1AO.2.2 Presentation

INFLUENCE OF EFFICIENT BACK
REFLECTORS ON THE QUANTUM

EFFICIENCY OF SOLAR CELLS
D. N. Micha1,2, A. Walker3, G.
Siefer3, A. W. Bett3 and F. Dimroth3
1CEFET/RJ, Petrópolis, Brazil
2INCT/DISSE/CNPq – PUC-Rio –
RJ, Brazil
3Fraunhofer ISE, Freiburg, Germany.
20/06/2016
European Photovoltaics Specialist
Conference – EU-PVSEC
© Fraunhofer ISE
OUTLINE
 Introduction: Photon Recycling Effect

 Experimental Work and Results
 Solar cell structure
 Current – Voltage Metrics
 Quantum Efficiencies
 Discussions of Quantum Efficiency
 Definition
 Modeling and Influence on Material Parameters Extraction
 Conclusions
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Photon Recycling Effect
 Photon recycling -> reduction of loss by PL confinement in active region;

 New optical architecture of solar cells required;
 Enhanced efficiency by boost in VOC.
3 38th Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC) IEEE, 001556 - 001559 (2012).

© Fraunhofer ISE
Experimental Work
Solar Cells
 Grown at Fraunhofer ISE in same

epitaxial run.
 Standard processing at the front side.
 Two different back side technologies:
 On original absorptive substrate –
reference cell; Reference cell
 On a transfer substrate with an 95%
reflective back side reflector (BSR) –
sample cell.
Sample cell
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Results – Current – Voltage
Reference Cell vs. Sample Cell
 Enlarged sunlight optical path:

 1.1% increase in JSC.
 Photon recycling effect:
 1.8% increase in VOC.
Jsc Voc
Sample
[mA/cm2] [V]
Cell on substrate (reference) 29.05 1.055
Thin film cell with BSR
29.38 1.074
(sample)
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Results – External Quantum Efficiency
 Back reflector very efficient for

sample cell;
 Up to 14.6% increase in EQE for
long wavelengths:
 Increase in JSC.
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Results – Internal Quantum Efficiency
 IQE obtained by conventional

equation.
EQE  
IQE  
1  R 
 Differences in IQE:
1. Increase at long wavelengths for
sample cell;
2. Extension toward longer
wavelength for sample cell.
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Results – Internal Quantum Efficiency
 IQE obtained by conventional

equation.
EQE  
IQE  
1  R 
 Differences in IQE:
1. Increase at long wavelengths for
sample cell;
2. Extension toward longer
wavelength for sample cell.
DIFFERENCE IN BANDGAP???
DIFFERENCE IN MATERIAL QUALITY???
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Quantum Efficiency Definitions
 EQE: number of extracted electrons (ne) per incident photon (ngI);

 IQE: number of extracted electrons (ne) per absorbed photon (ngA);
ne   hc
EQE     SR 
ngI   e
ne   ne   EQE  
IQE     
ngA   AngI   A 
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© Fraunhofer ISE
Quantum Efficiency Definitions
 EQE: number of extracted electrons (ne) per incident photon (ngI);

 IQE: number of extracted electrons (ne) per absorbed photon (ngA);
 Absorbed where???
ne   hc
EQE     SR 
ngI   e
ne   ne   EQE  
IQE    
ngA   AngI   A 
???
10
© Fraunhofer ISE
Internal Quantum Efficiency Definitions
 Two different definitions in literature! EQE EQE

IQEtrans  
 IQEtrans: number of extracted Tin 1 R
electrons per photons entering the
EQE EQE
cell (absorbed anywhere), IQEabs  
A 1 R  T
 IQEabs: number of extracted
electrons per photons absorbed in
active region.
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© Fraunhofer ISE
 Two different definitions in literature! EQE EQE

IQEtrans  
 IQEtrans: number of extracted Tin 1 R
electrons per photons entering the
EQE EQE
cell (absorbed anywhere), IQEabs  
A 1 R  T
 IQEabs: number of extracted
electrons per photons absorbed in
active region.
References using IQEtrans:

•Advances characterization techniques for thin film solar cells, John Wiley & Sons, 2011.
•Nature Communications, vol. 3, p. 1321, 2012.
•Solar Energy, vol. 82, pp. 106-110, 2008.
References using IQEabs:

•Semiconductors and Semimetals, Vol. 11: Solar Cells, New York: Academic Press, 1975.
•Nano Letters, vol. 8, no. 11, pp. 3904-3910, 2008.
•IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, vol. 43, no. 7, pp. 1104-1113, 1996.
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© Fraunhofer ISE
 For a cell on absorptive substrate:

1
 RA = 1 – Tin RA
 1- RA ≈ Tin
Tin
No reflector
T
Transmission into
absorptive substrate
13
© Fraunhofer ISE
 For a cell on absorptive substrate: RR

1
 RA = 1 – Tin RFS
 1- RA ≈ Tin
Tin RBS
 For a solar cell with very good BSR:
RBS ≈ transmission into substrate: With reflector
 RR ≈ RFS + RBS ≈ RFS + T ≈ 1 – A

