Advanced Silicon Materials for Photovoltaic Applications
, by Pizzini, SergioNote: Supplemental materials are not guaranteed with Rental or Used book purchases.
- ISBN: 9780470661116 | 0470661119
- Cover: Hardcover
- Copyright: 8/13/2012
Discusses the critical issue of how to obtain low-cost Silicon feedstocks for photovoltaic applications. Advanced Silicon Materials for Photovoltaic Applications: Covers the main issues concerning silicon for PV applications Deals with the fabrication processes of bulk and thin films silicon Addresses quality problems for low-cost feedstocks Discusses advanced chemical, structural, and electrical characterization techniques and computer modeling. Essential reading for academic researchers, industrial researchers and engineers in the field of photovoltaic devices, as well as PhD students.
Professor Sergio Pizzini is Chairman of NED SILICON SpA, a company which focuses on renewable energies. He is retired from the University of Milano-Bicocca, where he was a Professor of Physical Chemistry until 2008. He also held positions as Director of the Nanotechnology Science Doctorate and Director of the Doctorate School of the Faculty of Sciences at the University.
Professor Pizzini is currently a member of the Scientific Committee of the Solar Lab, a joint initiative of the University of Camerino, Department of Physics and of Renergies Italia, Spa. His scientific expertise spans from semiconductor physics and chemistry to surface defect science and silicon processes for photovoltaic uses. He is the author or co-author of four books as well as more than two hundred technical papers.
Professor Pizzini is currently a member of the Scientific Committee of the Solar Lab, a joint initiative of the University of Camerino, Department of Physics and of Renergies Italia, Spa. His scientific expertise spans from semiconductor physics and chemistry to surface defect science and silicon processes for photovoltaic uses. He is the author or co-author of four books as well as more than two hundred technical papers.
Preface | p. xi |
List of Contributors | p. xv |
Silicon Science and Technology as the Background of the Current and Future Knowledge Society | p. 1 |
Introduction | p. 1 |
Silicon Birth from a Thermonuclear Nucleosynthetic Process | p. 2 |
Silicon Key Properties | p. 2 |
Chemical and Structural Properties | p. 2 |
Point Defects | p. 7 |
Radiation Damage and Radiation Hardness | p. 7 |
Advanced Silicon Applications | p. 9 |
Silicon Radiation Detectors | p. 9 |
Photovoltaic Cells for Space Vehicles and Satellite Applications | p. 11 |
Advanced Components Based on the Dislocation Luminescence in Silicon | p. 12 |
Silicon Nanostructures | p. 14 |
References | p. 15 |
Processes | p. 21 |
Introduction | p. 21 |
Gas-Phase Processes | p. 23 |
Preparation and Synthesis of Volatile Silicon Compounds | p. 23 |
Purification of Volatile Silicon Compounds | p. 30 |
Decomposition of Volatile Precursors to Elemental Silicon | p. 30 |
Most Common Reactors | p. 33 |
Recovery of By-Products | p. 38 |
Production of MG and UMG Silicon and Further Refining Up to Solar Grade by Chemical and Physical Processes | p. 40 |
MG Silicon Production | p. 42 |
Metallurgical Refining Processes | p. 47 |
Metal-Metal Extraction Processes | p. 52 |
Solid/Liquid Extraction Techniques | p. 54 |
Final Purification by Directional Solidification | p. 55 |
Solar-Grade Silicon Production from Pure Raw Materials or Via the Direct Route | p. 58 |
Fluoride Processes | p. 59 |
Silicon Production/Refining with High-Temperature Plasmochemical Processes | p. 61 |
Silicon Production Via Plasma Processes | p. 62 |
Silicon Refining Via Plasma Processes | p. 63 |
Electrochemical Processes: Production of Silicon Without Carbon as Reductant | p. 64 |
Conclusions | p. 68 |
Acknowledgements | p. 69 |
