Optical and Electrical Simulation of μc-Si:H Solar Cells: Effect of Substrate Morphology and Crystalline Fraction

Author

Do Yun Kim ; van Swaaij, Rene A. C. M. M. ; Zeman, M.

Author_Institution

Photovoltaic Mater. & Devices Lab., Delft Univ. of Technol., Delft, Netherlands

Volume

4

Issue

1

fYear

2014

fDate

Jan. 2014

Firstpage

22

Lastpage

27

Abstract

Hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon (μc-Si:H) is an important material for high-efficiency multijunction solar cells. Due to its complex microstructural properties, it is difficult to describe the electronic behavior clearly. In this study, we measure opto-electronic properties including the mobility gap of μc-Si:H films in solar cells, as well as physical properties such as the crystalline fraction profile. The height distribution function of the ZnO substrates is obtained by AFM scans, which is used for optical simulation. All the parameters that we obtained from measurements were used as input parameters of a model in the ASA simulator. We obtained a good fit between measurements and simulations.

Keywords

atomic force microscopy; carrier mobility; crystal microstructure; elemental semiconductors; hydrogen; silicon; solar cells; surface morphology; μc-Si:H solar cells; AFM; ASA simulator; Si:H; ZnO substrates; complex microstructural properties; crystalline fraction; crystalline fraction profile; electrical simulation; height distribution function; high-efficiency multijunction solar cells; hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon; mobility gap; optical simulation; opto-electronic properties; physical properties; substrate morphology; Morphology; PIN photodiodes; Photovoltaic cells; Substrates; Temperature measurement; Zinc oxide; Microcrystalline silicon; TCO morphology; mobility gap; optical and electrical simulation; solar cells;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Photovoltaics, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

2156-3381

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JPHOTOV.2013.2287770

Filename

6664990