Improvement of small-area, amorphous-silicon thin-film photovoltaics on polymer substrate. Final subcontract report, 1 March 1988-30 June 1989.

摘要

This report describes a contract to produce, using roll-to-roll deposition on polyamide substrate, a small-area amorphous-silicon p-i-n photovoltaic (PV) cell with an energy conversion efficiency of 10% under air mass 1.5 insolation. Three improvements were attempted to achieve this goal: (1) zinc oxide, a transparent conducting oxide, was used as a top contact; the zinc oxide conductivity was improved to 8--9 ohms/square sheet resistance with less than 8% average optical absorption. (2) The red light response was improved with dielectric enhanced metal reflecting electrodes, which increased the short-circuit current density by more than 1 mA/Cm(sup 2); a three-layer dielectric mirror coating was also designed that can increase the current density by another 1 mA/cm(sup 2). (3) Improving the fill factor of the n-i-p (reverse structured) devices was also achieved in a multichamber deposition system. The overall energy conversion efficiency of the PV cell was 8.36%. Major obstacles to higher efficiencies are (1) controlling the thin-film defects that cause electrical shunts in devices fabricated on enhanced reflection electrodes, and (2) controlling impurities and introducing dopant profiles near the p/i interface in a continuous web deposition system.