References | p. 70 |
Role of Impurities in Solar Silicon | p. 79 |
Introduction | p. 79 |
Sources and Refinements of Impurities | p. 79 |
Segregation of Impurities During Silicon Growth | p. 86 |
Equilibrium Segregation Coefficients | p. 86 |
Effective Segregation Coefficient | p. 87 |
Distribution of Impurities in Silicon Crystal Due to Segregation | p. 90 |
Role of Metallic Impurities | p. 92 |
Solubility and Diffusivity | p. 92 |
Impact on Charge-Carrier Recombination | p. 94 |
Modeling the Impact of Metallic Impurities on the Solar-Cell Performance | p. 96 |
Role of Dopants | p. 101 |
Carrier Mobilities in Compensated Silicon | p. 101 |
Recombination in Compensated Silicon | p. 103 |
Dopant-Related Recombination Centers | p. 105 |
Segregation Effects During Ingot Growth | p. 106 |
Detecting Dopants in Compensated Silicon | p. 107 |
Role of Light Elements | p. 108 |
Oxygen | p. 108 |
Carbon | p. 109 |
Nitrogen | p. 111 |
Germanium | p. 113 |
Arriving at Solar-Grade Silicon Feedstock Definitions | p. 114 |
References | p. 118 |
Gettering Processes and the Role of Extended Defects | p. 127 |
Introduction | p. 127 |
Properties of Transition-Metal Impurities in Silicon | p. 130 |
Solubility of Transition-Metal Impurities | p. 131 |
Diffusion of Transition-Metal Impurities | p. 136 |
Gettering Mechanisms and their Modeling | p. 139 |
Segregation Gettering | p. 140 |
Relaxation Gettering | p. 142 |
Injection Gettering | p. 142 |
Modeling of Gettering Kinetics | p. 143 |
Aluminum Gettering | p. 144 |
Phosphorus-Diffusion Gettering | p. 146 |
Boron-Diffusion Gettering | p. 149 |
Bulk Processes Affecting Gettering Efficiency and Kinetics | p. 150 |
Metal-Silicide Precipitates | p. 150 |
Dislocations | p. 154 |
Grain Boundaries | p. 167 |
Light-Element Impurities and Related Defects | p. 169 |
Gettering Strategies and Defect Engineering | p. 170 |
Conclusions | p. 173 |
Acknowledgements | p. 173 |
References | p. 174 |
Advanced Characterization Techniques | p. 189 |
Introduction | p. 189 |
Surface Photo voltage Spectroscopy | p. 190 |
The Basic Principles | p. 191 |
SPS Setup | p. 193 |
Surface Photovoltage Spectroscopy of Hydrogenated Nanocrystalline Silicon (nc-Si:H) | p. 194 |
Photocurrent Spectroscopy | p. 196 |
Basic Principles | p. 197 |
Spectral Photoconductivity Setup | p. 199 |
Application of Spectral Photoconductivity to Silicon and Silicon Devices | p. 201 |
Optical (Light) Beam Induced Current (OBIC or LBIC) | p. 202 |
Basic Principles of Optical Beam Induced Current Method | p. 202 |
Determination of the Electric Field and Depletion Region Extent in Particle Detectors by OBIC | p. 204 |
Scanning Probe Microscopy for the Nanoscale Electrical Characterization of Semiconductors for PV Applications | p. 207 |
Concluding Remarks | p. 210 |
References | p. 210 |
Advanced Analytical Techniques for Solar-Grade Feedstock | p. 215 |
Introduction | p. 215 |
Review of Analytical Techniques | p. 216 |
GDMS Analysis of PV Si | p. 222 |
SMS Analysis of PV Si | p. 223 |
Applications of SIMS and GDMS for PV Si Feedstock Studies | p. 227 |
Impurity Segregation in Directional Solidified (DS) Silicon Blocks | p. 227 |
Specification of [C], [O] and [N] in Solar-Grade Silicon Feedstock to be Used in DS Furnaces | p. 229 |
SIMS Capability for Reduced-Cost Measurement of [C, O, B, P] | p. 230 |
Problems in Conversion Between Resistivity and Dopant Concentration in Highly Compensated Silicon | p. 231 |
References | p. 232 |
Thin-Film Deposition Processes | p. 235 |
Introduction | p. 235 |
Deposition Techniques of Thin-Film Silicon | p. 235 |
Standard Radio-Frequency Plasma-Enhanced CVD | p. 236 |
Very High Frequency Plasma-Enhanced CVD | p. 236 |
Microwave Plasma-Enhanced CVD | p. 237 |
Expanded Thermal Plasma (ETP) Deposition | p. 237 |
Low-Energy Plasma-Enhanced PECVD | p. 238 |
