Comparison of amorphous silicon absorber materials: Kinetics of light-induced degradation

Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications

Volumn 24, Issue 4, 2016, Pages 446-457

  Stuckelberger, Michael ^a   Billet, Adrian ^a   Riesen, Yannick ^a   Boccard, Mathieu ^a   Despeisse, Matthieu ^a   Schüttauf, Jan Willem ^a   Haug, Franz Josef ^a   Ballif, Christophe ^a  

^a EPFL   (Switzerland)

Author keywords

a Si:H; amorphous silicon; degradation kinetics; light induced degradation; narrow bandgap; solar cells; Staebler Wronski effect; wide bandgap

Indexed keywords

AMORPHOUS FILMS; AMORPHOUS MATERIALS; DEGRADATION; DEPOSITION; DEPOSITION RATES; ENERGY GAP; FILM THICKNESS; HIGH PRESSURE ENGINEERING; KINETICS; MULTI-JUNCTION SOLAR CELLS; OPEN CIRCUIT VOLTAGE; SILICON; SILICON SOLAR CELLS; SOLAR CELLS; THIN FILM SOLAR CELLS; THIN FILMS;

A-SI:H; DEGRADATION KINETICS; LIGHT-INDUCED DEGRADATION; NARROW BAND GAP; STAEBLER-WRONSKI EFFECT; WIDE BAND GAP;

AMORPHOUS SILICON;

EID: 84959864098     PISSN: 10627995     EISSN: 1099159X     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1002/pip.2559     Document Type: Article

References (48)