 1 – RR ≈ A
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 RA ≈ RFS = 1 – Tin
 1- RA ≈ Tin
RBS ≈ T:
 RR ≈ RFS + RBS ≈ RFS + T ≈ 1 – A
 1 – RR ≈ A
EQE EQE EQE

IQEtrans   IQEtrans 
Tin 1 R 1  RA
EQE EQE EQE
IQEabs   IQEabs 
A 1 R  T 1  RR
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© Fraunhofer ISE

 RA ≈ RFS = 1 – Tin
 1- RA ≈ Tin
RBS ≈ T:
 RR ≈ RFS + RBS ≈ RFS + T ≈ 1 – A
 1 – RR ≈ A
EQE
IQEtrans 
DIFFERENCES IN IQE SHALL COME 1  RA
FROM DIFFERENT DEFINITIONS AND
EQE
NOT FROM A PHYSICAL EFFECT!!! IQEabs 
1  RR
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Internal Quantum Efficiency Definitions – Modeling
 Modeling by TMM of R() and T()

to access A() and IQEabs to
reference cell.
 Reference cell IQE curve gets
increased and extended.
 Agreement between curves:
 Ways of performing calculation
and using definitions.
EQE
IQEtrans 
1 R
EQE
IQEabs 
1 R  T
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© Fraunhofer ISE
Internal Quantum Efficiency Definitions – Experimental
 Computing IQE using:

 RR to reference cell;
 RA to sample cell.
 Reference cell IQE curve gets
increased and extended;
 Sample cell IQE goes down to
reference level;
 Agreement between curves:
 Ways of performing calculation EQE
IQEtrans 
and using definitions. 1  RA
EQE
IQEabs 
1  RR
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© Fraunhofer ISE
Material Electronic Parameters Extraction
 Theoretical QE is composed by active layers contributions;

 It depends on material parameters in each region:
 minority carrier diffusion lengths
 surface recombination velocities
QE  QEemitter  QEdep.region  QEbase
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© Fraunhofer ISE
 Original model: Hovel (1970’s) –

absorptive substrates.
 Lumb et al (2013): models
accounting for incoherent and
coherent reflection at back side.
20 •H. J. Hovel, Semiconductors and Semimetals, Vol. 11: Solar Cells, New York: Academic Press, 1975.
© Fraunhofer ISE •IEEE JOURNAL OF QUANTUM ELECTRONICS, VOL. 49, NO. 5, 2013
 Original model: Hovel (1970’s) –

absorptive substrates.
 Lumb et al (2013): models
accounting for incoherent and
coherent reflection at back side.
Parameter Value
Hole diffusion length (mm) 0.9
Electron diffusion length (mm) 5
Front side surface rec. velocity
1000
(cm/s)
Back side surface rec. velocity
1
(cm/s)
Hole mobility (cm2V-1s-1) 2500
Electron mobility (cm2V-1s-1) 270 Same for both cells!!!
21 •H. J. Hovel, Semiconductors and Semimetals, Vol. 11: Solar Cells, New York: Academic Press, 1975.
© Fraunhofer ISE •IEEE JOURNAL OF QUANTUM ELECTRONICS, VOL. 49, NO. 5, 2013
Conclusions
 By exploiting the photon recycling effect and a larger optical path in high
quality crystalline GaAs thin film solar cell, we showed increases in VOC by
1.8% and in JSC by 1.1%.
 Some interesting features appeared in the calculation of IQE for the solar
cells. We showed that the differences are related to the definition of IQE.
 The IQE shall be defined by the absorptivity, instead of the total light entering
the cell, to refer to solely the active region of the solar cell.
 We showed that with the proper models to theoretically calculate EQE, the
material parameters extracted from experiments are the same in both types
of solar cell.
 Values for the material parameters can differ when using IQE from
incorrect definition.
22
© Fraunhofer ISE
THANK YOU FOR THE ATTENTION!!!
daniel.micha@cefet-rj.br
© Fraunhofer ISE

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INFLUENCE OF EFFICIENT BACK

REFLECTORS ON THE QUANTUM

 Introduction: Photon Recycling Effect

 Photon recycling -> reduction of loss by PL confinement in active region;

3 38th Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC) IEEE, 001556 - 001559 (2012).

 Grown at Fraunhofer ISE in same

 Enlarged sunlight optical path:

 Back reflector very efficient for

 IQE obtained by conventional

 IQE obtained by conventional

 EQE: number of extracted electrons (ne) per incident photon (ngI);

 EQE: number of extracted electrons (ne) per incident photon (ngI);

 Two different definitions in literature! EQE EQE

 Two different definitions in literature! EQE EQE

References using IQEtrans:

References using IQEabs:

 For a cell on absorptive substrate:

 For a cell on absorptive substrate: RR

 RR ≈ RFS + RBS ≈ RFS + T ≈ 1 – A

 For a cell on absorptive substrate:

EQE EQE EQE

 For a cell on absorptive substrate:

 Modeling by TMM of R() and T()

 Computing IQE using:

 Theoretical QE is composed by active layers contributions;

QE  QEemitter  QEdep.region  QEbase

 Original model: Hovel (1970’s) –

 Original model: Hovel (1970’s) –

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