Progress in Laser-Crystallized Thin-Film Polycrystalline Silicon Solar Cells: Intermediate Layers, Light Trapping, and Metallization

Dore, Jonathon; Ong, D. S.; Varlamov, Sergey; Egan, Renate; Green, Martin A.

doi:10.1109/jphotov.2013.2280016

Cited by 104 publications

(90 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…110, 211602 (2017); doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4984110 2 laser pulse duration, wavelength and number of irradiation pulses, as well as film thickness and choice of substrate in the case of thin Si films [5][6][7][8][9][10] . Despite this early discovery, most laser-induced phase-change studies in Si focused on transforming large areas, for instance laser-annealing of amorphous Si for fabrication of solar cells 11,12 or OLED displays 13 . Less work has been done to imprint phase-change micro-or nanostructures into an homogeneous Si background.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Fabrication of amorphous micro-ring arrays in crystalline silicon using ultrashort laser pulses

Fuentes‐Edfuf

García-Lechuga

Puerto

et al. 2017

Applied Physics Letters

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Abstract:We demonstrate a simple way to fabricate amorphous micro-rings in crystalline silicon using direct laser writing. The method is based on the fact that the phase of a thin surface layer can be changed into the amorphous phase by irradiation with a few ultrashort laser pulses (800 nm wavelength and 100 fs duration). Surface-depressed amorphous rings with a central crystalline disk can be fabricated without the need for beam shaping, featuring attractive optical, topographical, and electrical properties. The underlying formation mechanism and phase change path way have been investigated by means of fs-resolved microscopy, identifying fluence-dependent melting and solidification dynamics of the material as the responsible mechanism. We demonstrate that the lateral dimensions of the rings can be scaled and that the rings can be stitched together, forming extended arrays of structures not limited to annular shapes. This technique and the resulting structures may find applications in a variety of fields in optics, nanoelectronics, and mechatronics. Text:Silicon is more than just a key material for the electronics industry; it can be considered one of the pillars the industry is built on. Si owes this position essentially to its abundance on earth, its semiconducting properties and the existence of two structurally different solid phases (crystalline and amorphous), having very different physical properties. In this context it is worth noting that the amorphous phase can be formed by a variety of methods, including chemical and physical vapour deposition techniques, ion implantation and melting followed by rapid quenching. While some of the properties of the amorphous phase are known to depend on the preparation method 1 it has to be kept in mind that it is still a tetrahedrally coordinated semiconductor with a coordination number close to four 2 , just as the crystalline phase.Laser processing of Si started immediately after sufficiently intense lasers were available 3 and today applications are countless. The ability of pulsed laser irradiation to melt the crystalline material and induce resolidification either into the crystalline or amorphous phase, depending on the irradiation conditions, has been observed already in 1979 by Liu et al 4 . In fact, the authors proposed this concept for data storage applications due to the optical contrast between the two phases. Several experimental parameters influence the melting and freezing kinetics of the material and thus the final phase obtained, the most important ones being the Appl. Phys. Lett. 110, 211602 (2017); doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4984110 2 laser pulse duration, wavelength and number of irradiation pulses, as well as film thickness and choice of substrate in the case of thin Si films [5][6][7][8][9][10] . Despite this early discovery, most laser-induced phase-change studies in Si focused on transforming large areas, for instance laser-annealing of amorphous Si for fabrication of solar cells 11,12 or OLED displays 13 . Less work has been done to imp...

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mentioning

confidence: 99%

Fabrication of amorphous micro-ring arrays in crystalline silicon using ultrashort laser pulses

Fuentes‐Edfuf

García-Lechuga

Puerto

et al. 2017

Applied Physics Letters

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“…1(a)], the master structure was prepared by interference lithography [5]. Adapted from the optimized planar reference stack, the sinusoidal texture is coated with 70 nm of SiN x and 10 nm of SiO x , serving as anti-reflective and passivation layers, respectively [6,8]. For the SMART texture [ (Fig.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Therefore, no additional SiN x layer is needed. For planar reference samples, a state-of-the-art interlayer stack of 250 nm SiO x , 70 nm SiN x and 10 nm SiO x is employed [6,8]. Using electron-beam evaporation with a substrate temperature of T = 600 • C, a 8 µm thick silicon layer is deposited onto each superstrate.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Angle-Resolved Reflectivity Analysis of Textured Substrates for Liquid-Phase Crystallized Silicon Thin-Film Solar Cells

Eisenhauer¹,

Köppel²,

Rech³

et al. 2016

Light, Energy and the Environment

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“…These applications have recently been reviewed in the literature. 7,8 In thin film photovoltaics (PV), lasers have been used for the recrystallization of amorphous Si into polycrystalline Si 9,10 and scribing for the monolithic cell integration of CdTe 11 and CuðIn; GaÞðS; SeÞ 2 (CIGS) 11,12 cells. The aim of this paper is to review laser-based processes for synthesizing and or improving the properties of the chalcogenide absorber layers used in thin film solar cells, namely CdTe and Cu(In, Ga)S(Se).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Laser processing for thin film chalcogenide photovoltaics: a review and prospectus

et al. 2015

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Abstract. We review prior and on-going works in using laser annealing (LA) techniques in the development of chalcogenide-based [CdTe and CuðIn; GaÞðS; SeÞ 2 ] solar cells. LA can achieve unique processing regimes as the wavelength and pulse duration can be chosen to selectively heat particular layers of a thin film solar cell or even particular regions within a single layer. Pulsed LA, in particular, can achieve non-steady-state conditions that allow for stoichiometry control by preferential evaporation, which has been utilized in CdTe solar cells to create Ohmic back contacts. Pulsed lasers have also been used with CuðIn; GaÞðS; SeÞ 2 to improve device performance by surface-defect annealing as well as bulk deep-defect annealing. Continuouswave LA shows promise for use as a replacement for furnace annealing as it almost instantaneously supplies heat to the absorbing film without wasting time or energy to bring the much thicker substrate to temperature. Optimizing and utilizing such a technology would allow production lines to increase throughput and thus manufacturing capacity. Lasers have also been used to create potentially low-cost chalcogenide thin films from precursors, which is also reviewed. © The Authors. Published by SPIE under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. Distribution or reproduction of this work in whole or in part requires full attribution of the original publication, including its DOI.

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Progress in Laser-Crystallized Thin-Film Polycrystalline Silicon Solar Cells: Intermediate Layers, Light Trapping, and Metallization

Cited by 104 publications

References 18 publications

Fabrication of amorphous micro-ring arrays in crystalline silicon using ultrashort laser pulses

Fabrication of amorphous micro-ring arrays in crystalline silicon using ultrashort laser pulses

Angle-Resolved Reflectivity Analysis of Textured Substrates for Liquid-Phase Crystallized Silicon Thin-Film Solar Cells

Laser processing for thin film chalcogenide photovoltaics: a review and prospectus

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