Description
Book SynopsisGives a treatment of thin-film silicon as a novel semiconductor material. Beginning with fundamental physical properties, this work focuses on device applications, solar cells in particular. Intended for students and professional scientists, it also discusses the limitations and design optimization of the devices, as well as fabrication methods.
Table of ContentsIntroduction; Christophe Ballif
Explaining the role of thin-film silicon within PV today and tomorrow
Basic Properties of amorphous silicon (a-Si); Arvind Shah and Wolfhard Beyer
Structure of amorphous silicon
"Free" and "trapped" carriers (electrons and holes), mobility gap
Gap states
Optical absorption; optical gap and sub-bandgap absorption
Transport, conductivity and recombination
Doping of amorphous silicon layers
Hydrogen in amorphous silicon layers; Wolfhard Beyer
Alloys (with Germanium and Carbon); Wolfhard Beyer
Conclusions
Basic properties of hydrogenated µc-Si:H; Friedhelm Finger
History
Structural properties of µc-Si:H
Optical properties
Electrical properties and transport
Metastabilty -- Instabilty
Comparison with amorphous silicon
Alloys (ongoing research work)
Conclusions
Theory of solar cell devices; Arvind Shah, Corinne Droz and Martin Python
Conversion of light into electrical carriers by a semi-conductor diode
The "pn-type" or "classical" diode: Dark characteristics
The "pn-type" or "classical" diode: Properties under illumination
Limits on solar cell efficiency η
The "pin-type" diode
Summary and conclusions of theoretical part
Tandem and multi-junction solar cells; Martin Python and Arvind Shah
Introduction; general concept
Principle of two-terminal tandem cell
Practical problems of two-terminal tandem cells
Typical tandem and multi-junction cells
Spectral response (SR) and External Quantum Efficiency (EQE) measurements
Conclusions
Module Fabrication and Performance; Horst Schade and Jean-Eric Bourée
Plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD)
Hot Wire chemical vapour deposition (HWCVD)
Doped layers
Transparent conductive oxides (TCO) as contact layers
Laser scribing and series connection of cells
Module performance
Module finishing
Conclusions
Application Examples of Solar Cells; Various contributors, edited by Horst Schade and Arvind Shah
Building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) - aspects and examples
Stand-alone and portable applications (Oppizzi)
Indoor applications of a-Si solar cells; J. Randall
Space Applications; N. Wyrsch
Conclusions
Large-area thin-film Electronics; Nicolas Wyrsch
Thin-film transistors (TFTs) and Display Technology
Large-area imagers
Thin-film sensors on C-MOS Chips (Light imagers, Particle sensors, particle imagers)
Conclusions
