Full process for integrating silicon nanowire arrays into solar cells

Perraud, Simon; Poncet, S.; Noël, S.; Levis, Michel; Faucherand, Pascal; Rouvière, Emmanuelle; Thony, Philippe; Jaussaud, C.; Delsol, Régis

doi:10.1016/j.solmat.2009.04.009

Cited by 81 publications

(56 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Thanks to the strongly enhanced light trapping among the Radial Junction (RJ) forest [1,2], a much thinner absorber (i-layer) can be used to increase the built-in electric field for a better carrier separation and minimized light-induced degradation, which is well known for planar Si thin film devices [10]. Although reasonable RJ thin film solar cells with 48% efficiency have been demonstrated on etched crystalline silicon wafer [11,12], the efficiency of most of the early RJ prototypes has been mostly limited by a series of problems, including catalyst contamination, conformal coating and electrical quality in radial junction formation [13][14][15][16][17], leading to a poor conversion efficiency (o2%). Moreover, the stability of RJ a-Si:H solar cells, built on randomly oriented SiNWs, has never been studied experimentally mainly due to the lack of a reasonable RJ solar cell platform to evaluate this critical aspect.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

High efficiency and stable hydrogenated amorphous silicon radial junction solar cells built on VLS-grown silicon nanowires

Misra¹,

Yu²,

Foldyna³

et al. 2013

Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells

118

113

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

High efficiency and stable hydrogenated amorphous silicon radial junction solar cells built on VLS-grown silicon nanowires

Misra¹,

Yu²,

Foldyna³

et al. 2013

Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells

118

113

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“…The second one is a deposition step, that allows to deposit a passivation layer which covers and protects the lateral walls of the nanostructure respect to the successive dry etching steps. This second process is performed by using a mixture of CHF 3 and Ar as passivating gases. Typical Bosch processes present etching rates very high, in the range of 1 mm min À1 [31].…”

Section: Experimental Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nanofabrication processes for innovative nanohole-based solar cells

Garozzo

Bongiorno

Franco

et al. 2013

Phys. Status Solidi A

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The ability to form ordered nanostructures at the wafer level with low cost methodologies has represented a challenge in the last decade in many research fields spanning from nanoelectronics to photovoltaics (PVs). For the latter application the nanostructures have demonstrated interesting capabilities for exploiting the quantum effects in terms of efficient visible light absorption. To fabricate ordered nanostructures many solutions have been proposed but they provide feature densities lower than 10 9 cm À2 or present high fabrication costs. We propose a wafer level and low-cost Lithography based on block CoPolymers self-assembling (LCP), which allows the formation of nanofeatures controlled down to 10 nm and density higher than 5 Â 10 10 cm À2. We propose to use this technique to form radial junctions in nanoholes for solar cells. The approach is similar to that of the nanowires, i.e., it decouples the optical path of the visible photons from the electrical path of the carriers, but since the one-dimensional (1D) structures are embedded inside the bulk of the wafer the structure is more robust and allows easier implementation. To form the junction inside the nanoholes a novel strategy based on the deposition of monolayers of dopant-containing molecules is proposed. This technique allows to obtain shallow and controlled junction depths with peak carrier concentrations of about 10 19 cm À3 for both n-and p-type doping.

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“…Several authors, including Perraud et al, 117 have reported cells consisting of n-type SiNWs grown on p-type wafers The 40-50 nm diameter, 1 mm long SiNWs were imbedded in a spin on glass (SOG) matrix. The surface was planarised for contacting and a front contact nger grid of Ni/Al on ITO applied together with and an Al back contact.…”

Section: Sinw Solar Cells Grown Using Au Catalystmentioning

confidence: 99%

Crystalline Silicon Thin Film and Nanowire Solar Cells

Reehal

Ball

2014

Materials Challenges

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This chapter reviews recent developments in the field of large grain size crystalline silicon thin film and silicon nanowire solar cells. Both technologies offer considerable potential for photovoltaics if they can be realised with adequate material quality on cheap substrates such as glass. The main methods for forming thin polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) films on glass are described. These include thermal solid phase crystallisation, liquid phase crystallisation and epitaxial thickening of crystalline seed layers. The corresponding progress made in device technology is outlined. Some recent work on poly-Si film and solar cell formation on higher temperature substrates is also discussed, together with progress on thin monocrystalline layers produced by epitaxy or lift-off from Si wafers. Plasmonic enhancement of solar cells has attracted considerable interest in recent years. An account is given of developments relating to thin crystalline Si solar cells. Finally, the progress made in the fabrication of Si nanowires and microwires, and their deployment in photovoltaic devices is discussed. Both bottom–up and top–down methods of wire formation are considered. Considerable progress has been made in both planar and wire cell technologies, though the latter is at an earlier stage of development and significant research challenges remain for both. However, with further improvements in material quality and light trapping, excellent prospects exist for a cost-effective thin film crystalline Si technology exceeding 15% efficiency. This will offer all the advantages of Si including stability, non-toxicity and high abundance.

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Full process for integrating silicon nanowire arrays into solar cells

Cited by 81 publications

References 16 publications

High efficiency and stable hydrogenated amorphous silicon radial junction solar cells built on VLS-grown silicon nanowires

High efficiency and stable hydrogenated amorphous silicon radial junction solar cells built on VLS-grown silicon nanowires

Nanofabrication processes for innovative nanohole-based solar cells

Crystalline Silicon Thin Film and Nanowire Solar Cells

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