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Improved Back Reflector for High Efficiency Hydrogenated Amorphous and Nanocrystalline Silicon Based Solar Cells

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2011

Baojie Yan ,
Jessica M. Owens ,
Chun-Sheng Jiang ,
Jeffrey Yang  and
Subhendu Guha
Baojie Yan
Affiliation:
United Solar Ovonic Corporation, 1100 West Maple Road, Troy, Michigan 48084
Jessica M. Owens
Affiliation:
United Solar Ovonic Corporation, 1100 West Maple Road, Troy, Michigan 48084
Chun-Sheng Jiang
Affiliation:
1National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, Colorado 80401
Jeffrey Yang
Affiliation:
United Solar Ovonic Corporation, 1100 West Maple Road, Troy, Michigan 48084
Subhendu Guha
Affiliation:
United Solar Ovonic Corporation, 1100 West Maple Road, Troy, Michigan 48084
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Abstract

Ag/ZnO back reflectors (BR) on specular stainless steel substrates are optimized for hydrogenated amorphous silicon germanium alloy (a-SiGe:H) and nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si:H) solar cells. The BRs are deposited using a sputtering method. The texture of the Ag and ZnO layers is controlled by deposition parameters as well as chemical etching with diluted HCl. The surface morphology is investigated by atomic force microscopy. The scattered light intensity from a He-Ne laser, which illuminates the sample surface perpendicularly, is measured at different angles. Finally, a-SiGe:H and nc-Si:H solar cells are deposited on the BR substrates prepared under various conditions. For a-SiGe:H bottom cells, the improved BR with large micro-features leads to an enhanced open-circuit voltage. For the nc-Si:H solar cells, large micro-features on the improved BR eliminate interference fringes otherwise observed in the quantum efficiency measurement and result in high short circuit current density. The result is consistent with an enhanced scattered light intensity. Hence, the cell performance was improved. We also deposited a-Si:H/a-SiGe:H/nc-Si:H triple-junction cells on the optimized BR and achieved a high initial active-area efficiency of 14.6%.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 862: Symposium A – Amorphous and Nanocrystalline Silicon Science and Technology–2005 , 2005 , A23.3
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2005

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References

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