Microcrystalline Silicon Films and Solar Cells Prepared by Photochemical Vapor Deposition on Textured SnO<sub>2</sub>with High Haze Factors

Zhao, Ying; Miyajima, Shinsuke; Ide, Yoshinori; Yamada, Akira; Konagai, Makoto

doi:10.1143/jjap.41.6417

Cited by 25 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…It is obviously found that five periods of flat 1D-PC were deposited, and the surface morphology was changed from flat to textured by chemical etching of CPC. Usually, textured surfaces with relatively large features demonstrate high haze factors and then a better light-trapping effect [39]. An root mean square (RMS) value of 126 nm was obtained for our TCPC with a crater-like surface, as can be seen from the AFM images of Figure 7a.…”

Section: Design and Fabricationmentioning

confidence: 66%

“…It is obviously found that five periods of flat 1D-PC were deposited, and the surface morphology was changed from flat to textured by chemical etching of CPC. Usually, textured surfaces with relatively large features demonstrate high haze factors and then a better light-trapping effect [39]. An root mean Focus was placed on n-i-p a-Si:H solar cells with the structure of BR/n-a-Si:H (15 nm)/i-a-Si:H (300 nm)/p-nc-Si:H (15 nm)/ITO (70 nm) as a convenient prototype.…”

Section: Design and Fabricationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Photonic Structures for Light Trapping in Thin Film Silicon Solar Cells: Design and Experiment

et al. 2017

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Abstract:One of the foremost challenges in designing thin-film silicon solar cells (TFSC) is devising efficient light-trapping schemes due to the short optical path length imposed by the thin absorber thickness. The strategy relies on a combination of a high-performance back reflector and an optimized texture surface, which are commonly used to reflect and scatter light effectively within the absorption layer, respectively. In this paper, highly promising light-trapping structures based on a photonic crystal (PC) for TFSCs were investigated via simulation and experiment. Firstly, a highly-reflective one-dimensional photonic crystal (1D-PC) was designed and fabricated. Then, two types of 1D-PC-based back reflectors (BRs) were proposed: Flat 1D-PC with random-textured aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO) or random-textured 1D-PC with AZO. These two newly-designed BRs demonstrated not only high reflectivity and sufficient conductivity, but also a strong light scattering property, which made them efficient candidates as the electrical contact and back reflector since the intrinsic losses due to the surface plasmon modes of the rough metal BRs can be avoided. Secondly, conical two-dimensional photonic crystal (2D-PC)-based BRs were investigated and optimized for amorphous a-SiGe:H solar cells. The maximal absorption value can be obtained with an aspect ratio of 1/2 and a period of 0.75 µm. To improve the full-spectral optical properties of solar cells, a periodically-modulated PC back reflector was proposed and experimentally demonstrated in the a-SiGe:H solar cell. This periodically-modulated PC back reflector, also called the quasi-crystal structure (QCS), consists of a large periodic conical PC and a randomly-textured Ag layer with a feature size of 500-1000 nm. The large periodic conical PC enables conformal growth of the layer, while the small feature size of Ag can further enhance the light scattering. In summary, a comprehensive study of the design, simulation and fabrication of 1D-PC-and 2D-PC-based back reflectors for TFSCs was carried out. Total absorption and device performance enhancement were achieved with the novel PC light-trapping systems because of their high reflectivity or high scattering property. Further research is necessary to illuminate the optimal structure design of PC-based back reflectors and high solar cell efficiency.

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Section: Design and Fabricationmentioning

confidence: 66%

“…It is obviously found that five periods of flat 1D-PC were deposited, and the surface morphology was changed from flat to textured by chemical etching of CPC. Usually, textured surfaces with relatively large features demonstrate high haze factors and then a better light-trapping effect [39]. An root mean Focus was placed on n-i-p a-Si:H solar cells with the structure of BR/n-a-Si:H (15 nm)/i-a-Si:H (300 nm)/p-nc-Si:H (15 nm)/ITO (70 nm) as a convenient prototype.…”

Section: Design and Fabricationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Photonic Structures for Light Trapping in Thin Film Silicon Solar Cells: Design and Experiment

et al. 2017

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“…The scattering by the rough surface increases the opticalpath lengths, leading to high absorption in the active semiconductor layers, thereby enhancing the powerconversion efficiency [21,22]. Compared to the conventional SnO 2 :F, ZnO-based TCOs have received strong attention because of the large feature size from the surface texturing by wet-chemical etching, enabling more efficient light scattering [22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Organic-acid texturing of transparent electrodes toward broadband light trapping in thin-film solar cells

et al. 2015

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“…Transparent conducting oxides (TCOs) have many applications such as electro-optical devices, flat panel displays, and thin film solar cells [1,2]. TCOs consist of degenerate wide band gap with low resistance and high transparency in the visible region.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Al-doped ZnO (AZO) has a promising material for Si based thin film solar cells. AZO is easily textured by wet-chemical etching and has large feature size compared to SnO 2 :F. And, the large feature size of the surface texture results in a high haze (diffused light/total-transmitted light), which increases the degree of light trapping [2].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Growth Mechanism of Al-doped ZnO using Oxygen Controlled Seed Layer in Si based Thin Film Solar Cells

Joo

Shin

Lee

et al. 2011

JSA

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We studied the growth mechanism of Al-doped ZnO (AZO) films using seed layers for enhancing the performance of transparent conducting oxides (TCOs) in the thin film solar cells. We carried out two-step processes for the deposition of AZO films. Seed layers were deposited on glass substrate as a function of Ar/O 2 gas flow ratio. We show the results of our investigation on the micro-structural properties of AZO seed layers using transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The elemental composition and electronic structure changes with the deposition conditions were examined using energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) and reflective electron energy loss spectroscopy (REELS). The optical and electrical characteristics of AZO film using the seed layer with Ar/O 2 = 9/1 show a high haze value of 88% at 500 nm and a resistivity value of 3.7 × 10 -4Ω·cm.

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Microcrystalline Silicon Films and Solar Cells Prepared by Photochemical Vapor Deposition on Textured SnO₂with High Haze Factors

Cited by 25 publications

References 5 publications

Photonic Structures for Light Trapping in Thin Film Silicon Solar Cells: Design and Experiment

Photonic Structures for Light Trapping in Thin Film Silicon Solar Cells: Design and Experiment

Organic-acid texturing of transparent electrodes toward broadband light trapping in thin-film solar cells

The Growth Mechanism of Al-doped ZnO using Oxygen Controlled Seed Layer in Si based Thin Film Solar Cells

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Microcrystalline Silicon Films and Solar Cells Prepared by Photochemical Vapor Deposition on Textured SnO2with High Haze Factors

Cited by 25 publications

References 5 publications

Photonic Structures for Light Trapping in Thin Film Silicon Solar Cells: Design and Experiment

Photonic Structures for Light Trapping in Thin Film Silicon Solar Cells: Design and Experiment

Organic-acid texturing of transparent electrodes toward broadband light trapping in thin-film solar cells

The Growth Mechanism of Al-doped ZnO using Oxygen Controlled Seed Layer in Si based Thin Film Solar Cells

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Product

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Microcrystalline Silicon Films and Solar Cells Prepared by Photochemical Vapor Deposition on Textured SnO₂with High Haze Factors