Title :
Theoretical analysis of textured thin-film solar cells and a guideline to achieving higher efficiency
Author :
Sawada, Toru ; Tarui, Hisaki ; Terada, Norihiro ; Tanaka, Makoto ; Takahama, Tsuyoshi ; Tsuda, Shinya ; Nakano, Shoichi
Author_Institution :
Functional Mater. Res. Center, Sanyo Electr. Co. Ltd., Osaka, Japan
Abstract :
A total-area conversion efficiency of 12.0% has been achieved for a 100 cm2 single-junction a-Si solar cell, by the use of a high-quality i-layer and other successful techniques such as a high-quality buffer layer treated by hydrogen plasma. For further improvement, the first exact numerical model has been proposed for submicron “textured” a-Si solar cells. Some important results have been obtained with the model. For example, the nonuniformity of the electric field in the textured structure was quantitatively analyzed. For a cell with a structure of glass/TCO/a-Si/metal, the incident light is trapped inside the cell, similar to that in fiber optics, mainly due to the small loss of light escaping from the a-Si to the glass
Keywords :
amorphous semiconductors; electric fields; elemental semiconductors; numerical analysis; p-n homojunctions; semiconductor device models; semiconductor thin films; silicon; solar cells; surface texture; 12 percent; Si; a-Si solar cells; buffer layer; efficiency; electric field nonuniformity; fabrication; glass/TCO/a-Si/metal; hydrogen plasma treatment; i-layer; numerical model; structure; textured semiconductors; theoretical analysis; thin-film; Buffer layers; Charge carrier processes; Glass; Hydrogen; Nonuniform electric fields; Numerical models; Optical fibers; Photovoltaic cells; Plasmas; Transistors;
Conference_Titel :
Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 1993., Conference Record of the Twenty Third IEEE
Conference_Location :
Louisville, KY
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-1220-1
DOI :
10.1109/PVSC.1993.347118
