Flexible Crystalline Silicon Solar Cell

Abstract

<p>A new type of flexible silicon solar cell has been fabricated by interconnecting solar cell die on a flexible substrate. The fabrication process is described in this thesis. The solar cell die were diced using two methods. One method was to dice a solar cell completely through. The other method was to dice a solar cell from its back partially and then cleave through. To study the effects of different dicing methods on the performance of solar cell die, storage delay time measurement was employed to determine the lifetime of excess electrons in the p region of the two types of solar cell die. A laser beam induced current (LBIC) scanning technique was employed to study the electrical performance of the two types of solar cell die. The carrier diffusion lengths of two types of solar cell die were also determined by traveling light spot diffusion length measurement.</p><p>The theoretical response of a solar cell was compared to experimental results at various incident light angles. OpticLab software was used to model the incident light angle and lens spacing dependence of solar cell performance.</p>