Title :
Improvement in short circuit current of p-i-n solar cell with silicon quantum dot superlattice structure by optimizing SiNx thickness
Author :
Rai, Dharmendra K R ; Mavilla, Narasimha Rao ; Panchal, Ashish K. ; Solanki, Chetan S.
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Energy Sci. & Eng., Indian Inst. of Technol. Bombay, Mumbai, India
Abstract :
Superlattice consisting of 10 alternate layers of a-Si with QDs and SiNx are incorporated as i-layer in a p-i-n solar cell using HWCVD method. Superlattice with QDs showed absorption coefficient in the range of ~105-104 cm-1. Calculated optical bandgap of the SL with QDs (~1.84 eV) is higher than the SL without QDs (~1.79 eV) and this is attributed to QCE. The cells with QDs showed ISC= 1.806 μA and VOC= 25 mV. Increase in ISC of cells is attributed to increase in tunneling current due to decrease in SiNx thickness. Low VOC has been attributed to the thin SiNx layers, the defects and the interface states which result in recombination.
Keywords :
amorphous semiconductors; chemical vapour deposition; elemental semiconductors; energy gap; semiconductor quantum dots; semiconductor superlattices; short-circuit currents; silicon; silicon compounds; solar cells; tunnelling; HWCVD method; Si; SiNx; current 1.806 muA; hot wire CVD metho; i-layer; interface states; optical bandgap; p-i-n solar cell; short circuit current; silicon quantum dot superlattice structure; tunneling current; voltage 25 mV; Absorption; Dielectrics; Photonic band gap; Photovoltaic cells; Quantum dots; Silicon; Superlattices; HWCVD; amorphous silicon; p-i-n solar cell; quantum confinement effect; quantum dot; silicon; superlattice;
Conference_Titel :
Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC), 2012 38th IEEE
Conference_Location :
Austin, TX
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4673-0064-3
DOI :
10.1109/PVSC.2012.6317727
