Embodied energy of Sliver® modules

Sliver® solar cells, invented and developed at the ANU, allow a reduction in the consumption of silicon by a factor of 5 to 12 compared with state of the art conventional crystalline silicon modules, resulting in a decrease in the number of wafers that need to be processed to produce a kW rated system by a factor of 15 to 30. Both of these features reduce the embodied energy of Sliver® modules. We have calculated an energy payback time of 1.5 years for Sliver® modules compared to 4.1 years for conventional crystalline silicon modules. The equivalent greenhouse gas emissions embodied in Sliver® modules also compares favourably to emissions from fossil fuel sources used for the generation of electricity in Australia

Implantation-induced electrical isolation of GaAsN epilayers grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition

The electrical isolation of p-type GaAs₁ˍₓNₓ epilayers (x=0.6%, 1.4%, and 2.3%) produced by H, Li, C, or O ion implantation and its thermal stability in nominally undoped GaAs₀.₉₈₆N₀.₀₁₄ epilayers were investigated. Results show that the sheet resistance of p-type GaAsN layers can be increased by about five or six orders of magnitude by ion implantation and the threshold fluence (Fth) to convert a conductive layer to a highly resistive one depends on the original free carrier concentration and the number of implantation-generated atomic displacements, and does not depend on the nitrogen content. The thermal stability of electrical isolation in GaAsN depends on the ratio of the final fluence to the threshold fluence. The electrical isolation can be preserved up to 550 °C when the accumulated fluence is above 3.3 Fth.The authors would like to thank the Commonwealth Department of Education, Science and Training, and the Australian Research Council for financial support

Doping dependence of the carrier lifetime crossover point upon dissociation of iron-boron pairs in crystalline silicon

The excess carrier density at which the carrier lifetime in crystalline silicon remains unchanged after dissociating iron-boron pairs, known as the crossover point, is reported as a function of the borondopant concentration. Modeling this doping dependence with the Shockley-Read-Hall model does not require knowledge of the iron concentration and suggests a possible refinement of reported values of the capture cross sections for electrons and holes of the acceptor level of iron-boron pairs. In addition, photoluminescence-based measurements were found to offer some distinct advantages over traditional photoconductance-based techniques in determining recombination parameters from low-injection carrier lifetimes.This work has been supported by the Australian Research Council

Modelling of silver modules incorporating a lambertian rear reflector

Modules incorporating cells which are bifacial and narrow can make use of rear reflectors to capture most of the incident sunlight while covering only a fraction of the module area with cells. Sliver® cells, invented and developed at the ANU, meet these criteria. In this paper we analyse the performance limits of such modules for the case where a diffuse (lambertian) reflector is used. The analysis is carried out for various cell thicknesses, cell spacings and reflectivities of the lambertian reflector. The results show that excellent performance can be realised despite the simplicity of the structure. A module with a 50% coverage with 70µm thick cells can capture up to 84% of the light entering the module. Importantly, the performance of this kind of module is insensitive to module orientation. The results of the analytical model are compared with ray tracing studies and measurements and are shown to be in good agreement. It is concluded that significant module cost reductions can be achieved for only modest reductions in performance by covering half or less of the module surface with cells

Atomic relocation processes in impurity-free disordered p-GaAs epilayers studied by deep level transient spectroscopy

We have used capacitance–voltage and deep level transient spectroscopy techniques to study the relocation of impurities, such as Zn and Cu, in impurity-free disordered (IFD) p-type GaAs. A four-fold increase in the doping concentration is observed after annealing at 925 °C. Two electrically active defects HA (EV+0.39 eV) and HB2 (EV+0.54 eV), which we have attributed to Cu- and Asi/AsGa-related levels, respectively, are observed in the disordered p-GaAs layers. The injection of galliumvacancies causes segregation of Zndopant atoms and Cu towards the surface of IFD samples. The atomic relocation process is critically assessed in terms of the application of IFD to the band gap engineering of doped GaAs-based heterostructures.Two of the authors ~P.N.K.D. and H.H.T.! acknowledge the financial support of the Australian Research Counci

Electrical characterization of p-GaAs epilayers disordered by doped spin-on-glass