Hot-Wire CVD | p. 238 |
In Situ Diagnosis of Growth Conditions | p. 239 |
Electrical: Current-Voltage (I-V) Probe | p. 239 |
Optical Emission Spectroscopy (OES) | p. 240 |
Infrared Spectroscopy | p. 243 |
Ellipsometry | p. 244 |
Ion Energy Probe | p. 245 |
Challenges of Deposition at High Growth Rates and Low Substrate Temperatures | p. 246 |
Growth-Process Models | p. 246 |
Inhomogeneity of Growth | p. 250 |
Growth at High Deposition Rates | p. 251 |
Silane Dissociation Efficiency and Depletion Criteria for nc-Si Deposition | p. 252 |
Low-Temperature (LT) Deposition | p. 254 |
Structural Evolution at Low Temperature | p. 257 |
Transient Plasma | p. 260 |
Upscaling to Large-Area and Industrial Processing: Critical Analysis of Various Fabrication Processes | p. 270 |
Acknowledgements | p. 273 |
References | p. 273 |
Modeling of Thin-Film Deposition Processes | p. 287 |
Introduction | p. 287 |
Modeling the Plasma Discharge | p. 290 |
Modeling of the Gas Phase and Surface Kinetics | p. 295 |
Gas-Phase Kinetic Scheme | p. 297 |
Surface Kinetic Scheme | p. 301 |
On the Consistent Solution of the Plasma Discharge and Kinetic Models: Theory and Examples | p. 303 |
Modeling of the Thin-Film Morphological Evolution | p. 303 |
Status of the Field and Perspectives | p. 308 |
References | p. 309 |
Thin-Film Silicon Solar Cells | p. 311 |
Introduction | p. 311 |
Second-Generation Solar Cells: Advantages Compared to the First Generation | p. 312 |
Drift-Type Thin-Film Silicon Solar Cells: Substrates and Configuration | p. 314 |
Material Considerations for Thin-Film Silicon Solar Cells | p. 316 |
Amorphous Silicon | p. 316 |
Amorphous Silicon-Germanium | p. 317 |
Nanocrystalline Silicon | p. 317 |
Light Confinement | p. 318 |
Present Status of Drift-Type Thin-Film Silicon Solar Cells | p. 321 |
Recent R&D Results on Thin-Film Silicon Solar Cells | p. 322 |
Industrial Scenario | p. 322 |
Technological Issues | p. 325 |
High Deposition Rate | p. 325 |
Thin Cells | p. 325 |
Third-Generation Thin-Film Silicon Cell | p. 329 |
Solar Cells on Plastics | p. 331 |
Transfer Method | p. 331 |
Direct Deposition | p. 332 |
Hybrid Cells | p. 334 |
Industrial Scenario of Thin-Film Silicon-based Solar Cells | p. 336 |
Challenges for Thin-Film Silicon Solar-Module Fabrication | p. 338 |
Acknowledgements | p. 341 |
References | p. 341 |
Innovative Quantum Effects in Silicon for Photovoltaic Applications | p. 355 |
Basic Principles of 3rd-Generation Solar Cells | p. 355 |
The Need for a New Generation of Solar Cells | p. 355 |
Limitations in Early Generations | p. 356 |
3rd-Generation Options | p. 357 |
The Advantages of Using Silicon Nanocrystals | p. 359 |
Fabrication and Advantages of Si-NCs | p. 359 |
Quantum Confinement Effect in Si-NCs | p. 360 |
Applications of Si-NCs in the 3rd-Generation Solar Cells | p. 362 |
All-Silicon Tandem Solar Cells | p. 362 |
Hot-Carrier Solar Cells | p. 364 |
Intermediate-Band Solar Cells | p. 366 |
Multiple-Carrier Generation | p. 369 |
Downshifter Cell | p. 372 |
Challenges and Solutions | p. 375 |
Size Control | p. 375 |
Carrier Transport | p. 375 |
Absorption | p. 378 |
Technological Constraints | p. 381 |
Conclusions | p. 381 |
Acknowledgements | p. 381 |
References | p. 381 |
Index | p. 393 |
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved. |
What is included with this book?
The New copy of this book will include any supplemental materials advertised. Please check the title of the book to determine if it should include any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.
The Used, Rental and eBook copies of this book are not guaranteed to include any supplemental materials. Typically, only the book itself is included. This is true even if the title states it includes any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.