Advanced light management techniques for two-terminal hybrid tandem solar cells
A.J. Blanker (TU Delft - Photovoltaic Materials and Devices)
P.P.A. Berendsen (TU Delft - Photovoltaic Materials and Devices)
N. Phung (External organisation)
Zeger Vroon (TNO Solliance)
M. Zeman (TU Delft - Electrical Sustainable Energy)
A.H.M. Smets (TU Delft - Photovoltaic Materials and Devices)
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Abstract
Multi-junction solar cells are considered for various applications, as they tackle various loss mechanisms for single junction solar cells. These losses include thermalization and non-absorption below the band gap. In this work, a tandem configuration comprising copper-indium-gallium-di-selenide (CIGS) and hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) absorber layers is studied. Two main challenges are addressed in this work. Firstly, the natural roughness of CIGS is unfavorable for monolithically growing a high quality a-Si:H top cell. Some sharp textures in the CIGS induce shunts in the a-Si:H top junction, limiting the electrical performance of such a configuration. To smoothen this interface, the possibility of mechanically polishing the intermediate i-ZnO layer has been explored. The second challenge that is addressed, is the significant current mismatch in these tandem architectures. To enhance absorption in the current-limiting top cell, the ZnO:Al front electrode was textured by means of wet-etching the entire tandem stack. We demonstrated that one can manipulate the morphology of the random textures by varying the growth conditions of the ZnO:Al, leading to better light management in these devices.
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