Titanium Dioxide Hole-Blocking Layer in Ultra-Thin-Film Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells

One of the remaining obstacles to achieving the theoretical efficiency limit of crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cells is high interface recombination loss for minority carriers at the Ohmic contacts. The contact recombination loss of the ultra-thin-film c-Si solar cells is more severe than that of...

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Main Authors: Yangsen Kang, Huiyang Deng, Yusi Chen, Yijie Huo, Jieyang Jia, Li Zhao, Zain Zaidi, Kai Zang, James S. Harris
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IEEE 2019-01-01
Series:IEEE Photonics Journal
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Online Access:https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8869914/
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author Yangsen Kang
Huiyang Deng
Yusi Chen
Yijie Huo
Jieyang Jia
Li Zhao
Zain Zaidi
Kai Zang
James S. Harris
author_facet Yangsen Kang
Huiyang Deng
Yusi Chen
Yijie Huo
Jieyang Jia
Li Zhao
Zain Zaidi
Kai Zang
James S. Harris
author_sort Yangsen Kang
collection DOAJ
description One of the remaining obstacles to achieving the theoretical efficiency limit of crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cells is high interface recombination loss for minority carriers at the Ohmic contacts. The contact recombination loss of the ultra-thin-film c-Si solar cells is more severe than that of the state-of-art thick cells due to the smaller volume and higher minority carrier concentration. This paper presents a design of an electron passing (Ohmic) contact for n-type Si that is hole-blocking with significantly reduced hole recombination. By depositing a thin titanium dioxide (TiO<sub>2</sub>) layer, we form a metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) contact for a 2 &#x3bc;m-thick Si cell to achieve an open circuit voltage (<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$V_{oc}$</tex-math></inline-formula>) of 645 mV, which is 10 mV higher than that of an ultra-thin cell with a traditional metal contact. This TiO<sub>2</sub> MIS contact constitutes a step towards high-efficiency ultra-thin-film c-Si solar cells.
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institution Kabale University
issn 1943-0655
language English
publishDate 2019-01-01
publisher IEEE
record_format Article
series IEEE Photonics Journal
spelling doaj-art-9b3a766aa0c04bdcb3af5735339c56662025-08-20T03:33:11ZengIEEEIEEE Photonics Journal1943-06552019-01-011161710.1109/JPHOT.2019.29475828869914Titanium Dioxide Hole-Blocking Layer in Ultra-Thin-Film Crystalline Silicon Solar CellsYangsen Kang0Huiyang Deng1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8022-1537Yusi Chen2Yijie Huo3Jieyang Jia4Li Zhao5Zain Zaidi6Kai Zang7https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1488-3177James S. Harris8Department of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, CA, USADepartment of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, CA, USADepartment of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, CA, USADepartment of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, CA, USADepartment of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, CA, USADepartment of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, CA, USADepartment of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, CA, USADepartment of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, CA, USADepartment of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, CA, USAOne of the remaining obstacles to achieving the theoretical efficiency limit of crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cells is high interface recombination loss for minority carriers at the Ohmic contacts. The contact recombination loss of the ultra-thin-film c-Si solar cells is more severe than that of the state-of-art thick cells due to the smaller volume and higher minority carrier concentration. This paper presents a design of an electron passing (Ohmic) contact for n-type Si that is hole-blocking with significantly reduced hole recombination. By depositing a thin titanium dioxide (TiO<sub>2</sub>) layer, we form a metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) contact for a 2 &#x3bc;m-thick Si cell to achieve an open circuit voltage (<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$V_{oc}$</tex-math></inline-formula>) of 645 mV, which is 10 mV higher than that of an ultra-thin cell with a traditional metal contact. This TiO<sub>2</sub> MIS contact constitutes a step towards high-efficiency ultra-thin-film c-Si solar cells.https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8869914/Silicon photovoltaicultra-thin-filmselective contacttitanium dioxide.
spellingShingle Yangsen Kang
Huiyang Deng
Yusi Chen
Yijie Huo
Jieyang Jia
Li Zhao
Zain Zaidi
Kai Zang
James S. Harris
Titanium Dioxide Hole-Blocking Layer in Ultra-Thin-Film Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells
IEEE Photonics Journal
Silicon photovoltaic
ultra-thin-film
selective contact
titanium dioxide.
title Titanium Dioxide Hole-Blocking Layer in Ultra-Thin-Film Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells
title_full Titanium Dioxide Hole-Blocking Layer in Ultra-Thin-Film Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells
title_fullStr Titanium Dioxide Hole-Blocking Layer in Ultra-Thin-Film Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells
title_full_unstemmed Titanium Dioxide Hole-Blocking Layer in Ultra-Thin-Film Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells
title_short Titanium Dioxide Hole-Blocking Layer in Ultra-Thin-Film Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells
title_sort titanium dioxide hole blocking layer in ultra thin film crystalline silicon solar cells
topic Silicon photovoltaic
ultra-thin-film
selective contact
titanium dioxide.
url https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8869914/
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