Stress-Minimized Laser Soldering of h-pattern Multicrystalline Silicon Solar Cells

RIE-Texturing of Multicrystalline Silicon Solar Cells

We developed a maskless plasma texturing technique for multicrystalline silicon (mc-Si) cells using Reactive Ion Etching (RIE) that results in higher cell performance than that of standard untextured cells. Elimination of plasma damage has been achieved while keeping front reflectance to extremely low levels. Internal quantum efficiencies as high as those on planar cells have been obtained, boo...

Texturing industrial multicrystalline silicon solar cells

Three potential techniques for texturing commercial multicrystalline silicon solar cells are compared on the basis of reflectance measurements. Wet acidic texturing, which would be the least costly to implement, produces a modest improvement in reflection before antireflection coating and encapsulation, whereas maskless reactive-ion etching texturing, and especially masked reactive-ion etched p...

Mechanical Strength of Multicrystalline Silicon Solar Cells and Influencing Factors

Silicon wafer thickness reduction without increasing the wafer strength leads to a high fracture rate during subsequent handling and processing steps. Cracking of solar cells has become one of the major sources of solar module failure and rejection. Hence, it is important to evaluate the mechanical strength of solar cells and factors influencing this. The purpose of this work is to understand t...

Multicrystalline and Back Contact Buried Contact Silicon Solar Cells Dissertation

Recombination and Trapping in Multicrystalline Silicon Solar Cells

In broad terms, this thesis is concerned with the measurement and interpretation of carrier lifetimes in multicrystalline silicon. An understanding of these lifetimes in turn leads to a clearer picture of the limiting mechanisms in solar cells made with this promising material, and points to possible paths for improvement. The work falls into three broad categories: gettering, trapping and reco...