Papers by Keyword: Hydrogenated Amorphous Silicon

Abstract: A parametric investigation has been performed on a thin-film hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) solar cell that is enhanced with various light trapping schemes through a modelling approach. The proposed model contains a novel coupling approach and various feedback routines for a more holistic modelling treatment. The proposed optical model adopts a semi-coherent method, the electrical model extends the classical drift-diffusion model to incorporate the effects of thermal gradients, and the thermal model adopts energy conservation equations from the hydrodynamic model. Based on the simulation results, it is observed that the rise in cell temperature adversely affects the electrical performance but promotes more optical absorptions due to the unique optical properties of amorphous silicon. To obtain an optimum enhancement from the inclusion of nanoparticles, their dimensions and separation distances are essential factors. The thickness of the intrinsic active absorbing layer affects the optical performance directly which then leads to various variations in electrical and thermal responses.

Abstract: The uniformity improvement of high deposition rate in hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) film deposited by electron cyclotron resonance chemical vapor deposition (ECR-CVD) is very essential for a large substrate in PV solar industry. In order to improve the uniformity in depositing thin film in large area, the auxiliary magnetic coils were designed and installed in ECR-CVD to modify the distribution of magnetic field. In addition, the dependence of the other ECR-CVD processing parameters such as resonance position, microwave power, working pressure, and substrate temperature were investigated. The results indicated that more uniform a-Si:H film could be obtained when working pressure was decreased. By using finite element analysis, it was found that location of turbo pump would impact gas flow field and this effect would become more significant at high pressure. Increasing microwave power, increasing horizontal gradient of the magnetic field to the substrate, and forming Cusp magnetic field could enhance ECR-CVD deposition uniformity greatly. However, the plasma location and substrate temperature were not major factors affecting a-Si:H film uniformity in ECR-CVD process. Finally, the optimal and the best 3.8% in uniformity could be achieved in 150mm diameter when the ratio of magnetic field strength at wafer edge to wafer center is 215%, working pressure is 1.5 mtorr, microwave power density is 4W/cm², and substrate temperature is 180°C.

Abstract: Hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) has been developed as an important materials in thin film-based photovoltaic technologies because of considerable cost reduction as a result of low material consumption and low-temperature process. Among the materials used for thin film solar cells, amorphous silicon is the most important material in the commercial production. Despite of these benefits, the efficiency limit for a single band gap thin film based solar cell predicted by Shockley and Queisser (i.e. ~31%) has become a matter of challenge for current research community. Considering the thermodynamic behavior of a single threshold absorber in generating electricity from solar irradiance, this limit seems inevitable, and thus a tremendous investigation is now being carried out in different dimensions such as hot carrier generation, rainbow solar cell, multiple exciton generation, multiband absorber etc. Nonetheless, so far reported efficiency (η_lab~12%) provide enough room to improve and take challenge to reach to the highest value for a-Si:H based solar cell design. Further to improve architectural design as well as engineer the materials, it is indispensable to understand the optical, electrical and structural properties of aSi:H as an active layer. Here in this article, an attempt was taken into account to focus on such characteristics that affect the overall cell efficiency.

Abstract: Transition films of amorphous hydrogenated silicon (a-Si:H) to microcrystalline silicon (μc-Si:H) have attracted much attention due to the stability, high overall quality for solar cells configuration. Hydrogenated amorphous and microcrystalline silicon films were deposited on glass substrates by a conventional plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PEVCD) varying the substrate temperature from 275 to 350 °C. A silane concentration of 4% and a total flow rate of 100 sccm were used at a gas pressure of 267 Pa. The film thicknesses of the prepared samples were between 700 and 900 nm estimated from the optical transmission spectra. The deposition rates were between 0.2 and 0.3 nm/s. The phase composition of the deposited silicon films were investigated by Raman spectroscopy. The transition from amorphous to microcrystalline silicon was found at the higher temperatures. The crystallization process of the amorphous silicon can be affected by the substrate temperature. A narrow structural transition region was observed from the changes of the crystalline volume fraction. The dark electrical conductivity of the silicon films increased as the substrate temperature increasing.

Abstract: For hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) films deposited at temperatures between 423 K and 623 K (a-Si:H_423K and so on), the light-induced changes in the internal friction between 80 K and 400 K were studied. The internal friction is associated with H₂ motion in microvoid networks, and shows the mild temperature dependence between about 80 K and 300 K (Q^-1_80-300K) and the almost linear increase above 300 K (Q^-1_>300K). Both Q^-1_80-300K and Q^-1_>300K decrease with increasing the deposition temperature, and show the mild temperature dependence in a-Si:H_623K. The white light soaking with 100 mW/cm² (WLS₁₀₀ and so on) below 300 K caused a change in Q^-1_80-300K and no changes in Q^-1_>300K, respectively, and the light-induced changes in Q^-1_80-300K recovered after annealing at 423 K. The wide distribution of activation energies for H₂ motions between microvoids indicate that most of neighboring microvoids are connected through windows, i.e., the microvoid networks are existing in a-Si:H, and the spatially loose or solid structures are responsible for the low or high activation energies for the H₂ motion between microvoids, respectively. Furthermore, the light-induced hydrogen evolution (LIHE) was observed for WLS₂₀₀ to WLS₄₀₀ in a vacuum between 400 and 500 K, resulting in the disappearance of the internal friction due to the H₂ motion in the microvoid network.

Abstract: Thin film Amorphous Silicon materials have found wide application in photovoltaic industry. In this paper, thin layers (around 300nm) of intrinsic hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) are fabricated on glass (Corning Eagle2000TM) substrates by employing plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) system with gas sources of silane and hydrogen. The deposited thin films are proven to be material of amorphous silicon by Raman spectroscopy measurement and their electronic transport properties are thoroughly characterized in terms of photoconductivity, dark conductivity and photo response. The effect of Hydrogen dilution on electrical properties are investigated for a-Si:H thin films deposited in the temperatures range of 150~200°C. Results indicate that a-Si:H thin films on glass substrate owns device-quality electrical properties and could be applied on fabricating thin film solar cells as the absorber layer material and on other photovoltaic or photo electronic devices.