Comparison of hydrogenated amorphous silicon germanium and nanocrystalline silicon for multijunction solar cells: pros, cons, and status

Author

Yang, Jeffrey ; Yan, Baojie ; Yue, Guozhen ; Guha, Subhendu

Author_Institution

United Solar Ovonic Corp., Troy, MI, USA

fYear

2005

Firstpage

1359

Lastpage

1364

Abstract

A comparison is made of hydrogenated amorphous silicon germanium (a-SiGe:H) and hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si:H) for use in the bottom cell of a multijunction structure. In our laboratory, an initial active-area cell efficiency of 14.6% has been achieved in both a-Si:H/a-SiGe:H/a-SiGe:H and a-Si:H/a-SiGe:H/nc-Si:H triple-junction structures. Their light-soaked stabilized efficiencies are also similar. Pros, cons, issues, and status for using these two low bandgap absorber materials in multijunction structures are presented.

Keywords

Ge-Si alloys; amorphous semiconductors; elemental semiconductors; hydrogen; nanostructured materials; semiconductor junctions; silicon; solar cells; 14.6 percent; Si:H-SiGe:H-Si:H; Si:H-SiGe:H-SiGe:H; absorber materials; active-area cell efficiency; bandgap; hydrogenated amorphous silicon germanium; multijunction solar cells; nanocrystalline silicon; triple-junction structures; Amorphous silicon; Germanium alloys; Germanium silicon alloys; Iron alloys; Laboratories; Photonic band gap; Photovoltaic cells; Production; Silicon alloys; Silicon germanium;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 2005. Conference Record of the Thirty-first IEEE

ISSN

0160-8371

Print_ISBN

0-7803-8707-4

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/PVSC.2005.1488394

Filename

1488394