Title :
Optical confinement and optical loss in high-efficiency a-Si solar cells
Author :
Hishikawa, Y. ; Kinoshita, T. ; Shima, M. ; Tanaka, M. ; Kiyama, S. ; Tsuda, S. ; Nakano, S.
Author_Institution :
New Mater. Res. Center, Sanyo Electr. Co. Ltd., Osaka, Japan
fDate :
29 Sep-3 Oct 1997
Abstract :
The world´s highest stabilized conversion efficiency of 9.5% has been achieved for a 30×40 cm2 a-Si/a-SiGe glass superstrate solar cell submodule. However, significant optical loss still exists even in these high-efficiency a-Si solar cells. FEM numerical simulation has shown that the primary origin of the optical loss in textured a-Si solar cells at about ⩾800 nm is absorption in SnO2 which is enhanced by the optical confinement effect. Optical confinement also results in increased absorption in the metal electrode, which is another source of optical loss
Keywords :
Ge-Si alloys; amorphous semiconductors; elemental semiconductors; finite element analysis; optical losses; semiconductor thin films; silicon; solar cells; 30 cm; 40 cm; 9.5 percent; FEM numerical simulation; Si; Si-SiGe; SnO2; a-Si/a-SiGe glass superstrate solar cell submodule; high-efficiency a-Si solar cells; metal electrode; optical confinement; optical loss; textured a-Si solar cells; Absorption; Glass; Hydrogen; Numerical simulation; Optical films; Optical losses; Optical scattering; Optical surface waves; Photovoltaic cells; Surface texture;
Conference_Titel :
Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 1997., Conference Record of the Twenty-Sixth IEEE
Conference_Location :
Anaheim, CA
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-3767-0
DOI :
10.1109/PVSC.1997.654164
