Material Quality Requirements for Efficient Epitaxial Film Silicon Solar Cells

Kirstin Alberi, Ina Martin, Maxim Shub, Charles Teplin, Manuel Romero, Robert Reedy, Eugene Iwaniczko, Anna Duda, Paul Stradins, Howard Branz, David Young

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

43 Scopus Citations

Abstract

The performance of 2-μm -thick crystal silicon (c-Si) solar cells grown epitaxially on heavily doped wafer substrates is quantitatively linked to absorber dislocation density. We find that such thin devices have a high tolerance to bulk impurities compared to wafer-based cells. The minority carrier diffusion length is about half the dislocation spacing and must be roughly three times the absorber thickness for efficient carrier extraction. Together, modeling and experimental results provide design guidelines for film c-Si photovoltaic cells.

Original languageAmerican English
Article numberArticle No. 073502
Number of pages3
JournalApplied Physics Letters
Volume96
Issue number7
DOIs
StatePublished - 2010

NREL Publication Number

  • NREL/JA-270-47595

Keywords

  • carrier lifetime
  • elemental semiconductors
  • photovoltaic cells
  • semiconductor epitaxial layers
  • silicon
  • solar cells

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Material Quality Requirements for Efficient Epitaxial Film Silicon Solar Cells'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this