Optimal design of intermediate reflector layer in micromorph silicon thin-film solar cells
01 Oct 2016-Journal of Nanophotonics (International Society for Optics and Photonics)-Vol. 10, Iss: 4, pp 046006-046006
TL;DR: In this article, an IRL periodic design is proposed to achieve better conversion efficiency using thin active layers, and the optically simulated short circuit current reaches 13.62 µm/cm 2 and three-dimensional electrical analysis shows a promising result.
Abstract: An intermediate reflector layer (IRL) serves as a spectrally selective layer between the top amorphous cell and bottom nanocrystalline cell in a micromorph silicon thin-film solar cell. In this paper, an IRL periodic design is proposed to achieve better conversion efficiency using thin active layers. The optically simulated short circuit current reaches 13.62 mA/cm 2 and three-dimensional electrical analysis shows a promising result. The design methodology used in this paper can be easily applied to different types of IRL materials and extended to triple thin-films solar cells. Finally, the results are compared with state-of-the-art design and further enhancement factors are discussed.
Citations
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TL;DR: In this paper, different surface grating shape and their effects on the optical, electrical properties and efficiency of thin-film solar cell model were investigated. But the authors focused on the effect of the grating on the photometric properties of the solar cells.
Abstract: This paper studies the different surface grating shape and their effects on the optical, electrical properties and efficiency of thin film solar cell model. The semiconductor transport model is applied for solving the electrical properties, whereas the optical effect was added using electromagnetic modeling. The efficiency of the model using triangle grating was 12.24% and in the model without grating was 7.75%. The PV efficiency was improved by 4.51% in case of triangle grating. The maximum power observed in triangle grating is 12.5 [mW] that makes difference with [5 mW] than without grating model, and also the current density is 12.5 [mA/cm2]. The absorbance coefficient of the two models enhanced by 20% increase on photon absorbance in the modeled solar cell.
8 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors presented a complete model for photovoltaic modules able to accurately predict the I-V characteristics at different levels of temperature and irradiance, which greatly reduced the computational effort needed to extract the five parameters of the one-diode model by applying five boundary conditions based on data provided by the manufacturer only.
Abstract: This paper presents a complete model for photovoltaic modules able to accurately predict the I–V characteristics at different levels of temperature and irradiance. The model greatly reduces the computational effort needed to extract the five parameters of the one-diode model by applying five boundary conditions based on data provided by the manufacturer only. The model equations are reduced to only two simultaneous equations of two unknowns (series resistance, $$R_\mathrm{s}$$
, and shunt resistance, $$R_\mathrm{sh}$$
), which converge in five iterations on average. The model parameters are extrapolated to account for temperature and irradiance variations. The model is matched very well with the experimental data obtained from different commercial PV modules. The proposed I–V model has least root mean square error of (0.0031) compared to other works. The model is implemented in Verilog-A to be used inside SPICE simulators. The model in Verilog-A is integrated in Cadence-SPECTRE circuit simulator and tested with a boost converter.
7 citations
21 Feb 2018
TL;DR: In this article, the effect of surface roughness on the optical and electrical performance of silicon nanowires (Si NWs) is reported and analyzed, and the optical absorption and the generation rates are calculated using 3D finite difference time domain (FDTD) method while the electrical characteristics are calculated with finite element method via Lumerical device software package.
Abstract: Silicon nanowires (Si NWs) array have emerged as a promising route on the road to achieve highly efficient solar cells (SCs). The NWs SCs can achieve highly efficient light trapping with reduced cost and material usage. However, it is difficult to fabricate NWs with smoothed surfaces due to the deficiency in the fabrication process. The surface roughness of SCs is an essential parameter of the optoelectronic performance of these devices. In this paper, the effect of surface roughness on the optical and electrical performance of the NW SCs is reported and analyzed. The optical absorption and the generation rates are calculated using 3D finite difference time domain (FDTD) method while the electrical characteristics are calculated using finite element method via Lumerical device software package. In this investigation, short circuit current density, open circuit voltage and power conversion efficiency (PCE) are numerically studied to quantify the electrical performance of the reported structure. The simulation results show that the Si NWs with 10% surface roughness has higher PCE than smoothed Si NWs counterpart by 8.33%. This is due to the multiple scattering between the SiNWs which increases the light absorption and hence the PCE.
6 citations
21 Feb 2018
TL;DR: In this article, a plasmonic Mach-Zehnder Interferometer (MZI) was proposed to work as a gas sensor near the absorption fingerprints of many gases in the mid-infrared region.
Abstract: The Mid Infrared MIR wavelength range offers many advantages in different applications. Chemical and biological detection are one of these applications, as it contains the absorption fingerprints of many gases and molecules. In addition integrated plasmonics are suitable platform for high sensitivity on chip sensors. In this paper we propose plasmonic Mach-Zehnder Interferometer (MZI) working as a gas sensor near the absorption fingerprints of many gases in the mid-infrared region. The proposed MZI contains a vertically stacked metal-insulator-metal (MIM) and metalinsulator (MI) waveguide. The sensitivity of MI waveguide is lower at higher wavelengths and also lower for gaseous medium than for liquid medium. In addition the losses of the MIM waveguide with oxide layer as insulator are much larger than the losses of the MI waveguide with gas as insulator which will result in poor visibility interferometers. Using a high index layer above the metal of the MI waveguide the sensitivity of the waveguide to gaseous in the mid infrared has been significantly enhanced. This layer also balances the intrinsic losses of both MI and MIM waveguides. The thickness and the refractive index of this layer have been optimized using finite difference modal analysis. Using this layer high sensitivity and high figure of merit (FOM) have been achieved for our MZI. This structure offers simple fabrication and low cost sensor that is suitable for rapid, portable and high throughput optical detection using multiplexed array sensing technique.