1. Staebler, D, Wronski, C,. Reversible conductivity changes in discharge-produced amorphous Si. Applied Physics Letters 1977; 31: 292-294.
2. Shimizu, T,. Staebler-Wronski effect in hydrogenated amorphous silicon and related alloy films. Japanese Journal of Applied Physics 2004; 43: 3257-3268.
3. Zhang, SB, Branz, HM,. Hydrogen above saturation at silicon vacancies: H-pair reservoirs and metastability sites. Physical Review Letters 2001; 87: 105503.
4. Smets, A, Kessels, W, van de Sanden, M,. Vacancies and voids in hydrogenated amorphous silicon. Applied Physics Letters 2003; 82: 1547-1549.
5. Smets, A, Wronski, C, Zeman, M, van de Sanden, M,. The Staebler-Wronski effect: New physical approaches and insights as a route to reveal its origin. Mat. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. 2010; 1245: 1245-A14-02.
6. Stutzmann, M, Jackson, WB, Tsai, CC,. Light-induced metastable defects in hydrogenated amorphous silicon: A systematic study. Physical Review B 1985; 32: 23-47.
7. Branz, HM,. Hydrogen collision model: Quantitative description of metastability in amorphous silicon. Physical Review B 1999; 59: 5098-5512.
8. Matsuda, A,. Thin-film silicon-growth process and solar cell application. Japanese Journal of Applied Physics 43: 2004; 7909-7920.
9. Matsui, T, Sai, H, Saito, K, Kondo, M,. Amorphous-silicon-based thin-film solar cells exhibiting low light-induced degradation. Japanese Journal of Applied Physics 2012; 51: 10NB04.
10. TM-M R&D reactor, In 24th EU PVSEC Proceedings, Hamburg (Germany), 2009; 2293-2298.
11. th EU PVSEC Proc., Paris (France), 2013; 2213-2217.
12. Stutzmann, M, Jackson, W, Tsai, C,. Kinetics of the Staebler-Wronski effect in hydrogenated amorphous silicon. Applied Physics Letters 1984; 45: 1075-1077.
13. Deng, J, Rross, B, Albert, M, Collins, R, Wronski, C,. Characterization of the evolution in metastable defects created by recombination of carriers generated by photo-generation and injection in pin a-Si:H solar cells. Mat. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. 2006; 910: A02-02.
14. Roca i Cabarrocas, P, Fontcuberta i Morral, A, Poissant, Y,. Growth and optoelectronic properties of polymorphous silicon thin films. Thin Solid Films 2002; 403-404: 39-46.
15. Fontcuberta i Morral, A, Roca i Cabarrocas, P,. Structure and hydrogen content of polymorphous silicon thin films studied by spectroscopic ellipsometry and nuclear measurements. Physical Review B 2004; 69: 125-307.
16. Python, M, Vallat-Sauvain, E, Bailat, J, Dominé, D, Fesquet, L, Shah, A, Ballif, C,. Relation between substrate surface morphology and microcrystalline silicon solar cell performance. Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids 2008; 354: 2258-2262.
17. INDEOtec, 2014. http://www.indeotec.com (Switzerland), last accessed July 20, 2014.
18. Stuckelberger, M, Despeisse, M, Bugnon, G, Schüttauf, J-W, Haug, F-J, Ballif, C,. Comparison of amorphous silicon absorber materials: Light-induced degradation and solar cell efficiency. Journal of Applied Physics 2013; 114: 154509.
19. Cuony, P, Marending, M, Alexander, D, Boccard, M, Bugnon, G, Despeisse, M, Ballif, C,. Mixed-phase p-type silicon oxide containing silicon nanocrystals and its role in thin-film silicon solar cells. Applied Physics Letters 2010; 97: 213502.
20. th EU PVSEC Proceedings, Valencia (Spain), 2010; 2793-2797.
21. Bugnon, G, Parascandolo, G, Hänni, S, Stuckelberger, M, Charrière, M, Despeisse, M, Meillaud, F, Ballif, C,. Silicon oxide buffer layer at the p-i interface in amorphous and microcrystalline silicon solar cells. Solar Energy Materials & Solar Cells 2014; 120: 143-150.
22. oc increase and decrease in high-efficiency amorphous silicon solar cells. Journal of Applied Physics 2014; 116: 094503. DOI: 10.1063/1.4894457.
23. IEC. IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) 60904-9 Ed.2: Photovoltaic devices-Part 9: Solar simulator performance requirements, 2007.
24. IEC. IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) 60904-3 Ed.2: Photovoltaic devices-Part 3: Measurement principles for terrestrial photovoltaic (PV) solar devices with reference spectral irradiance data, 2006.
25. IEC. IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) 61646 Ed.2: Thin-film terrestrial photovoltaic (PV) modules-design qualification and type approval, 2008.
26. Stuckelberger, M, Perruche, B, Bonnet-Eymard, M, Riesen, Y, Despeisse, M, Haug, F-J, Ballif, C,. Class AAA LED-based solar simulator for steady-state measurements and light soaking. IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics 2014; 4 (5): 1282-1287, DOI: 10.1109/JPHOTOV.2014.2335738.
27. Schüttauf, JW, Niesen, B, Boccard, M, Bugnon, G, Hänni, S, Niquille, X, Stuckelberger, M, F Sculati-Meillaud, Haug, F-J, Ballif, C,. High-efficiency thin-film silicon triple and quadruple junction solar cells. Manuscript in preparation 2014.
