Thermal Behavior of Crystalline Thin Film Silicon Solar Cell

Balázs Plesz; Gusztáv Hantos

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ijrse.20130203.16

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Thermal Behavior of Crystalline Thin Film Silicon Solar Cell

Balázs Plesz, Gusztáv Hantos

Published in International Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy (Volume 2, Issue 3)

Received: 29 May 2013 Published: 20 June 2013

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Abstract

The goal of this paper is to investigate the thermal behavior of crystalline thin film silicon solar cells, and to determine whether the decrease in cell thickness affects the temperature dependences of the solar cell parameters. For the investigation crystalline solar cells with a photoactive layer thickness of 26, 38 and 50 microns were processed. Sample cells were formed on n+-substrate wafers with n epitaxial layers where due to the low minority carrier lifetime in the substrate only the epitaxial layer participates effectively in the photocurrent generation. The thin photoactive layers were achieved by the etching of the epitaxial layer. On the samples I-V curves and spectral response functions were measured at different temperatures, and the temperature coefficients of the short circuit current, the open circuit voltage and the efficiency were determined. Most of the parameters showed no differences in their temperature behavior, but the temperature dependence of the short circuit current differed on all three sample cells and was in correspondence with the changes of the temperature dependences of the spectral responses. From the results it can be concluded, that decreasing the thickness of the solar cells will have practically no effect on the temperature dependence of the performance and the efficiency of crystalline silicon solar cells. However the dependence of in the temperature coefficients for the short circuit currents on the thickness of the photoactive layer currents could be of interest for sensor applications, e.g. for the thermal compensation of light sensors.

Published in	International Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy (Volume 2, Issue 3)
DOI	10.11648/j.ijrse.20130203.16
Page(s)	115-119
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2013. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Solar Cells, Thermal Behavior, Thin Crystalline Solar Cells, I-V Curve, Spectral Response

References

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[2]	P. Rosenits, F. Kopp, S. Reber, Epitaxially grown crystalline silicon thin-film solar cells reaching 16.5% efficiency with basic cell process, Thin Solid Films, Volume 519, Issue 10, Pages 3288-3290, 2011
[3]	G. P. Willeke, Thin crystalline silicon solar cells, Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, Volume 72, Issues 1-4, Pages 191-200, 2002
[4]	Juris P. Kalejs, Silicon ribbons and foils--state of the art, Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, Volume 72, Issues 1-4, Pages 139-153, 2002
[5]	F. Henley, A. Lamm, S. Kang, Z. Liu, L. Tian: Direct Film Transfer (DFT) Technology for Kerf-Free Silicon Wafering, Proceddings of 23rd European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition, 1-5 September 2008, Valencia, Spain, pp. 1090-1093
[6]	M. A. Green: General temperature dependence of solar cell performance and implications for device modelling. Prog. Photovolt: Res. Appl., 11: 333–340, 2003
[7]	John C.C. Fan, Theoretical temperature dependence of solar cell parameters, Solar Cells, Volume 17, Issues 2–3, Pages 309-315, 1986
[8]	Rodolphe Vaillon, Lucile Robin, Cristian Muresan, Christophe Ménézo, Modeling of coupled spectral radiation, thermal and carrier transport in a silicon photovoltaic cell, International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, Volume 49, Issues 23–24, Pages 4454-4468, 2006
[9]	E. Skoplaki, J.A. Palyvos, On the temperature dependence of photovoltaic module electrical performance: A review of efficiency/power correlations, Solar Energy, Volume 83, Issue 5, Pages 614-624, 2009
[10]	E. Radziemska: Effect of temperature on dark current characteristics of silicon solar cells and diodes. Int. J. Energy Res., 30: 127–134., 2006
[11]	B. Plesz, A. Foldvary, E. Bandy, Low cost solar irradiation sensor and its thermal behaviour, Microelectronics Journal, Volume 42, Issue 4, Thermal investigations of integrated circuits and systems, THERMINIC' 09, Pages 594-600, 2011
[12]	Schmich, E., Lautenschlager, H., Frieß, T., Trenkle, F., Schillinger, N. and Reber, S., n-Type emitter epitaxy for crystalline silicon thin-film solar cells. Prog. Photovolt: Res. Appl., 16: 159–170, 2008

