Direct metallization of lightly doped n-type crystalline silicon (c-Si) is known to routinely produce non-Ohmic (rectifying) contact behaviour. This has inhibited the development of n-type c-Si solar cells with partial rear contacts, an increasingly popular cell design for high performance p-type c-Si solar cells. In this contribution we demonstrate that low resistance Ohmic contact to n-type c...

In this paper, I discuss a brief history of waveguide technologies, followed by a derivation of the behavior of light in a cylindrical dielectric. The cutoff conditions and an expression relating wavelength modes and wavelength radius will be derived. Next, the effectiveness of nanowire thin films as waveguides for increasing light trapping in solar cells will be discussed. Experimental results...

This paper investigates, theoretically, the temperature dependence of the performance of solar cells in the temperature range 273–523 K. The solar cell performance is determined by its parameters, viz., short circuit current density (Jsc), open circuit voltage (Voc), fill factor (FF) and efficiency (Z). Solar cells based on semiconductor materials such as Ge, Si, GaAs, InP, CdTe and CdS are con...

In this work, textured, well-faceted ZnO materials grown on planar Si(100), planar Si(111), and textured Si(100) substrates by low-pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) were analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and cathode luminescence (CL) measurements. The results show that ZnO grown on planar Si(100), planar Si(111), and...

Recently, ultrathin crystalline silicon solar cells have gained tremendous interest because they are deemed to dramatically reduce material usage. However, the resulting conversion efficiency is still limited by the incomplete light absorption in such ultrathin devices. In this letter, we propose ultrathin a-Si/c-Si tandem solar cells with an efficient light trapping design, where a nanopyramid...

Low conversion efficiency is still the main limiting factor for current solar-cell technologies. A large portion of the energy loss during solar-cell operation is attributed to optical loss, namely the loss of the incoming light by reflection.[1] To reduce the reflection loss, surface texturing and antireflection coatings are the most-commonly used strategies.[2–4] Surface texturing is able to ...

Triple-junction a-Si based solar cells, having a structure ofSS/Ag/ZnO/n/n/b/a-SiGe-i/b/p/p/n/n/b/a-SiGe-i/b/p/p/n/n/a-Si-i/p/p/ITO, are fabricated at the University of Toledousing a multi-chamber, load-locked PECVD system. We studied the effect of heavily doped pand n layers deposited at the tunnel junction interfaces between the top and middle componentcells and between th...

Triple-junction a-Si based solar cells, having a structure of SS/Ag/ZnO/n/n/b/a-SiGe-i/b/p/p/n/n/b/a-SiGei/b/p/p/n/n/a-Si-i/p/p/ITO, are fabricated at the University of Toledo using a multi-chamber, load-locked PECVD system. We studied the effect of heavily doped p and n layers deposited at the tunnel junction interfaces between the top and middle component cells and between the middle and bott...

It is generally believed that fossil fuels, the current primary but limited energy resources, will be replaced by cleaner and cheaper renewable energy sources for compelling environmental and economic challenges in the 21st century. Solar energy with its unlimited quantity is expected to be one of the most promising alternative energy sources in the future. Devices with low manufacturing cost a...

nanostructures of noble metal materials have been used in organic solar cells for enhancement of performance and light trapping. in this study, we have introduced branched silver cauliflower-like nanopatterns as sub-wavelength structured metal grating in organic solar cells. self-assembled fabrication process of branched nanopatterns was carried out on a bio-template of cicada wing nanonipple a...