H.W. Du

Preparation of ITO/SiOx/n-Si solar cells with non-decline potential field and hole tunneling by magnetron sputtering

Complete photo-generated minority carriers quantum tunneling device under AM1.5 illumination is fabricated by depositing tin-doped indium oxide (ITO) on n-type silicon to form a structure of ITO/SiOx/n-Si heterojunction. The work function difference between ITO and n-Si materials essentially acts as the origin of built-in-field. Basing on the measured value of internal potential (Vbi = 0.61 V) and high conversion efficiency (9.27%), we infer that this larger photo-generated holes tunneling occurs when a strong inversion layer at the c-Si surface appears. Also, the mixed electronic states in the ultra-thin intermediate region between ITO and n-Si play a defect-assisted tunneling.

Structural defects and recombination behavior of excited carriers in Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells

The carriers’ behavior in neutral region (NTR) and space charged region (SCR) of Cu(In,Ga)Se2 thin film based solar cells has been investigated by temperature dependent photoluminescence (PL-T), electroluminescence (EL-T) and current-voltage (IV-T) from 10 to 300 K. PL-T spectra show that three kinds of defects, namely VSe, InCu and (InCu+VCu), are localized within the band gap of NTR and SCR of CIGS layer, corresponding to the energy levels of EC-0.08, EC-0.20 and EC-0.25 eV, respectively. The InCu and (InCu+VCu) deep level defects are non-radiative recombination centers at room temperature. The IV-T and EL-T analysis reveals that the injection modes of electrons from ZnO conduction band into Cu(In,Ga)Se2 layer are tunneling, thermally-excited tunneling and thermionic emission under 10-40, 60-160, and 180-300 K, respectively. At 10-160 K, the electrons tunnel into (InCu+VCu) and Vse defect levels in band gap of SCR and the drifting is involved in the emission bands at 0.96 and 1.07 eV, which is the direc...

Potentiality of delocalized states in indium-involved amorphous silicon oxide

In this short report, the specific molecular coacervate and two kinds of quantum states in indium-involved amorphous silicon oxide [a-SiOx(In)] are studied. The a-SiOx(In) layer is prepared by the magnetron sputtering process for indium tin oxide (ITO) films deposited on n-type silicon substrates, which has been predicted by molecular dynamics simulation and density function theory calculation. The results have been applied to the interpretation of the electronic structure and hole tunneling transport in ITO-SiOx/n-Si photovoltaic (PV) devices. The most significant achievement is that there is either a transition level at 0.30 eV for p-type conductive conversion or an extra level at Ev + 4.60 eV induced by In-O-Si bonding, denoted as molecular orbital levels, within the dielectric amorphous oxide (a-SiOx). The cognizance is crucial for the concepts of passivation, tunneling, selective contact, inversion, and useful defects in modern PV devices.