2 citations
01 Feb 2019
TL;DR: In this paper, the effect of grating shape and their dimension effects on the optical, electrical properties and therefore on the efficiency of thin film solar cell was studied using 3D numerical simulation results obtained from Multiphysics simulator.
Abstract: In this work we studied the grating shape and their dimension effects on the optical, the electrical properties and therefore on the efficiency of thin film solar cell. This study was introduced using 3d numerical simulation results obtained from Multiphysics simulator. The semiconductor transport model is applied for solving the electrical properties, whereas the optical effect was applied to the PV by using electromagnetic module. The PV efficiency was improved by 1.73 % in case of using half circle grating compared to solar cell without grating. After study the effect of different types we extract the equivalent circuit of each thin film solar with one type of presented grating types.
2 citations
References
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TL;DR: Green et al. as mentioned in this paper presented consolidated tables showing an extensive listing of the highest independently confirmed efficiencies for solar cells and modules, and guidelines for inclusion of results into these tables are outlined and new entries since July 2014 are reviewed.
Abstract: Consolidated tables showing an extensive listing of the highest independently confirmed efficiencies for solar cells and modules are presented. Guidelines for inclusion of results into these tables are outlined and new entries since July 2014 are reviewed. URI: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pip.2573/pdf [1] Authors: GREEN Martin A. EMERY Keith HISHIKAWA Y. WARTA W. DUNLOP Ewan Publication Year: 2015 Type: Articles in Journals
2,511 citations
"Optimal design of intermediate refl..." refers result in this paper
...The above results are very promising compared with a state-of-the-art independently verified micromorph cell.(32) The reported experimental values were Jsc 1⁄4 13....
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TL;DR: In this article, the effect of aluminum-doped zinc oxide (ZnO:Al) front contact and the role of the back reflector on the performance of thin-film silicon solar cells is investigated.
1,013 citations
"Optimal design of intermediate refl..." refers methods in this paper
...In addition, different light trapping techniques are used to enhance light absorption of active layers without increasing thickness.(6,9,10) Also using hydrogen in the deposition of a-Si and nc-Si is now the de facto standard to minimize dangling bonds due to deviations in bonding angles and bonding lengths between the neighboring silicon atoms in both materials....
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TL;DR: This paper reviews the recent research progress in the incorporation of plasmonic nanostructures with photovoltaic devices and the potential for surface plAsmon enhanced absorption, and outlines a variety of cell architectures incorporating metal nanostructure shapes.
Abstract: This paper reviews the recent research progress in the incorporation of plasmonic nanostructures with photovoltaic devices and the potential for surface plasmon enhanced absorption. We first outline a variety of cell architectures incorporating metal nanostructures. We then review the experimental fabrication methods and measurements to date, as well as systematic theoretical studies of the optimal nanostructure shapes. Finally we discuss photovoltaic absorber materials that could benefit from surface plasmon enhanced absorption.
687 citations
"Optimal design of intermediate refl..." refers methods in this paper
...management techniques in the micromorph and tandem silicon thin-film solar cells are textured layers, flattened substrates, and intermediate reflector layer (IRL).(9,11,14,15) A variety of texturing methods is used including those produced as a byproduct of deposition...
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TL;DR: A double-sided grating design is introduced, where the front and back surfaces of the cell are separately optimized for antireflection and light trapping, respectively, which yields a photocurrent close to the Yablonovitch limit.
Abstract: Enhancing the light absorption in ultrathin-film silicon solar cells is important for improving efficiency and reducing cost We introduce a double-sided grating design, where the front and back surfaces of the cell are separately optimized for antireflection and light trapping, respectively The optimized structure yields a photocurrent of 346 mA/cm(2) at an equivalent thickness of 2 μm, close to the Yablonovitch limit This approach is applicable to various thicknesses and is robust against metallic loss in the back reflector
604 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors show that long exposure to light decreases the photoconductivity and dark conductivity of some samples of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a•Si':'H). Annealing above ∼150°C reverses the process.
Abstract: Long exposure to light decreases the photoconductivity and dark conductivity of some samples of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a‐Si : H). Annealing above ∼150 °C reverses the process. The effect occurs in the bulk of the films, and is associated with changes in density or occupation of deep gap states. High concentrations of P, B, or As quench the effect. Possible models involving hydrogen bond reorientation at a localized defect or electron‐charge transfer between defects are discussed. An example is shown where these conductivity changes do not affect the efficiency of an a‐Si : H solar cell.
573 citations
"Optimal design of intermediate refl..." refers background or methods in this paper
...To minimize the LID effect, thinner a-Si layers must be used.(3,5,6) To overcome the aforementioned challenges, many different techniques are used in these types of cells....
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...In addition, a-Si has an additional light-induced degradation (LID) problem reported decades ago.(5) LID is the decrease in photoconductivity and hence overall efficiency after exposure to light....
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