28. Yan, B, Yang, J, Guha, S,. Amorphous and nanocrystalline silicon thin film photovoltaic technology on flexible substrates. Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology A 2012; 30: 04D108.
29. Schüttauf, J-W, Bugnon, G, Stuckelberger, M, Hänni, S, Boccard, M, Despeisse, M, Haug, F-J, Meillaud, F, Ballif, C,. Thin-film silicon triple-junction solar cells on highly transparent front electrodes with stabilized efficiencies up to 12.8%. IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics 2014; 4: 757-762.
30. Green, MA, Emery, K, Hishikawa Y, Warta, W, Dunlop, ED,. Solar cell efficiency tables (version 44). Prog. Photovolt: Res. Appl. 2014; 22: 701-710.
31. Kim, S, Chung, J-W, Lee, H, Park, J, Heo, Y, Lee, H-M,. Remarkable progress in thin-film silicon solar cells using high-efficiency triple-junction technology. Solar Energy Materials & Solar Cells 2013; 119: 26-35.
32. Fischer, M, Quax, R, Zeman, M, Smets, A,. Degradation kinetics of amorphous silicon solar cells processed at high pressure and its relation to the nanostructure, In IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference Proceedings, Tampa, FL, 2013.
33. Escarré, J, Söderström, K, Despeisse, M, Nicolay, S, Battaglia, C, Bugnon, G, Ding, L, Meillaud, F, Haug, F-J, Ballif, C,. Geometric light trapping for high efficiency thin film silicon solar cells. Solar Energy Materials & Solar Cells 2012; 98: 185-190.
34. Meillaud, F, Billet, A, Battaglia, C, Boccard, M, Bugnon, G, Cuony, P, Charrière, M, Despeisse, M, Ding, L, Escarre-Palou, J, Hänni, S, Löfgren, L, Nicolay, S, Parascandolo, G, Stuckelberger, M, C Ballif,. Latest developments of high-efficiency micromorph tandem silicon solar cells implementing innovative substrate materials and improved cell design. IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics 2012; 2: 236-240.
35. Stuckelberger, M, Shah, A, Krc, J, Despeisse, M, Meillaud, F, Ballif, C,. Internal electric field and fill factor of amorphous silicon solar cells, In 35th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference Proceedings, Hawaii (USA), 2010; 001569-001574.
36. Stuckelberger, M, Riesen, Y, Perruche, B, Despeisse, M, Wyrsch, N, Ballif, C,. Charge collection in amorphous silicon solar cells: Cell analysis and simulation of high-efficiency pin devices. Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids 2012; 358: 2187-2189.
37. Collins, RW, Ferlauto, AS,. Advances in plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition of silicon films at low temperatures. Curr. Opin. Solid-State Mater. Sci. 2002; 6: 425-437.
38. Collins, R, Ferlauto, A, Ferreira, G, Chen, C, Koh, J, Koval, R, Lee, Y, Pearce, J, Wronski, C,. Evolution of microstructure and phase in amorphous, protocrystalline, and microcrystalline silicon studied by real time spectroscopic ellipsometry. Solar Energy Materials & Solar Cells 2003; 78: 143-180.
39. Ding, L, Stuckelberger, M, Morales Masis, M, Nicolay, S, Ballif, C,. Stability of the opto-electrical properties of Zinc Oxide electrodes in thin-film silicon solar cells under light soaking. Manuscript in preparation 2014.
40. Knights, JC,. Characterization of plasma-deposited amorphous Si:H thin films. Japanese Journal of Applied Physics 1979; 18: 101-108.
41. Howling, AA, Dorier, JL, Hollenstein, C, Kroll, U, Finger, F,. Frequency effects in silane plasmas for plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition. Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology A 1992; 10: 1080-1085.
42. Lord, K, Yan, B, Yang, J, Guha, S,. Light-induced increase in the open-circuit voltage of thin-film heterogeneous silicon solar cells. Applied Physics Letters 2001; 79: 3800-3802.
43. Yue, G, Yan, B, Yang, J, Lord, K, Guha, S,. Kinetics of light-induced effects in mixed-phase hydrogenated silicon solar cells. Mater. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. 2003; 762: A12.2.
44. Johnson, E, Dadouche, F, Gueunier-Farret, M, Kleider, J, Roca i Cabarrocas, P,. Open-circuit voltage increase dynamics in high and low deposition rate polymorphous silicon solar cells. Physica Status Solidi A 2010; 207: 691-694, DOI: 10.1002/pssa.200982723.
45. Matsui, T, 2014. MRS spring conference 2014, presentation A1.01.
46. Rech, B, Beneking, C, Wieder, S, Wagner, H,. Initial and stabilized open-circuit voltage of a-Si:H solar cells: A discussion on the basis of dark I-V curves. 14th EU PVSEC Proceedings, Barcelona (Spain), 1997; 574-577.
47. Kim, K, Johnson, E, Abramov, A, Roca i Cabarrocas, P,. Light induced electrical and macroscopic changes in hydrogenated polymorphous silicon solar cells. EPJ Photovoltaics 2012; 3: 30301.
48. Kim, K-H, Kasouit, S, Johnson, E, Roca i Cabarrocas, P,. Substrate versus superstrate configuration for stable thin film silicon solar cells. Solar Energy Materials & Solar Cells 2013; 119: 124-128.