May 2009 – April 2011
Investigators
Bruce Clemens and Alberto Salleo, Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University
Objective
This research investigates ion-beam assisted deposition (IBAD) of textured templates that can be used to make efficient crystalline-Si thin-film solar cells. The idea behind this approach is that ion beams can be used to selectively determine the crystal orientation of the deposited crystalline films. By means of this technique, one could grow a polycrystalline film with well-aligned grains and therefore “smoother” grain-to-grain interfaces. As a result, the charges generated within the light-absorbing thin-film would undergo much fewer recombination processes at the grain boundaries and the overall conversion efficiency of the photovoltaic cell would be substantially improved.
Progress Report
- 2011 Progress Report (PDF)
- 2010 Progress Report (PDF)
Presentations
Groves, J. R., G. J. Hayes, J. B. Li, R. F. DePaula , R. H. Hammond, A. Salleo, and B. M. Clemens. “Biaxial Texturing of Inorganic Photovoltaic Thin Films Using Low Energy Ion Beam Irradiation During Growth” Materials Research Symposium Proceedings, Spring 2010.