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Balázs Plesz, Gusztáv Hantos. (2013). Thermal Behavior of Crystalline Thin Film Silicon Solar Cell. International Journal of Sustainable and Green Energy, 2(3), 115-119. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijrse.20130203.16

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ACS Style

Balázs Plesz; Gusztáv Hantos. Thermal Behavior of Crystalline Thin Film Silicon Solar Cell. Int. J. Sustain. Green Energy 2013, 2(3), 115-119. doi: 10.11648/j.ijrse.20130203.16

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AMA Style

Balázs Plesz, Gusztáv Hantos. Thermal Behavior of Crystalline Thin Film Silicon Solar Cell. Int J Sustain Green Energy. 2013;2(3):115-119. doi: 10.11648/j.ijrse.20130203.16

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@article{10.11648/j.ijrse.20130203.16,
  author = {Balázs Plesz and Gusztáv Hantos},
  title = {Thermal Behavior of Crystalline Thin Film Silicon Solar Cell},
  journal = {International Journal of Sustainable and Green Energy},
  volume = {2},
  number = {3},
  pages = {115-119},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijrse.20130203.16},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijrse.20130203.16},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijrse.20130203.16},
  abstract = {The goal of this paper is to investigate the thermal behavior of crystalline thin film silicon solar cells, and to determine whether the decrease in cell thickness affects the temperature dependences of the solar cell parameters. For the investigation crystalline solar cells with a photoactive layer thickness of 26, 38 and 50 microns were processed. Sample cells were formed on n+-substrate wafers with n epitaxial layers where due to the low minority carrier lifetime in the substrate only the epitaxial layer participates effectively in the photocurrent generation. The thin photoactive layers were achieved by the etching of the epitaxial layer. On the samples I-V curves and spectral response functions were measured at different temperatures, and the temperature coefficients of the short circuit current, the open circuit voltage and the efficiency were determined. Most of the parameters showed no differences in their temperature behavior, but the temperature dependence of the short circuit current differed on all three sample cells and was in correspondence with the changes of the temperature dependences of the spectral responses. From the results it can be concluded, that decreasing the thickness of the solar cells will have practically no effect on the temperature dependence of the performance and the efficiency of crystalline silicon solar cells. However the dependence of in the temperature coefficients for the short circuit currents on the thickness of the photoactive layer currents could be of interest for sensor applications, e.g. for the thermal compensation of light sensors.},
 year = {2013}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - Thermal Behavior of Crystalline Thin Film Silicon Solar Cell
AU  - Balázs Plesz
AU  - Gusztáv Hantos
Y1  - 2013/06/20
PY  - 2013
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijrse.20130203.16
DO  - 10.11648/j.ijrse.20130203.16
T2  - International Journal of Sustainable and Green Energy
JF  - International Journal of Sustainable and Green Energy
JO  - International Journal of Sustainable and Green Energy
SP  - 115
EP  - 119
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2575-1549
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijrse.20130203.16
AB  - The goal of this paper is to investigate the thermal behavior of crystalline thin film silicon solar cells, and to determine whether the decrease in cell thickness affects the temperature dependences of the solar cell parameters. For the investigation crystalline solar cells with a photoactive layer thickness of 26, 38 and 50 microns were processed. Sample cells were formed on n+-substrate wafers with n epitaxial layers where due to the low minority carrier lifetime in the substrate only the epitaxial layer participates effectively in the photocurrent generation. The thin photoactive layers were achieved by the etching of the epitaxial layer. On the samples I-V curves and spectral response functions were measured at different temperatures, and the temperature coefficients of the short circuit current, the open circuit voltage and the efficiency were determined. Most of the parameters showed no differences in their temperature behavior, but the temperature dependence of the short circuit current differed on all three sample cells and was in correspondence with the changes of the temperature dependences of the spectral responses. From the results it can be concluded, that decreasing the thickness of the solar cells will have practically no effect on the temperature dependence of the performance and the efficiency of crystalline silicon solar cells. However the dependence of in the temperature coefficients for the short circuit currents on the thickness of the photoactive layer currents could be of interest for sensor applications, e.g. for the thermal compensation of light sensors.
VL  - 2
IS  - 3
ER  -

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Author Information

Balázs Plesz

Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME), Dept. of Electron Devices, Budapest, Hungary
Gusztáv Hantos

Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME), Dept. of Electron Devices, Budapest, Hungary

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Plain Text BibTeX RIS

APA Style

Balázs Plesz, Gusztáv Hantos. (2013). Thermal Behavior of Crystalline Thin Film Silicon Solar Cell. International Journal of Sustainable and Green Energy, 2(3), 115-119. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijrse.20130203.16

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ACS Style

Balázs Plesz; Gusztáv Hantos. Thermal Behavior of Crystalline Thin Film Silicon Solar Cell. Int. J. Sustain. Green Energy 2013, 2(3), 115-119. doi: 10.11648/j.ijrse.20130203.16

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AMA Style

Balázs Plesz, Gusztáv Hantos. Thermal Behavior of Crystalline Thin Film Silicon Solar Cell. Int J Sustain Green Energy. 2013;2(3):115-119. doi: 10.11648/j.ijrse.20130203.16

Copy | Download

@article{10.11648/j.ijrse.20130203.16,
  author = {Balázs Plesz and Gusztáv Hantos},
  title = {Thermal Behavior of Crystalline Thin Film Silicon Solar Cell},
  journal = {International Journal of Sustainable and Green Energy},
  volume = {2},
  number = {3},
  pages = {115-119},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijrse.20130203.16},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijrse.20130203.16},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijrse.20130203.16},
  abstract = {The goal of this paper is to investigate the thermal behavior of crystalline thin film silicon solar cells, and to determine whether the decrease in cell thickness affects the temperature dependences of the solar cell parameters. For the investigation crystalline solar cells with a photoactive layer thickness of 26, 38 and 50 microns were processed. Sample cells were formed on n+-substrate wafers with n epitaxial layers where due to the low minority carrier lifetime in the substrate only the epitaxial layer participates effectively in the photocurrent generation. The thin photoactive layers were achieved by the etching of the epitaxial layer. On the samples I-V curves and spectral response functions were measured at different temperatures, and the temperature coefficients of the short circuit current, the open circuit voltage and the efficiency were determined. Most of the parameters showed no differences in their temperature behavior, but the temperature dependence of the short circuit current differed on all three sample cells and was in correspondence with the changes of the temperature dependences of the spectral responses. From the results it can be concluded, that decreasing the thickness of the solar cells will have practically no effect on the temperature dependence of the performance and the efficiency of crystalline silicon solar cells. However the dependence of in the temperature coefficients for the short circuit currents on the thickness of the photoactive layer currents could be of interest for sensor applications, e.g. for the thermal compensation of light sensors.},
 year = {2013}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - Thermal Behavior of Crystalline Thin Film Silicon Solar Cell
AU  - Balázs Plesz
AU  - Gusztáv Hantos
Y1  - 2013/06/20
PY  - 2013
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijrse.20130203.16
DO  - 10.11648/j.ijrse.20130203.16
T2  - International Journal of Sustainable and Green Energy
JF  - International Journal of Sustainable and Green Energy
JO  - International Journal of Sustainable and Green Energy
SP  - 115
EP  - 119
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2575-1549
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijrse.20130203.16
AB  - The goal of this paper is to investigate the thermal behavior of crystalline thin film silicon solar cells, and to determine whether the decrease in cell thickness affects the temperature dependences of the solar cell parameters. For the investigation crystalline solar cells with a photoactive layer thickness of 26, 38 and 50 microns were processed. Sample cells were formed on n+-substrate wafers with n epitaxial layers where due to the low minority carrier lifetime in the substrate only the epitaxial layer participates effectively in the photocurrent generation. The thin photoactive layers were achieved by the etching of the epitaxial layer. On the samples I-V curves and spectral response functions were measured at different temperatures, and the temperature coefficients of the short circuit current, the open circuit voltage and the efficiency were determined. Most of the parameters showed no differences in their temperature behavior, but the temperature dependence of the short circuit current differed on all three sample cells and was in correspondence with the changes of the temperature dependences of the spectral responses. From the results it can be concluded, that decreasing the thickness of the solar cells will have practically no effect on the temperature dependence of the performance and the efficiency of crystalline silicon solar cells. However the dependence of in the temperature coefficients for the short circuit currents on the thickness of the photoactive layer currents could be of interest for sensor applications, e.g. for the thermal compensation of light sensors.
VL  - 2
IS  - 3
ER  -

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