Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons™
Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 9 of 9
Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Carrier Drift-Mobilities And Solar Cell Models For Amorphous And Nanocrystalline Silicon, Eric A. Schiff
Carrier Drift-Mobilities And Solar Cell Models For Amorphous And Nanocrystalline Silicon, Eric A. Schiff
Physics - All Scholarship
Hole drift mobilities in hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) and nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si:H) are in the range of 10-3 to 1 cm2/Vs at room-temperature. These low drift mobilities establish corresponding hole mobility limits to the power generation and useful thicknesses of the solar cells. The properties of as-deposited a-Si:H nip solar cells are quite close to their hole mobility limit, but the corresponding limit has not been examined for nc-Si:H solar cells. We explore the predictions for nc-Si:H solar cells based on parameters and values estimated from hole drift-mobility and related measurements. The indicate that the hole mobility limit for nc-Si:H …
Hole Mobility Limit Of Amorphous Silicon Solar Cells, Jiang Liang, Eric A. Schiff, S. Guha, Baojie Yan, Jeff Yang
Hole Mobility Limit Of Amorphous Silicon Solar Cells, Jiang Liang, Eric A. Schiff, S. Guha, Baojie Yan, Jeff Yang
Physics - All Scholarship
We present temperature-dependent measurements and modeling for a thickness series of hydrogenated amorphous silicon nip solar cells. The comparison indicates that the maximum power density (PMAX) from the as-deposited cells has achieved the hole-mobility limit established by valence bandtail trapping, and PMAX is thus not significantly limited by intrinsic-layer dangling bonds or by the doped layers and interfaces. Measurements of the temperature-dependent properties of light-soaked cells show that the properties of as-deposited and light-soaked cells converge below 250 K; a model perturbing the valence band tail traps with a density of dangling bonds accounts adequately for the convergence effect.
Temperature-Dependent Open-Circuit Voltage Measurements And Light-Soaking In Hydrogenated Amorphous Silcon Solar Cells, Jianjun Liang, Eric A. Schiff, S. Guha, Baojie Yan, Jeff Yang
Temperature-Dependent Open-Circuit Voltage Measurements And Light-Soaking In Hydrogenated Amorphous Silcon Solar Cells, Jianjun Liang, Eric A. Schiff, S. Guha, Baojie Yan, Jeff Yang
Physics - All Scholarship
We present temperature-dependent measurements of the open-circuit voltage VOC(T) in hydrogenated amorphous silicon nip solar cells prepared at United Solar. At room-temperature and above, VOC measured using near-solar illumination intensity differs by as much as 0.04 V for the as-deposited and light-soaked states; the values of VOC for the two states converge below 250 K. Models for VOC based entirely on recombination through deep levels (dangling bonds) do not account for the convergence effect. The convergence is present in a model that assumes the recombination traffic in the as-deposited state involves only bandtails, but which splits the recombination traffic fairly …
Low-Mobility Solar Cells: A Device Physics Primer With Application To Amorphous Silicon, Eric A. Schiff
Low-Mobility Solar Cells: A Device Physics Primer With Application To Amorphous Silicon, Eric A. Schiff
Physics - All Scholarship
The properties of pin solar cells based on photogeneration of charge carriers into lowmobility materials were calculated for two models. Ideal p- and n-type electrode layers were assumed in both cases. The first, elementary case involves only band mobilities and direct electron–hole recombination. An analytical approximation indicates that the power in thick cells rises as the 1 4 power of the lower band mobility, which reflects the buildup of space-charge under illumination. The approximation agrees well with computer simulation. The second model includes exponential bandtail trapping, which is commonly invoked to account for very low hole drift mobilities in amorphous …
Bandtail Limits To Solar Conversion Efficiencies In Amorphous Silicon Solar Cells, Kai Zhu, Weining Wang, Eric A. Schiff, Jianjun Liang, S. Guha
Bandtail Limits To Solar Conversion Efficiencies In Amorphous Silicon Solar Cells, Kai Zhu, Weining Wang, Eric A. Schiff, Jianjun Liang, S. Guha
Physics - All Scholarship
We describe a model for a-Si:H based pin solar cells derived primarily from valence bandtail properties. We show how hole drift-mobility measurements and measurements of the temperature-dependence of the open-circuit voltage VOC can be used to estimate the parameters, and we present VOC(T) measurements. We compared the power density under solar illumination calculated with this model with published results for as-deposited a-Si:H solar cells. The agreement is within 4% for a range of thicknesses, suggesting that the power from as-deposited cells is close to the bandtail limit.
