Carrier drift velocity balance mechanism in Si-based thin film solar cells using graded microcrystalline SiGe absorption layer

Ching Ting Lee; Kuan Fu Lu; Chun Yen Tseng

doi:10.1016/j.solener.2015.01.023

Carrier drift velocity balance mechanism in Si-based thin film solar cells using graded microcrystalline SiGe absorption layer

Ching Ting Lee, Kuan Fu Lu, Chun Yen Tseng

Department of Photonics

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

16 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The basic idea of balancing the carrier drift velocity in the absorption layer was proposed to improve the conversion efficiency of Si-based thin film solar cells. Using the graded microcrystalline i-SiGe absorption layer to modulate the energy band, the driven electric field of holes was increased from 5.92kV/cm to 7.26kV/cm, while the driven electric field of electrons was kept at 5.92kV/cm. Compared with the step i-SiGe absorption layer, the drift velocity ratio of electrons and holes was more balanced. The improvement mechanism of the p-Si/graded-i-SiGe/n-Si solar cells was further analyzed using the measurement of the biased quantum efficiency. Consequently, the short-circuit current density and the associated conversion efficiency of the p-Si/graded-i-SiGe/n-Si solar cells were improved from 21.40 ± 0.47mA/cm² to 26.36 ± 0.56 mA/cm² and from 7.43 ± 0.23% to 9.15 ± 0.25%, respectively compared with the p-Si/step-i-SiGe/n-Si solar cells.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1-7
Number of pages	7
Journal	Solar Energy
Volume	114
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2015.01.023
Publication status	Published - 2015 Apr 1

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
General Materials Science

UN SDGs

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10.1016/j.solener.2015.01.023

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title = "Carrier drift velocity balance mechanism in Si-based thin film solar cells using graded microcrystalline SiGe absorption layer",

abstract = "The basic idea of balancing the carrier drift velocity in the absorption layer was proposed to improve the conversion efficiency of Si-based thin film solar cells. Using the graded microcrystalline i-SiGe absorption layer to modulate the energy band, the driven electric field of holes was increased from 5.92kV/cm to 7.26kV/cm, while the driven electric field of electrons was kept at 5.92kV/cm. Compared with the step i-SiGe absorption layer, the drift velocity ratio of electrons and holes was more balanced. The improvement mechanism of the p-Si/graded-i-SiGe/n-Si solar cells was further analyzed using the measurement of the biased quantum efficiency. Consequently, the short-circuit current density and the associated conversion efficiency of the p-Si/graded-i-SiGe/n-Si solar cells were improved from 21.40 ± 0.47mA/cm2 to 26.36 ± 0.56 mA/cm2 and from 7.43 ± 0.23% to 9.15 ± 0.25%, respectively compared with the p-Si/step-i-SiGe/n-Si solar cells.",

author = "Lee, {Ching Ting} and Lu, {Kuan Fu} and Tseng, {Chun Yen}",

note = "Funding Information: This work was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology of Republic of China under Contract No. MOST102-2221-E006-283, No. MOST 102-2923-E-006-001-MY3 and Advanced Optoelectronic Technology Center and Research Center Energy Technology and Strategy of the National Cheng Kung University . Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2015 Elsevier Ltd.",

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doi = "10.1016/j.solener.2015.01.023",

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AU - Lee, Ching Ting

AU - Lu, Kuan Fu

AU - Tseng, Chun Yen

N1 - Funding Information: This work was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology of Republic of China under Contract No. MOST102-2221-E006-283, No. MOST 102-2923-E-006-001-MY3 and Advanced Optoelectronic Technology Center and Research Center Energy Technology and Strategy of the National Cheng Kung University . Publisher Copyright: © 2015 Elsevier Ltd.

PY - 2015/4/1

Y1 - 2015/4/1

N2 - The basic idea of balancing the carrier drift velocity in the absorption layer was proposed to improve the conversion efficiency of Si-based thin film solar cells. Using the graded microcrystalline i-SiGe absorption layer to modulate the energy band, the driven electric field of holes was increased from 5.92kV/cm to 7.26kV/cm, while the driven electric field of electrons was kept at 5.92kV/cm. Compared with the step i-SiGe absorption layer, the drift velocity ratio of electrons and holes was more balanced. The improvement mechanism of the p-Si/graded-i-SiGe/n-Si solar cells was further analyzed using the measurement of the biased quantum efficiency. Consequently, the short-circuit current density and the associated conversion efficiency of the p-Si/graded-i-SiGe/n-Si solar cells were improved from 21.40 ± 0.47mA/cm2 to 26.36 ± 0.56 mA/cm2 and from 7.43 ± 0.23% to 9.15 ± 0.25%, respectively compared with the p-Si/step-i-SiGe/n-Si solar cells.

AB - The basic idea of balancing the carrier drift velocity in the absorption layer was proposed to improve the conversion efficiency of Si-based thin film solar cells. Using the graded microcrystalline i-SiGe absorption layer to modulate the energy band, the driven electric field of holes was increased from 5.92kV/cm to 7.26kV/cm, while the driven electric field of electrons was kept at 5.92kV/cm. Compared with the step i-SiGe absorption layer, the drift velocity ratio of electrons and holes was more balanced. The improvement mechanism of the p-Si/graded-i-SiGe/n-Si solar cells was further analyzed using the measurement of the biased quantum efficiency. Consequently, the short-circuit current density and the associated conversion efficiency of the p-Si/graded-i-SiGe/n-Si solar cells were improved from 21.40 ± 0.47mA/cm2 to 26.36 ± 0.56 mA/cm2 and from 7.43 ± 0.23% to 9.15 ± 0.25%, respectively compared with the p-Si/step-i-SiGe/n-Si solar cells.

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Carrier drift velocity balance mechanism in Si-based thin film solar cells using graded microcrystalline SiGe absorption layer

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