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Amorphous Silicon Photovoltaic Modules on Flexible Plastic Substrates

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 June 2016

Yuri Vygranenko ,
Miguel Fernandes ,
Paula Louro ,
Manuela Vieira ,
Alireza Khosropour ,
Ruifeng Yang  and
Andrei Sazonov
Yuri Vygranenko*
Affiliation:
CTS-UNINOVA, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal
Miguel Fernandes
Affiliation:
CTS-UNINOVA, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal Electronics, Telecommunications and Computer Engineering Department, ISEL, Lisbon, Portugal
Paula Louro
Affiliation:
CTS-UNINOVA, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal Electronics, Telecommunications and Computer Engineering Department, ISEL, Lisbon, Portugal
Manuela Vieira
Affiliation:
CTS-UNINOVA, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal Electronics, Telecommunications and Computer Engineering Department, ISEL, Lisbon, Portugal
Alireza Khosropour
Affiliation:
Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1, Canada
Ruifeng Yang
Affiliation:
Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1, Canada
Andrei Sazonov
Affiliation:
Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1, Canada
*
*(Email: [email protected])
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Abstract

This paper reports on a monolithic 10 cm × 10 cm area PV module integrating an array of 72 a-Si:H n-i-p cells on a 100 μm thick polyethylene-naphtalate substrate. The n-i-p stack is deposited using a PECVD system at 150 °C substrate temperature. The design optimization and device performance analysis are performed using a two-dimensional distributed circuit model of the photovoltaic cell. The circuit simulator SPICE is used to calculate current and potential distributions in a network of sub-cell circuits, and also to map Joule losses in the front TCO electrode and the metal grid. Experimental results show that the shunt leakage is one of the factors reducing the device performance. Current-voltage characteristics of individual a-Si:H p-i-n cells were analyzed to estimate a variation of shunt resistances. Using the LBIC technique, the presence of multiple shunts in the n-i-p cell was detected. To understand the nature of electrical shunts, the change in the surface roughness of all device layers was analyzed throughout fabrication process. It is found that surface defects in plastic foils, which are thermally induced during the device fabrication, form microscopic pinholes filled with highly conductive top electrode material.

Keywords

photovoltaicplasma-enhanced CVD (PECVD) (deposition)thin film
Type
Articles
Information
MRS Advances , Volume 1 , Issue 43: Energy and Environment , 2016 , pp. 2923 - 2928
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2016 

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References

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