)。     

硅N^＋PP^＋太阳电池工艺

当前所用的太阳电池,由于成本高、效率低,还不能普及推广应用。本文吸收已有的研究成果,并根据多年的半导体生产实践经验,提出比较成熟的硅N PP 太阳电池的工艺、技术方案。 (一)元件构造硅N~ PP~ 太阳电池元件的构造如图1所示。 (1)基片:选取直径为20—28毫米的P型硅单晶薄片,厚度为200—250微米,电阻率为ρ=0.3—10欧姆·厘米。     

硅太阳电池稳步走向薄膜化

考察了硅太阳电池在光伏产业中所处的地位,分析了薄膜硅太阳电池的发展趋势。指出硅太阳电池在未来15a仍将保持优势地位,并继续沿着晶硅电池和薄膜硅电池两个方向发展。在此发展过程中,两个发展方向的主流很可能会汇合到一起,共同促使低成本、高效率、高可靠薄膜晶硅电池的诞生和产业化,从而继续保持硅太阳电池的优势地位。     

晶体硅粒太阳电池的硅粒层研究

为降低太阳电池的制造成本,设计了一种新颖的太阳电池－硅粒太阳电池。采用淮相外延方法,成功地在劣质单晶硅片上生长出粒度均匀,大小适宜,排列整齐和光电特性优良的单晶硅粒。报道了该单晶硅粒的生长方法,生长动力学以及硅粒层的形貌的一些半导体特性。     

多孔硅在多晶硅太阳电池上的应用

在化学法制作的多孔硅的硅片上制备得到５ｃｍ×５ｃｍ太阳电池，效率为９．６％。对多孔硅进行了萤光光谱及反射率测量，并对多孔硅在太阳电池上的应用进行了讨论。     

德国多晶硅太阳电池转换率突破20％关

德国弗劳恩霍夫协会科研人员采用新技术。率先使多晶硅太阳电池的转换率达到20．3％。弗劳恩霍夫协会近日发表的新闻公报说，与单晶硅太阳电池相比，多晶硅电池成本低，但也存在明显缺陷。晶粒界面和晶格错位，是造成多晶硅电池光电转换率一直无法突破20％的关口。     

Amorphous silicon solar cells

The perfectioning of the deposition techniques of amorphous silicon over large areas, in particular film homogeneity and the reproducibility of the electro-optical characteristics, has allowed a more accurate study of the most intriguing bane of this material: the degradation under sun-light illumination. Optical band-gap and film thickness engineering have enabled device efficiency to stabilize with only a 10–15% loss in the as-deposited device efficiency. More sophisticated computer simulations of the device have also strongly contributed to achieve the highest stable efficiencies in the case of multijunction devices. Novel use of nanocrystalline thin films offers new possibilities of high efficiency and stability. Short term goals of great economical impact can be achieved by the amorphous silicon/crystalline silicon heterojunction. A review is made of the most innovative achievements in amorphous silicon solar cell design and material engineering.     

Modelling of material properties influence on back junction thin polycrystalline silicon solar cells

The influence of polycrystalline silicon properties on the performances of thin back junction solar cells has been investigated by means of a 3-dimensional model taking into account grain size, grain boundary recombination, volumic recombination, and surface recombination. The drastic influence of front surface recombination has been confirmed. The grain size has been shown to be of minor importance provided the grain size is not too small and the grain boundaries are correctly passivated. An optimal base thickness has been determined which is all the smaller that the material is more imperfect.     

The influence of porous silicon on junction formation in silicon solar cells

In this work the results of a structural investigation by SEM of porous silicon (PS) before and after diffusion processes are reported. The formation of PS n⁺/p structures were carried out on PS p/p silicon wafers with two methods: from POCl₃ in a conventional furnace and from a phosphorous doped paste in an infrared furnace. Sheet resistance was found to be a strong function of PS structure. Further details on sheet resistance distribution are reported. The electrical contacts in prepared solar cells were obtained by screen printing process, with a Du Ponte photovoltaic silver paste for front contacts and home-prepared silver with 3% aluminium paste for the back ones. Metallization was done in the infrared furnace. Solar cell current–voltage characteristics were measured under an AM 1.5 global spectrum sun simulator. The average results for multi-crystalline silicon solar cells without antireflection coating are: I_sc=720 (mA), V_oc=560 (mV), FF=69%, Eff=10.6% (area 25 cm²).     

