Reorganized Porous Silicon Bragg Reflectors for Thin-Film Silicon Solar Cells

Duerinckx, Filip; Kuzma-Filipek, I.; Nieuwenhuysen, Kris Van; Beaucarne, G.; Poortmans, Jef

doi:10.1109/led.2006.883055

Cited by 30 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…The multilayers produced in this way consisted of several PSi layers with alternating low/high/low porosities. The layer optical thicknesses were chosen according to the quarter wavelength principle to promote constructive interference for the changing wavelength [5,12]. The model of Maxwell-Gartner for the individual reorganized layers was used to calculate the refractive indices of these layers [14], which resulted in n L ¼ 2Á6 and n H ¼ 3Á05.…”

Section: Porous Silicon Mirrors Preparation and Characterizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These optical losses can be, however, reduced by implementation of light confinement structures like a porous silicon (PSi) intermediate reflector [5]. The role of PSi reflector is to boost the absorption in the active epitaxial layer of low energy photons; thus, increasing the charge carrier generation and resulting short-circuit current of the cell.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Efficiency (>15%) for thin‐film epitaxial silicon solar cells on 70 cm² area offspec silicon substrate using porous silicon segmented mirrors

Kuzma-Filipek

Nieuwenhuysen

Hoeymissen

et al. 2010

Progress in Photovoltaics

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We report on the beneficial use of embedded segmented porous silicon broad-band optical reflectors for thin-film epitaxial silicon solar cells. These reflectors are formed by gradual increase of the spatial period between the layer segments, allowing for an enhanced absorption of low energy photons in the epitaxial layer. By combining these reflectors with wellestablished solar cell processing by photolithography, a conversion efficiency of 15Á2% was reached on 73 cm 2 area, highly doped offspec multicrystalline silicon substrates. The corresponding photogenerated current densities (J sc ) were well above 31 mA/cm 2 for an active layer of only 20 mm.

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Section: Porous Silicon Mirrors Preparation and Characterizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Efficiency (>15%) for thin‐film epitaxial silicon solar cells on 70 cm² area offspec silicon substrate using porous silicon segmented mirrors

Kuzma-Filipek

Nieuwenhuysen

Hoeymissen

et al. 2010

Progress in Photovoltaics

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“…To evaluate precisely the quality of the BR for a solar cell, Duerinckx et al used the path-length enhancement factor (Z), which describes the optical path length for weakly absorbed light. It can be calculated as follows [14]:…”

Section: Internal Reflectivitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Distributed Bragg reflector is a structure composed of a multilayer stack of high and low refractive index layers. Several configurations were published: Bragg mirrors implemented with (i) amorphous silicon and silicon oxide [1], (ii) SiN x and SiO x dielectric [12] (iii) porous silicon of two alternating porosities [2,7,[13][14][15]. The design of porous silicon Bragg mirror is complex and requires appropriate control of optical parameters of its constituent layers, and it produces many losses at the interface due to the excessive stack of porous silicon layers [3,16].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optical properties of porous Si/PECVD SiN_X:H reflector on single crystalline Si for solar cells

Remache¹,

Nychyporuk

Guermit³

et al. 2016

Materials Science-Poland

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The improvement of optical confinement on the back crystalline silicon solar cell is one of the factors leading to its better performance. Porous silicon (PS) layer can be used as a back reflector (BR) in solar cells. In this work, single layers of porous silicon were grown by electrodeposition on a single crystalline silicon substrate. The measurement of the total reflectivity (R T ) on Si/PS surface showed a significant improvement in optical confinement compared to that measured on Si/standard Al back surface field (BSF). The internal reflectivity (R B ) extracted from total reflectivity measurements achieved 86 % for the optimized single PS layer (92 nm thick layer with 60 % porosity) in the wavelength range between 950 and 1200 nm. This improvement was estimated as more than 17 % compared to that measured on the surface of Si/BSF Al contact. To improve the stability and passivation properties of PS layer BR, silicon nitride layer (SiN x ) was deposited by PECVD on a PS layer. The maximum measured total reflectivity for PS/SiN x achieved approximately 56 % corresponding to an improved R B of up to 83 %. The PS formation process in combination with the PECVD SiN x , can be applied in the photovoltaic cell technology and offer a promising technique to produce high-efficiency and low-cost c-Si solar cells.

