Thin absorbers for defect-tolerant solar cell design

David Berney Needleman; Andre Augusto; Ana Peral; Stuart Bowden; Carlos Del Canizo; Tonio Buonassisi

doi:10.1109/PVSC.2017.8366070

Thin absorbers for defect-tolerant solar cell design

David Berney Needleman, Andre Augusto, Ana Peral, Stuart Bowden, Carlos Del Canizo, Tonio Buonassisi

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

Abstract

Thin silicon wafers provide a pathway to lower cost and lower capital intensity PV module manufacturing. They can also produce higher-efficiency devices with less expensive feedstock and crystallization processes because they require shorter diffusion lengths and operate at higher carrier injection. Through simulation, we show that thin Si wafers can be incorporated into high-efficiency cells with greater defect tolerance than thick wafers. Experimentally, we demonstrate the importance of excellent surface passivation to realizing the efficiency potential of thin silicon solar cells and show that such passivation can be achieved in silicon/amorphous silicon heterojunction devices.

Original language	English (US)
Title of host publication	2017 IEEE 44th Photovoltaic Specialist Conference, PVSC 2017
Publisher	Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Pages	2201-2204
Number of pages	4
ISBN (Electronic)	9781509056057
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/PVSC.2017.8366070
State	Published - 2017
Event	44th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialist Conference, PVSC 2017 - Washington, United States Duration: Jun 25 2017 → Jun 30 2017

Publication series

Name	2017 IEEE 44th Photovoltaic Specialist Conference, PVSC 2017

Other

Other	44th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialist Conference, PVSC 2017
Country/Territory	United States
City	Washington
Period	6/25/17 → 6/30/17

Keywords

Heterojunction
Photovoltaic cells
Silicon

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials

Access to Document

10.1109/PVSC.2017.8366070

Cite this

Needleman, D. B., Augusto, A., Peral, A., Bowden, S., Del Canizo, C., & Buonassisi, T. (2017). Thin absorbers for defect-tolerant solar cell design. In 2017 IEEE 44th Photovoltaic Specialist Conference, PVSC 2017 (pp. 2201-2204). (2017 IEEE 44th Photovoltaic Specialist Conference, PVSC 2017). Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.. https://doi.org/10.1109/PVSC.2017.8366070

Thin absorbers for defect-tolerant solar cell design. / Needleman, David Berney; Augusto, Andre; Peral, Ana et al.
2017 IEEE 44th Photovoltaic Specialist Conference, PVSC 2017. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., 2017. p. 2201-2204 (2017 IEEE 44th Photovoltaic Specialist Conference, PVSC 2017).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

Needleman, DB, Augusto, A, Peral, A, Bowden, S, Del Canizo, C & Buonassisi, T 2017, Thin absorbers for defect-tolerant solar cell design. in 2017 IEEE 44th Photovoltaic Specialist Conference, PVSC 2017. 2017 IEEE 44th Photovoltaic Specialist Conference, PVSC 2017, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., pp. 2201-2204, 44th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialist Conference, PVSC 2017, Washington, United States, 6/25/17. https://doi.org/10.1109/PVSC.2017.8366070

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author = "Needleman, {David Berney} and Andre Augusto and Ana Peral and Stuart Bowden and {Del Canizo}, Carlos and Tonio Buonassisi",

note = "Funding Information: This material is based upon work supported by the Engineering Research Center Program of the National Science Foundation and the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy of the Department of Energy (DOE) under NSF Cooperative Agreement No. EEC-1041895. D. Berney Needleman acknowledges the support of the Department of Defense (DOD) through the National Defense Science & Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellowship program. C. del Ca{\~n}izo and A. Peral gratefully acknowledge J. Valdehita and C. Cid for their assistance with sample preparation and contamination and the partial funding from Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovaci{\'o}n through TABACO DE LYAR (ENE2014-56069-C4-2-R) project. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2017 IEEE.; 44th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialist Conference, PVSC 2017 ; Conference date: 25-06-2017 Through 30-06-2017",

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doi = "10.1109/PVSC.2017.8366070",

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N1 - Funding Information: This material is based upon work supported by the Engineering Research Center Program of the National Science Foundation and the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy of the Department of Energy (DOE) under NSF Cooperative Agreement No. EEC-1041895. D. Berney Needleman acknowledges the support of the Department of Defense (DOD) through the National Defense Science & Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellowship program. C. del Cañizo and A. Peral gratefully acknowledge J. Valdehita and C. Cid for their assistance with sample preparation and contamination and the partial funding from Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación through TABACO DE LYAR (ENE2014-56069-C4-2-R) project. Publisher Copyright: © 2017 IEEE.

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AB - Thin silicon wafers provide a pathway to lower cost and lower capital intensity PV module manufacturing. They can also produce higher-efficiency devices with less expensive feedstock and crystallization processes because they require shorter diffusion lengths and operate at higher carrier injection. Through simulation, we show that thin Si wafers can be incorporated into high-efficiency cells with greater defect tolerance than thick wafers. Experimentally, we demonstrate the importance of excellent surface passivation to realizing the efficiency potential of thin silicon solar cells and show that such passivation can be achieved in silicon/amorphous silicon heterojunction devices.

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Thin absorbers for defect-tolerant solar cell design

Abstract

Publication series

Other

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

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