Rie-texturing of multicrystalline silicon solar cells

We developed a maskless plasma texturing technique for multicrystalline silicon cells using reactive ion etching that results in higher cell performance than that of standard untextured cells. Elimination of plasma damage has been achieved while keeping front reflectance to extremely low levels. Internal quantum efficiencies as high as those on planar cells have been obtained, boosting cell currents and efficiencies by up to 7% on evaporated metal and 4% on screen-printed cells.     

Substrates for thin crystalline silicon solar cells

Choice of substrate for thin crystalline silicon solar cells requires a compromise between cost and quality. There are three generic substrate types, namely a transparent substrate (such as glass), an opaque substrate (such as a ceramic or metal) and low-cost multicrystalline silicon. Glass has the advantage of eliminating absorption within the substrate. However, the larger effective diffusion length, the improved surface passivation and the increased process flexibility obtainable with an opaque substrate, particularly low-cost multicrystalline silicon, may considerably outweigh the modest optical benefits of a transparent substrate. In this paper it is shown that the advantage in effective diffusion length that is required of a cell grown on an opaque substrate in order to offset the light-trapping advantages of a glass substrate is about a factor of two.     

High-efficiency multicrystalline silicon solar cells by liquid phase-epitaxy

Thin-film silicon cells produced on crystalline silicon substrates have the potential to achieve high cell efficiencies at low cost. We have used a modified liquid-phase epitaxy growth process to produce very smooth, high-quality silicon films on multicrystalline silicon substrates. Photoconductivity decay measurements indicate that the minority carrier lifetimes in these layers are at least 10 μs, sufficient to achieve cell efficiencies in excess of 16%. This efficiency potential is confirmed in small area cells, which have displayed efficiencies up to 15.4%. Further improvements up to 17% efficiency are possible in the short term, even without the introduction of any light-trapping schemes into the device structure.     

Milestones in the development of crystalline silicon solar cells

The development of crystalline silicon solar cells is traced from their invention to the present day, with an emphasis on the major advances (“milestones”) along the way. The survey covers cells for power generation in space as well as those for terrestrial applications.     

The influence of drift fields in thin silicon solar cells

The influence of electric “drift” fields in the base of silicon solar cells on device performance is investigated. The drift fields are the result of a nonuniform dopant density in the base material. Numerical modelling is carried out for a range of representative cell structures and two different models for the dependence of the minority carrier lifetime on the dopant density. The cell design variables, in particular the dopant densities and the thicknesses of the device regions, are optimized with respect to the cell efficiency. Comparison of optimized cells incorporating a drift field with those not having a drift field, shows that a drift field can offer only small efficiency advantages for particular cell structures and recombination parameters, and only if large variations in dopant concentration can be achieved.     

Realization of high efficiency micromorph tandem silicon solar cells on glass and plastic substrates: Issues and potential

High conversion efficiency for (amorphous/microcrystalline) "micromorph" tandem solar cells requires both a dedicated light management, to keep the absorber layers as thin as possible, and optimized growth conditions of the microcrystalline silicon (μc-Si:H) material. Efficient light trapping is achieved here by use of textured front and back contacts as well as by implementing an intermediate reflecting layer (IRL) between the individual cells of the tandem. This paper discusses the latest developments of IRLs at IMT Neuchâtel: SiO_x based for micromorphs on glass and ZnO based IRLs for micromorphs on flexible substrates were successfully incorporated in micromorph tandem cells leading to high, matched, current above 13.8 mA/cm² for p-i-n tandems. In n-i-p configuration, asymmetric intermediate reflectors were employed to achieve currents of up to 12.5 mA/cm². On glass substrates, initial and stabilized efficiencies exceeding 13% and 11%, respectively, were thus obtained on 1 cm² cells, while on plastic foils with imprinted gratings, 11.2% initial and 9.8% stable efficiency could be reached. Recent progress on the development of effective front and back contacts will be described as well.     

Study on hydrogenated silicon nitride for application of high efficiency crystalline silicon solar cells

The hydrogenated silicon nitride films (SiN_x:H) deposited by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) technique is commonly used as an antireflection coating as well as surface passivating layer of crystalline silicon solar cells. The refractive indices of SiN_x:H films could be changed by varying the growth gas ratio R(=NH₃/SiH₄+NH₃) and annealing temperature. For optimum SiN_x:H film, the optical and chemical characterization tools by varying the film deposition and annealing condition were employed in this study. Metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) devices were fabricated using SiN_x:H as an insulator layer and they were subjected to capacitance-voltage (C-V) and current-voltage (I-V) measurements for electrical characterization. The effect of rapid thermal annealing (RTA) on the surface passivation as well as antireflection properties of the SiN_x:H films deposited at various process conditions were also investigated for the fabrication of low cost and high efficiency silicon solar cells.