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MLE4208 Lecture 7A PDF
MLE4208 Lecture 7A PDF
MLE4208 Lecture 7A PDF
References:
1. Physics of Solar Cells. Jenny Nelson. Imperial College Press, 2003.
2. Photovoltaic Materials, Series on Properties of Semiconductor
Materials, Vol.1, Richard H. Bube, Imperial College Press, 1998.
3. Handbook of Photovoltaic Science and Engineering. Antonio Luque,
Steven Hegedus. Wiley, 2003.
4. Photovoltaic Solar Energy Generation. Adolf Goetzberger, Volker U.
Hoffmann. Springer, 2005.
5. Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page).
EC
base
p-type
e-
h
300 m
EV
e-
EF
h+
0.3 m
Distance
For PV to provide the full level of C-free energy required for electricity and
fuel, solar power cost needs to be ~5 cents/kWh ($1.00 /Wp). Thin film solar
cells provide cheap alternatives.
Amorphous Silicon
Amorphous silicon (a-Si) is the best developed thin
film material and has been in commercial production
since 1980. As a material for photovoltaics, it has the
advantages of relatively cheap, low temperature
(<300oC) deposition and possibility of growing on a
variety of substrates.
Defects in a-Si
The lattice of a-Si contains a range of bond lengths
and orientations, as well as unsaturated dangling
bonds. The long range order of the crystal is gone.
In a-Si, Si atoms are arranged in an approximated
tetrahedral lattice but with a variation of up to 10o in
the bond angle. The loss of order results that the
selection rules for photon absorption are relaxed,
and a-Si behaves like a direct gap material.
Amorphous Silicon
Defects in a-Si
The variation of Si-Si distance and
orientation gives rise to a spreading
in the electron energy levels, which
appears as a tail in the density of
states at the top of VB and the
bottom of CB, called Urbach tail.
Dangling bond states are due to
unsaturated Si atoms with one valance
orbital not involved in bonding. They
may be positively charged (D+), neutral
(D0) or negatively charged (D-). An
excess of D- gives rise to n type a-Si
while excess D+ gives rise to p type.
The defects can be created uniformly throughout the material by irradiating
the material by heating, sudden cooling, or by extrinsic doping. They are
deep in the band gap.
Amorphous Silicon
Absorption
The loss of crystal order renders the
absorption coefficient is about an order
of magnitude higher than in crystalline
silicon at visible wavelengths.
There is no well defined E-k relationship
and no requirement to conserve crystal
momentum. Absorption depends simply
on the availability of photons and the
density of states in VB and CB, much as
it does in direct gap crystal.
a-Si used for solar cells typically has a
band gap of 1.7eV, as a result of
passivation of a-Si with hydrogen.
The band gap is not optimum for solar energy conversion, while material
with lower concentration of hydrogen is unstable due to poor doping and
transport properties.
Amorphous Silicon
Doping
In unpassivated a-Si, the defect density is so high (>1016 cm-3) that the
material cannot normally be doped. The extra carriers which would be
introduced into the CB or VB by donor or acceptor impurities are captured
by dangling bond defects.
DOS
P 0 P + + e
e + D0 D
VB
CB
before passivation
after passivation
Energy
10
Amorphous Silicon
Doping
EC
donor level
EF
defect level
EC
defect level
acceptor level
n type
EV
p type
EF
EV
Transport
The defect states which remain after hydrogen passivation act both as
charge traps and recombination centers, and dominate charge transport in
a-Si.
The distribution of tail states below CB and above VB edges act as traps
for mobile carriers. Charge carriers in these states move by a sequence of
thermal activation and re-trapping events.
The distribution in energy leads to a distribution in the time constant for the
transport. So the usual transport parameters of mobility, lifetime, and
diffusion constant are density dependent.
11
Amorphous Silicon
Transport
The density of tail states in the CB is often
modeled as
E EC
Nt
g( E ) =
exp
k B T0
kB T0
DOS
VB
CB
before passivation
after passivation
Energy
12
Amorphous Silicon
Stability
Amorphous silicon suffers from light-induced degradation known as the
Staebler Wronski effect --- The defect density in a-Si:H increases with
light exposure, over a time scale of months, to cause an increase in the
recombination current and reduction in efficiency.
13
EVAC
qVbi
p
EC
n
EF
EV
p
n
Distance
The built-in bias is dropped across the width of the i-region, creating an
electric field which drives charge separation. In the p-i-n structure
photocarriers are collected primarily by drift rather than by diffusion.
The thickness of the i region should be optimized for maximum current
generation.
So the cell should be designed so that the depletion width is greater than
the thickness of the i region at operating bias. In practice , it is ~0.5 m.
14
15
i type
high background
doping or high bias
n type
low background
doping or low bias
16
n
near dark
EC
EF
EV
illuminated
EC
EFn
EFp
The current is now driven by diffusion
EV
rather than drift. The diffusion rate is given
by an ambipolar diffusion.
The electron and hole lifetimes are generally not constant. At low light
intensity charge carriers are likely to be trapped in tail states, extending
their lifetime. The dark current is therefore intensity dependent.
17
18
19
20
Design
Efficiency
1977
Schottky diode
6%
1980
a-Si:H p-i-n
6%
1982
8%
1982
textured substrates
10%
1987
12%
1990s
multi-gap design
13%
21
The limiting efficiency for three cell devices is calculated to be 33%. The
main problems have been the poorer quality of the alloy relative to a-Si
and incorporating large area tunnel junction.
22
23
interface
n-sc
EVAC
EVAC
EC
EC
EV
EF
0
EV
n-sc
interface
n-sc
EVAC
EC
EF
EF
EV
+ + -- -- ++
24
25
26
1
1
1
1
1
=
+
+
+
eff SRH gb Auger rad
Grain boundary effects influence the I-V characteristics of polycrystalline
solar cells in several important ways:
The effect
of grain boundaries in reducing majority carrier mobility may
increase series resistance.
The enhancement of minority carrier recombination at grain boundaries
reduces lifetimes and increases dark current.
Because minority carrier lifetimes and diffusion lengths are carrier
density dependent, the photocurrent may be bias dependent, and not
well approximated by JSC, indicating simple diode equation descriptions
are not appropriate.
27
28
29
Further reading:
30
Summary
31