Impurity-free disordering (IFD) of uniformly dopedp‐GaAsepitaxial layers was achieved using either undoped or doped (Ga or P) spin-on-glass (SOG) in conjunction with rapid thermal annealing in the temperature range from 800to925°C. Capacitance-voltage measurements showed a pronounced increase in the doping concentration (NA) in the near-surface region of the layers disordered using both undoped and P:SOG. The increase in NA showed an Arrhenius-like dependence on the inverse of annealing temperature. On the other hand, NA did not change significantly for Ga-doped SOG. These changes can be explained by the relative injection of excess gallium vacancies (VGa) during IFD of p‐GaAs by the different SOG layers. Deep-level transient spectroscopy showed a corresponding increase in the concentration of a defect HA (EV+0.39eV), which can be attributed to Cu, in the undoped and P:SOG disordered p‐GaAs layers, but not in the epilayers disordered by Ga:SOG. We have explained the increase in free carrier concentration by the segregation of Zn atoms towards the surface during the injection of VGa. The redistribution of Zn during disordering of buried marker layers in GaAs and Al₀.₆Ga₀.₄As using either undoped or Ga-doped SOG was verified by secondary-ion mass spectrometry.One of the authors P. N. K. D.d acknowledges the financial support of the Australian Research Council. A second sF. D. A.d is grateful to the National Research Foundation, South Africa, for its financial support

Characterisation of the thermal response of Silver® cells and modules

Sliver cells, invented and developed at The Australian National University, are long, thin, narrow, and bifacial. They are constructed from high-grade mono-crystalline silicon. Solar modules that incorporate Sliver cells are significantly different in their construction and performance characteristics to conventional crystalline silicon modules. In Sliver modules, the cells are usually spaced apart to make use of the bifacial nature of the Sliver cells. A scattering reflector on the rear of the module is used to trap most of the incident light within the module structure. However, a fraction of the incident sunlight will not be absorbed by the cells and will instead be coupled out of the module. While this loss of incident radiation results in a reduction in module efficiency, it also results in a proportional reduction in heat generation within the module. This leads to lower module operating temperatures compared with conventional modules of similar efficiencies

Influence of reactive ion etching on the minority carrier lifetime in P-type Si

Quasi-steady-state photoconductance (QSSPC) and deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) were used to characterize the recombination properties of reactive ion etched p-type Si. The effective lifetime of the plasma-processed samples degraded after etching, with the densities of recombination centers increasing linearly with etch time, before reaching a plateau. Evidence is provided for the long-range (> 2 µm) migration of defects in the samples plasma-etched at room temperature. The relationship between rf power and lifetime degradation is also discussed. A defect with energy position at (0.31 ± 0.02) eV was detected by DLTS in RIE p-Si, whereas no defect level was measured in n-type Si. We demonstrate that this energy level could be used to adequately model the injection-dependence of the measured carrier lifetimes using the Shockley-Read-Hall model

The effect of bifacial Sliver® Module orientation on energy production

The Sliver® solar cell technology has the principal features of reduced silicon consumption (down by a factor ~12), a reduced number of wafers that need to be processed per kW (down by a factor of ~30), high efficiency (~19%) and perfect bifacial response. The bifacial response of cells allows a wide range of innovative Sliver® module designs that cannot be achieved using conventional technology (monofacial modules). This work examines the relative performance of monofacial and bifacial modules in a variety of mounting configurations

Suppression of interdiffusion in GaAs/AlGaAs quantum-well structure capped with dielectric films by deposition of gallium oxide

In this work, different dielectric caps were deposited on the GaAs/AlGaAs quantum well(QW) structures followed by rapid thermal annealing to generate different degrees of interdiffusion. Deposition of a layer of GaxOy on top of these dielectric caps resulted in significant suppression of interdiffusion. In these samples, it was found that although the deposition of GaxOy and subsequent annealing caused additional injection of Ga into the SiO₂ layer, Ga atoms were still able to outdiffuse from the GaAsQW structure during annealing, to generate excess Ga vacancies. The suppression of interdiffusion with the presence of Ga vacancies was explained by the thermal stress effect which suppressed Ga vacancydiffusion during annealing. It suggests that GaxOy may therefore be used as a mask material in conjunction with other dielectric capping layers in order to control and selectively achieve impurity-free vacancy disordering.J. Wong-Leung, P. N. K. Deenapanray, and H. H. Tan acknowledge the fellowships awarded by the Australian Research Council