Title :
Back-contact solar cells in thin crystalline silicon
Author :
Fossum, J.G. ; Sarkar, D. ; Mathew, L. ; Rao, R. ; Jawarani, D. ; Law, M.E.
Author_Institution :
Univ. of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
Abstract :
A novel kerf-free process for achieving crystalline silicon with thickness ≅25μm on metal (SOM) is overviewed, and fabrication of back-contact (BC) solar cells in the thin silicon wafers is described. An object-oriented 2-D device simulator is set up for reliable physics-based numerical simulation of thin-Si solar cells, and is used to define optimal design of the thin BCSOM cell and to predict its ultimate performance. An efficiency approaching 20% is projected, and supporting preliminary experimental results are presented.
Keywords :
elemental semiconductors; numerical analysis; object-oriented programming; power engineering computing; production engineering computing; semiconductor device manufacture; solar cells; back-contact solar cells; kerf-free process; object-oriented 2-D device simulator; physics-based numerical simulation; silicon wafers; thin crystalline silicon; Spontaneous emission; Wireless sensor networks;
Conference_Titel :
Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC), 2010 35th IEEE
Conference_Location :
Honolulu, HI
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4244-5890-5
DOI :
10.1109/PVSC.2010.5614466
