Accession Number:

ADA230902

Title:

Back-Contact Vertical-Junction Solar Cell

Descriptive Note:

Master's thesis

Corporate Author:

AIR FORCE INST OF TECH WRIGHT-PATTERSON AFB OH SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING

Personal Author(s):

• Carver, M. W.

Report Date:

1988-03-01

Pagination or Media Count:

241.0

Abstract:

The objective of this thesis was to improve the efficiency of silicon solar cells by designing and fabricating a solar cell which synergistically combines the advantages of the interdigitated back-contact solar cell with the advantages of the wedged-channel vertical-junction solar cell. Solar cell designs which combine the two concepts were proposed and evaluated. A final design was chosen which consisted of vertical grooves anisotropically etched from the frontside to the backside of a 110 oriented silicon wafer. The groove side walls etched vertically and the end walls etched on a taper. As the grooves reached the backside, the end walls tapered together forming a small slit where the connections to the back contacts occurred. A theoretical equation relating the groove length, width, and depth was developed. Grooves ranging from 5 um to 100 um wide, and 870 um to 1,140 um long were anisotropically etched into a 300 um thick 110 wafer to verify the equation and determine the optimum groove length and width for the final design.

Descriptors:

• *OPTIMIZATION
• SOLAR CELLS
• LENGTH
• GROOVING
• WALLS
• WAFERS
• EQUATIONS
• THEORY
• SILICON

Subject Categories:

• Electric Power Production and Distribution
• Crystallography
• Solid State Physics

Distribution Statement:

APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE