High temperature investigations of crystalline silicon solar cell materials

Crystalline silicon solar cells are a promising candidate to provide a sustainable, clean energy source for the future. In order to bring about widespread adoption of solar cells, much work is needed to reduce their cost. Herein, I discuss the development of a new experimental technique to investigate solar cell materials under simulated processing conditions. I present the first applications and results using this technique, including observations of novel impurity interactions at elevated temperatures, and discuss their importance to the solar cell manufacturing process. One of the key drivers for reducing solar cell cost is developing a fundamental understanding of the behavior of defect and impurities in solar cell materials. Since solar cell processing occurs at high temperatures, experiments are needed that allow characterization of solar cell materials at high temperatures representative of manufacturing conditions, at the length-scales of the defects that are present. To achieve this, I have developed a novel in situ high temperature sample stage for measuring samples via synchrotron-based X-ray microprobe. This technique allows for mapping and chemical state determination of metal impurity clusters on the order of 100 nm to 100 [mu]m, over sample areas of several square millimeters, at temperatures in excess of 1200°C and under controlled ambient atmosphere. The application of this technique has yielded novel insights concerning the behavior of metal impurities at high temperature.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Mechanical Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2009

Author dc:creator

• Hudelson, George David Stephen, III

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Tonio Buonassisi.

• Mechanical Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/50568

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/50568