OPTICAL SCATTERING STUDIES ON AMORPHOUS SILICON AND MICROMORH SOLAR CELL STRUCTURES FABRICATED ON MICROTEXTURED GLASS

Abstract

Light scattering is of great importance for improving the efficiency of thin-film silicon solar cells, particularly for hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) solar cells which have a silicon thickness of less than 300 nm. This thesis theoretically and experimentally investigates optical scattering by micro-textured glass surfaces created with the aluminium-induced texturisation (AIT) method, for absorption enhancement in a-Si:H solar cells. The aim is to find the optimum morphologies for efficient optical scattering into a-Si:H solar cells. A model is developed to predict the spectral and angular dependent scattering of AIT glass. The model is then used to establish optimum morphological criteria for these micro-textured glasses. Finally, solar cell structures are prepared on both planar glass and AIT glass and their optical and electrical performances compared. It is shown that AIT glass eliminates the need to texture the transparent conductive oxide (TCO) front electrode, without any loss in the current generation capability of the solar cells.