Implications of TCO Topography on Intermediate Reflector Design for a-Si/μc-Si Tandem Solar Cells—Experiments and Rigorous Optical Simulations

Author

Kirner, Simon ; Hammerschmidt, Martin ; Schwanke, C. ; Lockau, Daniel ; Calnan, Sonya ; Frijnts, Tim ; Neubert, S. ; Schopke, Andreas ; Schmidt, F. ; Zollondz, Jens-Hendrik ; Heidelberg, Andreas ; Stannowski, Bernd ; Rech, Bernd ; Schlatmann, R.

Author_Institution

Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin, Berlin, Germany

Volume

4

Issue

1

fYear

2014

fDate

Jan. 2014

Firstpage

10

Lastpage

15

Abstract

The influence of the transparent conducting oxide (TCO) topography was studied on the performance of a silicon oxide intermediate reflector layer (IRL) in a-Si/μc-Si tandem cells, both experimentally and by 3-D optical simulations. Therefore, cells with varying IRL thickness were deposited on three different types of TCOs. Clear differences were observed regarding the performance of the IRL as well as its ideal thickness, both experimentally and in the simulations. Optical modeling suggests that a small autocorrelation length is essential for a good performance. Design rules for both the TCO topography and the IRL thickness can be derived from this interplay.

Keywords

amorphous semiconductors; conducting materials; elemental semiconductors; optical elements; silicon; silicon compounds; solar cells; 3D optical simulations; IRL thickness; Si-Si; SiO₂; TCO topography; autocorrelation length; optical modeling; silicon oxide intermediate reflector design; tandem solar cells; transparent conducting oxide topography; Glass; Light scattering; Optical scattering; Oscillators; Photovoltaic cells; Silicon; Surfaces; 3-D rigorous optical modeling; a-Si/μc-Si; intermediate reflector; micromorph; solar cells; transparent conducting oxide (TCO);

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Photovoltaics, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

2156-3381

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JPHOTOV.2013.2279204

Filename

6589101