Light-Induced Degradation of Thin-film Silicon Solar Cell Absorbers
P.K. A Wang (TU Delft - Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science)
Arno Smets – Graduation committee member (TU Delft - Photovoltaic Materials and Devices)
H. Ziar – Graduation committee member (TU Delft - Photovoltaic Materials and Devices)
Simon H. Tindemans – Graduation committee member (TU Delft - Intelligent Electrical Power Grids)
Govind Padmakumar – Graduation committee member (TU Delft - Photovoltaic Materials and Devices)
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Abstract
Silicon carbide (SiC) and silicon oxide (SiOx) have garnered increased attention to reduce the parasitic absorption at the p layer when compared to p-aSi.An outstanding question is how the integration of p-SiC and p-SiOx impacts the metastability of the solr cells. Previous work in the PVMD group at TU Delft has studied the stability of the p-nc-SiOx in detail revealing from experimental results that stable efficiency remains elusive.
This thesis investigates the impact of p-a-SiC on the light-induced degradation (LID) of p-i-n solar cells, aiming to compare its degradation performance with that of p-nc-SiOx. Prior to comparison, p-a-SiC fabrication via plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) is extensively explored, as it serves as a widely used light absorber in thin-film silicon solar cells. Various parameters such as power pressure and gas flow rate of the source gas for silicon carbide formation are meticulously studied to achieve optimal P-a-SiC performance. Once the optimal fabrication conditions are identified, light absorption experiments are conducted and characterized using JV and EQE measurements to assess LID performance.