Novel Transparent Conductive Oxide Bilayer Designs for Thin-Film Silicon Solar Cells
F.S. Saitta (TU Delft - Photovoltaic Materials and Devices)
Aravind Balaji (Student TU Delft)
Vidur Ahluwalia (Student TU Delft)
Govind Padmakumar (TU Delft - Photovoltaic Materials and Devices)
Paula Perez-Rodriguez (TU Delft - Photovoltaic Materials and Devices)
Rudi Santbergen (TU Delft - Photovoltaic Materials and Devices)
Arno Hendrikus Marie Smets (TU Delft - Photovoltaic Materials and Devices)
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Abstract
Our study focuses on the optimization of front contact design by exploring a novel bilayer configuration that employs transparent conductive oxides (TCOs) to enhance the efficiency of thin-film silicon solar cells. The TCOs investigated include sputtered hydrogenated indium oxide (IOH), cerium-doped indium oxide (ICO), cerium and hydrogen co-doped indium oxide (ICOH), and intrinsic zinc oxide (i-ZnO). We highlight the suitability of these TCOs in a bilayer design, first analyzing their opto-electrical properties as monolayers and subsequently in bilayer configurations. The IOH/i-ZnO bilayer architecture, in particular, demonstrates promising opto-electrical properties on both flat glass and micro-textured glass substrates. IOH/i-ZnO on flat glass substrate demonstrates remarkable mobility (143.44 cm2/Vs) and a carrier concentration in the order of 1019cm-3. The mean of reflectance (R) trends consistently exceeds 80%, while the mean of transmittance (T) trends falls below 20% beyond 500 nm. The interference effects within the bilayers are minimized for designs on micro-textured glass, preserving values within a desirable range. These findings represent an innovative approach to front contact design for thin-film silicon solar cells, emphasizing the potential of bilayer configurations to advance solar cell technology.