Modulated surface-textured substrates with high haze: From concept to application in thin-film silicon solar cells

Isabella, Olindo; Liu, P.; Bolman, B.; Krč, Janez; Smets, Arno H. M.; Zeman, Miro

doi:10.1109/pvsc.2011.6186029

Cited by 9 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…A possible solution relies on light trapping and consequent absorption enhancement through surface modulation [16] or periodic nanostructuring [17][18][19][20][21][22][23]. For solar cells based on a-Si:H, initial efficiencies up to 10.2% and 9.7% have been obtained, respectively [21,24,25].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Solar harvesting based on perfect absorbing all-dielectric nanoresonators on a mirror

Vismara¹,

Länk²,

Verre³

et al. 2019

Opt. Express

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The high-index all-dielectric nanoantenna system is a platform recently used for multiple applications, from metalenses to light management. These systems usually exhibit low absorption/scattering ratios and are not efficient photon harvesters. Nevertheless, by exploiting far-field interference, all-dielectric nanostructures can be engineered to achieve near-perfect absorption in specific wavelength ranges. Here, we propose-based on electrodynamics simulations-that a metasurface composed of an array of hydrogenated amorphous silicon nanoparticles on a mirror can achieve nearly complete light absorption close to the bandgap. We apply this concept to a realistic device, predicting a boost of optical performance of thin-film solar cells made of such nanostructures. In the proposed device, high-index dielectric nanoparticles act not only as nanoatennas able to concentrate light but also as the solar cell active medium, contacted at its top and bottom by transparent electrodes. By optimization of the exact geometrical parameters, we predict a system that could achieve initial conversion efficiency values well beyond 9%-using only the equivalent of a 75-nm thick active material. The device absorption enhancement is 50% compared to an unstructured device in the 400 nm − 550 nm range and more than 300% in the 650 nm − 700 nm spectral region. We demonstrate that such large values are related to the metasurface properties and to the perfect absorption mechanism.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Solar harvesting based on perfect absorbing all-dielectric nanoresonators on a mirror

Vismara¹,

Länk²,

Verre³

et al. 2019

Opt. Express

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“…However, the most common way to achieve enhanced light absorption is by using a textured substrate, such as textured transparent conductive oxide . Recently, texturing of glass to achieve light scattering for solar cell application was reported . Several methods for obtaining textured glass have been developed, including directly dry etching , dry etching with wet etched rough ZnO:Al as mask layer , wet etching with In 2 O 3 :Sn (Indium Tin Oxide, ITO) as sacrificial layer, cast glass operation , or aluminum‐induced glass texturing .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recently, texturing of glass to achieve light scattering for solar cell application was reported . Several methods for obtaining textured glass have been developed, including directly dry etching , dry etching with wet etched rough ZnO:Al as mask layer , wet etching with In 2 O 3 :Sn (Indium Tin Oxide, ITO) as sacrificial layer, cast glass operation , or aluminum‐induced glass texturing . In this paper, we present a novel way of texturing glass and shows the application of the textured glass as light scattering substrate in highly efficient n‐i‐p µc‐Si:H solar cells.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A novel way of texturing glass for microcrystalline silicon thin film solar cells application

Yang

Swaaij

Isabella

et al. 2014

Progress in Photovoltaics

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In this paper, we present a novel way of texturing glass facilitated by ZnO:Al thin film as sacrificial layer for thin film silicon solar cell application. We name this technique zinc oxide-induced texturing (ZIT). The texturing of glass was achieved by wet etching of ZnO:Al covered glass with HF and HNO 3 as etchants. We investigated the influence of the ZnO:Al layer sputtering condition, the layer thickness, and the etchant composition on the surface morphology of the textured glass. We demonstrate that we are able to control the roughness of the ZIT glass over a wide roughness range, ranging from 20 to 400 nm. Highly efficient microcrystalline silicon n-i-p solar cells were deposited on ZIT glass. The influence of the substrate morphology on the solar cell performance is also discussed. The highest efficiency for a single junction n-i-p microcrystalline silicon solar cell obtained in this work is 10.64% (Active area).

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“…Combining texturing at both glass and TCO leads to advanced surface textures. Recently, a couple of techniques have been introduced to render textured glassy substrates, such as wet [1][2][3] or dry etching [4] laser scribing [5] and molding of nanotextures on glass coated with transparent photo-resists [6]. We introduced a generalized approach, called modulated surface texturing, which combines different techniques, materials, and shapes in order to create the advanced surface texture [7] .…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Modulated Surface Textures for Enhanced Scattering in Thin-Film Silicon Solar Cells

Isabella¹,

Battaglia

Ballif

et al. 2012

Renewable Energy and the Environment Optics and Photonics Congress

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Nano-scale randomly textured front transparent oxides are superposed on micro-scale etched glass substrates to form modulated surface textures. The resulting enhanced light scattering is implemented in single and double junction thin-film silicon solar cells.OCIS codes: 290.5825, 240.6700, 310.6845, Light scattering at textured interfaces leads to an increased optical path length of light in thin absorber layers resulting in an enhanced light absorption. Especially multi-junction thin-film silicon solar cells need an efficient scattering at long wavelengths to deliver a high photocurrent. Interface textures can be introduced into thin-film silicon solar cells by texturing glass and/or transparent conductive oxide (TCO) surfaces. Combining texturing at both glass and TCO leads to advanced surface textures. Recently, a couple of techniques have been introduced to render textured glassy substrates, such as wet [1][2][3] or dry etching [4] laser scribing [5] and molding of nanotextures on glass coated with transparent photo-resists [6]. We introduced a generalized approach, called modulated surface texturing, which combines different techniques, materials, and shapes in order to create the advanced surface texture [7] . This concept allows us to analyze the advanced textures, understand underlying physics for obtaining high scattering levels, and design substrates with novel surface textures.A substrate with modulated surface texture (MST) can be prepared as a stack of layers in which a different texture is introduced at each individual interface. The first texture that has the largest features is called the background texture. The stack may comprise layers of the same or different materials and the resulting surface accommodates all lateral and vertical components. Different scattering mechanisms are superposed in a MST, resulting in higher scattering levels in a broad wavelength range in comparison to the scattering contributions from individual morphologies. To model scattering behavior of MST structures we propose a combined approach using the scalar scattering theory, that describes a wavelength-dependent exponential decay of the haze of transmitted light (H T ), and the Mie solution of Maxwell equations, that describes scattering from objects with micrometer-scale features. The long wavelength haze value (offset effect) is determined by the background texture that can be manipulated by changing the correlation length and the peak-to-peak height of surface features.We have fabricated a series of five MST substrates by combining large surface features of etched glass (EG, background texture), that we call EG1-EG5, with randomly-textured sputtered ZnO:Al (AZO rough, AZOR) exhibiting crater-like features (modulator). To control the surface morphology of the background textures, a sacrificial layer was applied to the glass prior to wet etching, based on a mix of HF and H 2 O 2 . With increasing thickness of the sacrificial layer textures with larger features were obtained on the glass surface. The morp...

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Modulated surface-textured substrates with high haze: From concept to application in thin-film silicon solar cells

Cited by 9 publications

References 12 publications

Solar harvesting based on perfect absorbing all-dielectric nanoresonators on a mirror

Solar harvesting based on perfect absorbing all-dielectric nanoresonators on a mirror

A novel way of texturing glass for microcrystalline silicon thin film solar cells application

Modulated Surface Textures for Enhanced Scattering in Thin-Film Silicon Solar Cells

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