New Methods of Texturing Crystalline Silicon For Multi-Junction Solar Cell Applications

In this thesis, two new types of crystalline silicon texturization were developed, eventually aimed to be used in a triple junction solar cell from monocrystalline silicon and two thin film silicon alloy layers. The bottom of the two thin film silicon layers is made of hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si:H). The current problem with this...

Metallization for high efficiency c-Si solar cells based on Cu-plating

To improve the performance of the high efficiency c-Si solar cells within the PVMD group several front metallization methods were investigated. The objective was to decrease the series resistance, which would lead to an increase in FF and thus efficiency. Three different cell structure are examined; i) a poly-poly cell with SiN¬x as an ARC, ii)...

Infrared optical filters for passive cooling of crystalline silicon modules

Development of four-terminal mechanically-stacked solar cells utilising hydrogenated amorphous silicon oxide (a-SiO_x:H) and crystalline silicon cells

A tremendous amount of research in improving the efficiency of the single junction crystalline silicon (c-Si) based solar cells has brought its efficiency (26.6%) close to the theoretical maximum achievable conversion<br/>efficiency (29.43%) [1–3]. Thus to further improve the efficiency, new avenues of reducing losses need to be opened up. One...