Dresden 2011 – scientific programme

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HL: Fachverband Halbleiterphysik

HL 85: Poster Session II

HL 85.72: Poster

Thursday, March 17, 2011, 18:00–21:00, P4

Texturing transparent conductive oxide (TCO) and use of antireflective (AR) coating to optimize light-trapping in amorphous silicon thin film solar cells (a-Si:H) for high stabilized efficiencies: A simulative Approach — •Kambulakwao Chakanga — NEXT ENERGY, EWE-Forschungszentrum für Energietechnologie e.V.

The advantages of the a-Si:H technology range from low material consumption, less manufacturing energy required, possibility of efficient rapid mass production to the abundance of the raw material silicon. One major drawback of the a-Si:H pin structure is the light induced degradation (Staebler-Wronski effect) which causes a reduction in the efficiency. The effect is profound in cells with thick intrinsic layers. Thus thinner layers are desirable which however constraints the short-circuit current density. The required light-trapping can be achieved by implementing AR, textured TCO and back contact (BC).

This study aims to reduce the intrinsic layer by implementing an effective light coupling using a simulative approach. The software Sentaurus TCAD is used to model the optical behavior of the a-Si:H pin cell consisting of AR/glass/TCO/pin/BC using numerical models. Successful simulation can illustrate the behavior of fictitious structures and permit a better understanding of the physical processes. Hence it would be possible to predict the ideal system that would provide an effective light trapping for a given absorber thickness. Emphasis is put on light scattering effect of various TCO surface structures and AR on the performance of the cell.