TY - JOUR
T1 - Relationship between Device Performance and Grain Boundary Structural Configuration in a Solar Cell Based on Multicrystalline SiGe
AU - Usami, Noritaka
AU - Pan, Wugen
AU - Fujiwara, Kozo
AU - Ujihara, Toru
AU - Sazaki, Gen
AU - Nakajima, Kazuo
PY - 2004/2/15
Y1 - 2004/2/15
N2 - The grain boundary character distribution of multicrystalline SiGe (mc-SiGe) solar cells with microscopic compositional distribution was revealed to have a significant effect on the photovoltaic performance of solar cells. This was clarified by comparing the photovoltaic performance of small-area (≈0.02 cm2) solar cells fabricated in a large-area solar cell with their local structures. With increasing fraction of random grain boundaries in a small-area solar cell, the conversion efficiency was found to decrease. On the other hand, Σ3 grain boundaries are found to be dominant in a solar cell with good performance. These results suggest that the development of a crystal growth technique that fully controls the grain boundary character distribution is the key to improving the conversion efficiency of the solar cell based on multicrystalline semiconductors.
AB - The grain boundary character distribution of multicrystalline SiGe (mc-SiGe) solar cells with microscopic compositional distribution was revealed to have a significant effect on the photovoltaic performance of solar cells. This was clarified by comparing the photovoltaic performance of small-area (≈0.02 cm2) solar cells fabricated in a large-area solar cell with their local structures. With increasing fraction of random grain boundaries in a small-area solar cell, the conversion efficiency was found to decrease. On the other hand, Σ3 grain boundaries are found to be dominant in a solar cell with good performance. These results suggest that the development of a crystal growth technique that fully controls the grain boundary character distribution is the key to improving the conversion efficiency of the solar cell based on multicrystalline semiconductors.
KW - Grain boundary character
KW - Multicrystal
KW - Solar cell
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U2 - 10.1143/jjap.43.l250
DO - 10.1143/jjap.43.l250
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:2142708737
VL - 43
SP - L250-L252
JO - Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, Part 1: Regular Papers & Short Notes
JF - Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, Part 1: Regular Papers & Short Notes
SN - 0021-4922
IS - 2 B
ER -