Title :
Radial PN junction, wire array solar cells
Author :
Kayes, B.M. ; Filler, M.A. ; Henry, M.D. ; Maiolo, J.R., III ; Kelzenberg, M.D. ; Putnam, M.C. ; Spurgeon, J.M. ; Plass, K.E. ; Scherer, A. ; Lewis, N.S. ; Atwater, H.A.
Author_Institution :
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, 91125, USA
Abstract :
Radial pn junctions are of interest in photovoltaics because of their potential to reduce the materials costs associated with cell fabrication. However, devices fabricated to date based on Au-catalyzed vapor-liquid-solid growth have suffered from low open-circuit voltages (to our knowledge the highest reports are 260 mV in the solid state and 389 mV in solid-liquid junctions). Herein we report on the potential of low-cost catalysts such as Cu and Ni to fabricate Si wire arrays with potentially higher minority-carrier lifetimes than is possible with a Au catalyst, as well as on the use of reactive ion etching to fabricate high-purity analogs to vapor-liquid-solid grown arrays.
Keywords :
Costs; Etching; Fabrication; Geometry; Gold; Low voltage; Photovoltaic cells; Semiconductivity; Solid state circuits; Wire;
Conference_Titel :
Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 2008. PVSC '08. 33rd IEEE
Conference_Location :
San Diego, CA, USA
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4244-1640-0
Electronic_ISBN :
0160-8371
DOI :
10.1109/PVSC.2008.4922460