Abstract
Thin film crystalline Si diodes are a viable solution to the goal of fabricating economical photovoltaic (PV) cells. A functional, light trapping, thin film PV was fabricated with a heteroepitaxial (YSZ) reflecting layer which also served as a complaint layer for the growth of crystalline Si or SiGe active layers. X-ray analysis confirmed that the deposited semiconductor layers were crystalline. It was observed that the light trapping PV cell formed with the YSZ reflector layer increased the short circuit current under illumination by 22% over that fabricated without the YSZ reflector layer. It was further observed that the surface texture in the YSZ layer contributed to both the ability to grow crystalline semiconductor layers and to act as an effective light trapping structure.
Highlights
Terrestrial PVs are the ultimate solution to mankind’s quest of achieving an environmentally benign source of electrical energy
A functional, light trapping, thin film PV was fabricated with a heteroepitaxial (YSZ) reflecting layer which served as a complaint layer for the growth of crystalline Si or SiGe active layers
It was observed that the light trapping PV cell formed with the YSZ reflector layer increased the short circuit current under illumination by 22% over that fabricated without the YSZ reflector layer
Summary
Terrestrial PVs are the ultimate solution to mankind’s quest of achieving an environmentally benign source of electrical energy. To date PVs have not overtaken current conventional sources of electrical energy production due to their high cost relative to other sources such as fossil fuels and/or nuclear energy.[1,2] A major factor determining the price of PVs is the cost of materials.[1,2,3] To solve the problem of high material cost, thin film PVs with a thickness of only a few microns of semiconductor material have been the focus of numerous investigations.[2,3,4,5]
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