Hole Drift-Mobility Measurements In Contemporary Amorphous Silicon, S. Dinca, Eric A. Schiff, V. Vlahos, C. R. Wronski, Q. Yuan
Hole Drift-Mobility Measurements In Contemporary Amorphous Silicon, S. Dinca, Eric A. Schiff, V. Vlahos, C. R. Wronski, Q. Yuan
Physics - All Scholarship
We present hole drift-mobility measurements on hydrogenated amorphous silicon from several laboratories. These temperature-dependent measurements show significant variations of the hole mobility for the differing samples. Under standard conditions (displacement/field ratio of 2×10-9 cm2/V), hole mobilities reach values as large as 0.01 cm2/Vs at room-temperature; these values are improved about tenfold over drift-mobilities of materials made a decade or so ago. The improvement is due partly to narrowing of the exponential bandtail of the valence band, but there is presently little other insight into how deposition procedures affect the hole drift-mobility.
Amorphous Silicon Based Solar Cells, Xunming Deng, Eric A. Schiff
Amorphous Silicon Based Solar Cells, Xunming Deng, Eric A. Schiff
Physics - All Scholarship
Crystalline semiconductors are very well known, including silicon (the basis of the integrated circuits used in modern electronics), Ge (the material of the first transistor), GaAs and the other III-V compounds (the basis for many light emitters), and CdS (often used as a light sensor). In crystals, the atoms are arranged in near-perfect, regular arrays or lattices. Of course, the lattice must be consistent with the underlying chemical bonding properties of the atoms. For example, a silicon atom forms four covalent bonds to neighboring atoms arranged symmetrically about it. This “tetrahedral” configuration is perfectly maintained in the “diamond” lattice of …
Infrared Charge-Modulation Spectroscopy Of Defects In Phosphorus Doped Amorphous Silicon, Kai Zhu, Eric A. Schiff, G. Ganguly
Infrared Charge-Modulation Spectroscopy Of Defects In Phosphorus Doped Amorphous Silicon, Kai Zhu, Eric A. Schiff, G. Ganguly
Physics - All Scholarship
We present infrared charge-modulation absorption spectra on phosphorus-doped amorphous silicon (a-Si:H:P) with doping levels between 0.17% - 5%. At higher doping levels (1% - 5%) we find a sharp spectral line near 0.75 eV with a width of 0.1 eV. We attribute this line to the internal optical transitions of a complex incorporating four fold coordinated phosphorus and a dangling bond. This line is barely detectable in samples with lower doping levels (below 1%). In these samples a much broader line dominates the spectrum that we attribute to uncomplexed dopants. The relative strength of the two spectral features is in …
Thermionic Emission Model For Interface Effects On The Open-Circuit Voltage Of Amorphous Silicon Based Solar Cells, Eric A. Schiff
Thermionic Emission Model For Interface Effects On The Open-Circuit Voltage Of Amorphous Silicon Based Solar Cells, Eric A. Schiff
Physics - All Scholarship
We present computer modeling for effects of the p/i interface upon the open-circuit voltage VOC in amorphous silicon based pin solar cells. We show that the modeling is consistent with measurements on the intensitydependence for the interface effect, and we present an interpretation for the modeling based on thermionic emission of electrons over the electrostatic barrier at the p/i interface. We present additional modeling of the relation of VOC with the intrinsic layer bandgap EG. The experimental correlation for optimized cells is VOC = (EG/e)-0.79. The correlation is simply explained if VOC in these cells is determined by the intrinsic …