Progress in up-scaling of thin film silicon solar cells by large-area PECVD KAI systems

Author

Meier, J. ; Kroll, U. ; Spitznagel, J. ; Benagli, S. ; Roschek, T. ; Pfanner, G. ; Ellert, C. ; Androutsopoulos, G. ; Hugli, A. ; Nagel, Michael ; Bucher, C. ; Feitknecht, L. ; Büchel, G. ; Büchel, A.

Author_Institution

Unaxis SPTec, Neuchatel, Switzerland

fYear

2005

Firstpage

1464

Lastpage

1467

Abstract

UNAXIS KAI PECVD reactors developed for AM LCD technology have been demonstrated to possess a high potential for thin film silicon solar cells based on amorphous and microcrystalline silicon. For the next generation of thin film modules with highly effective light-trapping LP-CVD ZnO large-area deposition is developed at Unaxis as well, in combination with a very simple but effective back reflector concept. A first prototype module of 0.447 m² active area with 7.1% initial efficiency has been achieved for amorphous silicon. Micromorph mini-modules were prepared with 9.3% initial aperture efficiency. All important module fabrication steps are under development at Unaxis for a complete line concept.

Keywords

amorphous semiconductors; crystal microstructure; elemental semiconductors; plasma CVD; prototypes; radiation pressure; silicon; solar cells; thin film devices; 7.1 percent; 9.3 percent; AM LCD technology; PECVD KAI systems; Si; amorphous silicon; back reflector; light-trapping; microcrystalline silicon; micromorph minimodules; thin film silicon solar cells; Amorphous materials; Amorphous silicon; Apertures; Fabrication; Inductors; Photovoltaic cells; Prototypes; Semiconductor thin films; Sputtering; Zinc oxide;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 2005. Conference Record of the Thirty-first IEEE

ISSN

0160-8371

Print_ISBN

0-7803-8707-4

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/PVSC.2005.1488418

Filename

1488418