Abstract

Solar energy is abundant and is distributed all over the earth. While all renewable energy resources are important, solar energy has the potential to meet high levels of energy demand [1]. Silicon occupies 90% of the PV market and single crystalline silicon solar cells account for half of that share. Higher efficiencies along with abundance and reduction in silicon prices makes it the technology of choice for terrestrial applications.

With the mature technology available from crystalline silicon processing there is still room for significant research to improve the efficiencies. Further improved efficiencies and/or reduced cell costs are needed to reduce the overall cost. The motivation for this c-Si solar cell project was to continue development and optimize, a fabrication process for a baseline cell having a quick turnaround time which can be used as a venue for evaluating future process improvements. As a part of this process the contact materials for n-type doped silicon were investigated along with characterizing the process equipment. The experimental results indicated a Titanium/Aluminum stack had the lowest contact resistance and yielded the best fill factor. Efficiencies for the baseline cells were increased to 12.7%.

Library of Congress Subject Headings

Solar cells--Materials; Solar cells--Design and construction; Silicon--Electric properties

Publication Date

5-2016

Document Type

Thesis

Student Type

Graduate

Degree Name

Microelectronic Engineering (MS)

Department, Program, or Center

Microelectronic Engineering (KGCOE)

Advisor

Michael A. Jackson

Advisor/Committee Member

Santosh K. Kurinec

Advisor/Committee Member

Robert E. Pearson

Comments

Physical copy available from RIT's Wallace Library at TK2960 .D84 2016

Campus

RIT – Main Campus

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