Polycrystalline silicon thin-film solar cells on AIT-textured glass superstrates

Abstract

A new glass texturing method (AITaluminium-induced texturisation) has recently been developed by our group. In the present work, the potential of this method is explored by fabricating PLASMA poly-Si thin-film solar cells on glass superstrates that were textured with the AIT method. Using an interdigitated metallisation scheme with a full-area Al rear contact, PLASMA cells with an efficiency of up to 7 are realised. This promising result shows that the AIT glass texturing method is fully compatible with the fabrication of poly-Si thin-film solar cells on glass using solid phase crystallisation (SPC) of PECVD-deposited amorphous silicon precursor diodes. As such, there are now two distinctly different glass texturing methods - the AIT method and CSG Solar's glass bead method - that are known to be capable of producing efficient SPC poly-Si thin-film solar cells on glass.