Amorphous Silicon, Microcrystalline Silicon, and Thin-Film Polycrystalline Silicon Solar Cells

Thin-film solar cell technologies based on Si with a thickness of less than a few micrometers combine the low-cost potential of thin-film technologies with the advantages of Si as an abundantly available element in the earth's crust and a readily manufacturable material for photovoltaics (PVs). In recent years, several technologies have been developed that promise to take the performance of thin-film silicon PVs well beyond that of the currently established amorphous Si PV technology. Thin-film silicon, like no other thin-film material, is very effective in tandem and triple-junction solar cells. The research and development on thin crystalline silicon on foreign substrates can be divided into two different routes: a low-temperature route compatible with standard float glass or even plastic substrates, and a high-temperature route ( >600°C). This article reviews the material properties and technological challenges of the different thin-film silicon PV materials.

[1]  Reinhard Carius,et al.  Open circuit voltage improvement of high-deposition-rate microcrystalline silicon solar cells by hot wire interface layers , 2005 .

[2]  K. Saito,et al.  High efficiency a-Si:H alloy cell deposited at high deposition rate , 1993 .

[3]  F. Finger,et al.  Relationships between structure, spin density and electronic transport in ?solar-grade' microcrystalline silicon films , 2002 .

[4]  R. Schropp,et al.  Protocrystalline Silicon at High Rate from Undiluted Silane , 2004 .

[5]  G. Beaucarne,et al.  Thin-film polycrystalline Si solar cells on foreign substrates: film formation at intermediate temperatures (700–1300 °C) , 2004 .

[6]  Bernd Rech,et al.  Intrinsic microcrystalline silicon: A new material for photovoltaics , 2000 .

[7]  D. Carlson,et al.  AMORPHOUS SILICON SOLAR CELL , 1976 .

[8]  J. D’Haen,et al.  Thin-film polycrystalline-silicon solar cells on high-temperature glass based on aluminum-induced crystallization of amorphous silicon , 2006 .

[9]  Arvind Shah,et al.  Complete microcrystalline p-i-n solar cell—Crystalline or amorphous cell behavior? , 1994 .

[10]  N. Wyrsch,et al.  High-rate deposition of amorphous hydrogenated silicon: effect of plasma excitation frequency , 1987 .

[11]  S. M. Pietruszko,et al.  On light‐induced effect in amorphous hydrogenated silicon , 1981 .

[12]  High‐efficiency µc‐Si solar cells made by very high‐frequency plasma‐enhanced chemical vapor deposition , 2006 .

[13]  R. J. Koval,et al.  Performance and stability of Si:H p–i–n solar cells with i layers prepared at the thickness-dependent amorphous-to-microcrystalline phase boundary , 1999 .

[14]  Ahm Arno Smets,et al.  Temperature dependence of the surface roughness evolution during hydrogenated amorphous silicon film growth , 2003 .

[15]  Stanford R. Ovshinsky,et al.  Effect of hydrogen dilution on the structure of amorphous silicon alloys , 1997 .

[16]  G. Beaucarne,et al.  Defect passivation in chemical vapour deposited fine-grained polycrystalline silicon by plasma hydrogenation , 2005 .

[17]  Reinhard Carius,et al.  Structural properties of microcrystalline silicon in the transition from highly crystalline to amorphous growth , 1998 .

[18]  Reinhard Carius,et al.  Microcrystalline silicon solar cells deposited at high rates , 2005 .

[19]  J. Müller,et al.  Amorphous and microcrystalline silicon solar cells prepared at high deposition rates using RF (13.56 MHz) plasma excitation frequencies , 2001 .

[20]  Paul A. Basore,et al.  Defining terms for crystalline silicon solar cells , 1994 .

[21]  Armin G. Aberle,et al.  Optimisation of low-temperature silicon epitaxy on seeded glass substrates by ion-assisted deposition , 2005 .

[22]  A. Matsuda,et al.  An approach to device grade amorphous and microcrystalline silicon thin films fabricated at higher deposition rates , 2002 .

[23]  Armin G. Aberle,et al.  Large open-circuit voltage improvement by rapid thermal annealing of evaporated solid-phase-crystallized thin-film silicon solar cells on glass , 2005 .

[24]  Don L. Williamson,et al.  Hydrogen dilution profiling for hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon solar cells , 2004 .

[25]  R. Schropp.  Present status of micro- and polycrystalline silicon solar cells made by hot-wire chemical vapor deposition , 2004 .

[26]  O. Nast,et al.  Elucidation of the layer exchange mechanism in the formation of polycrystalline silicon by aluminum-induced crystallization , 2000 .

[27]  Hideki Matsumura,et al.  Catalytic Chemical Vapor Deposition (CTC–CVD) Method Producing High Quality Hydrogenated Amorphous Silicon , 1986 .

[28]  Susumu Suzuki,et al.  High rate growth of microcrystalline silicon using a high-pressure depletion method with VHF plasma , 2001 .

[29]  Reinhard Carius,et al.  Deposition of microcrystalline silicon prepared by hot-wire chemical-vapor deposition: The influence of the deposition parameters on the material properties and solar cell performance , 2005 .