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“…The PV devices comprising the Bragg reflectors demonstrated an increase in the conversion efficiency from 12% to 13.5%. [29] Optimizing the design in which the back contact itself is structured as a PC would depend on choosing an appropriate back contact material. The back contact should be transparent to avoid absorption losses that may otherwise occur in the spectral range outside the PBG, and the required number of PC layers can be minimized by choosing a material with a large refractive index.…”

Section: Incorporating Pc Back-reflectors Into Si Pv Devicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Silicon Photovoltaics Using Conducting Photonic Crystal Back‐Reflectors

et al. 2008

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Currently, research is being directed towards thinning conventional 200–300µm thick silicon photovoltaic cells by an order of magnitude or more. The benefits of reducing the cell thickness include decreased material costs, enhanced cell flexibility, and reduced effects of light‐induced degradation. However, one of the major challenges associated with reducing the active region to this extent is the corresponding reduction of light absorption. To mitigate this effect it has been proposed that the cell should incorporate enhanced light‐trapping strategies. One potential approach to enhance light trapping in thin photovoltaic cells is to structure the back‐reflector in the form of a photonic crystal (PC). It has recently been shown that two fundamental attributes of PC back‐reflectors optically coupled to thin semiconductor films contribute to enhanced absorption in the semiconductor: (i) the PC back‐reflector behaves as a perfect mirror, exhibiting complete reflection over stop‐gap frequencies; and (ii) the PC–semiconductor film interface couples incident light into resonant states that propagate along the plane of the film, thereby further enhancing the absorption. Although the ability of PC back‐reflectors to enhance absorption is encouraging, significant challenges arise when attempting to incorporate this light trapping technique in photovoltaic devices. Herein, we describe the underlying physical mechanisms that give rise to absorption enhancements in thin Si wafers featuring PC back‐reflectors, and describe hurdles that will have to be surmounted in order to reduce‐to‐practice a PC back‐reflector into an actual PV device.

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Reorganized Porous Silicon Bragg Reflectors for Thin-Film Silicon Solar Cells

Cited by 30 publications

References 12 publications

Efficiency (>15%) for thin‐film epitaxial silicon solar cells on 70 cm² area offspec silicon substrate using porous silicon segmented mirrors

Efficiency (>15%) for thin‐film epitaxial silicon solar cells on 70 cm² area offspec silicon substrate using porous silicon segmented mirrors

Optical properties of porous Si/PECVD SiN_X:H reflector on single crystalline Si for solar cells

Silicon Photovoltaics Using Conducting Photonic Crystal Back‐Reflectors

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Reorganized Porous Silicon Bragg Reflectors for Thin-Film Silicon Solar Cells

Cited by 30 publications

References 12 publications

Efficiency (>15%) for thin‐film epitaxial silicon solar cells on 70 cm2 area offspec silicon substrate using porous silicon segmented mirrors

Efficiency (>15%) for thin‐film epitaxial silicon solar cells on 70 cm2 area offspec silicon substrate using porous silicon segmented mirrors

Optical properties of porous Si/PECVD SiNX:H reflector on single crystalline Si for solar cells

Silicon Photovoltaics Using Conducting Photonic Crystal Back‐Reflectors

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Product

Resources

About

Efficiency (>15%) for thin‐film epitaxial silicon solar cells on 70 cm² area offspec silicon substrate using porous silicon segmented mirrors

Efficiency (>15%) for thin‐film epitaxial silicon solar cells on 70 cm² area offspec silicon substrate using porous silicon segmented mirrors

Optical properties of porous Si/PECVD SiN_X:H reflector on single crystalline Si for solar cells