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» Research » Research projects » Driving increased efficiency and reliability in silicon photovoltaics - from ingots to modulesDriving increased efficiency and reliability in silicon photovoltaics - from ingots to modules
This project brings together an integrated team of international experts from academia (ANU, UNSW, Fh-ISE and NREL) and industry (BT Imaging, Jinko Solar, Sinton Instruments, Norwegian Crystals, Topsil, MiaSole and Tesla) to accelerate the development of photovoltaics. Building on the successful outcomes of a previous ARENA project (RND009/2014), we will develop new technologies across the entire production chain - from silicon ingots, to wafers, cells and modules. Key outcomes will be innovative tools and methods to identify and eliminate loss and degradation mechanisms in industrial solar cells and modules. These advances will improve the quality of the silicon material itself, and allow the detection and remediation of defects that cause module degradation in the field. This will in turn increase the efficiency and reliability of photovoltaic modules, leading to further cost reductions of solar electricity for consumers in Australia and worldwide. A major focus of the project will be the advancement of emerging cast n-type silicon materials for high efficiency solar cells, together with Jinko Solar, a leading vertically integrated PV manufacturer. Another focus will be the development of novel luminescence-based tools for rapid module inspection, in conjunction with BT Imaging, a successful Australian metrology company.
Project duration: Dec 2017 - Sept 2021
Link to ARENA project web-page: https://arena.gov.au/projects/driving-increased-efficiency-reliability-silicon-photovoltaics-ingots-modules/
Funding
ARENA funding: $2.39m
Total project value: $9.15m
List of project publications
Journal papers
1. M Goodarzi, R Sinton, D Macdonald, “Quasi-steady-state photoconductance bulk lifetime measurements on silicon ingots with deeper photogeneration”, AIP Advances 9 (1), 015128 (2019).
2. Thien N. Truong, Di Yan, Christian Samundsett, Kyung Kim, Ziv Hameiri, Rabin Basnet, Mike Tebyetekerwa, Li Li, Felipe Kremer, Jennifer Wong-Leung, Andres Cuevas, Daniel Macdonald, Hieu T. Nguyen, “Hydrogenation of phosphorus-doped polycrystalline silicon films for passivating contact solar cells”, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces 11, 5, 5554-5560 (2019).
3. AnYao Liu, Chang Sun, Hang Cheong Sio and Daniel Macdonald, “Gettering of transition metals in high-performance multicrystalline silicon by silicon nitride films and phosphorus diffusion”, Journal of Applied Physics 125 (4), 043103 (2019).
4. AnYao Liu, Ziv Hameiri, Yimao Wan, Chang Sun and Daniel Macdonald, “Gettering effects of silicon nitride films from various plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition conditions”, IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics 9 (1), 78-81 (2019).
5. R.A. Lee Chin, M. Pollard, T. Trupke, Z. Hameiri, Numerical simulations of two-photon absorption time-resolved photoluminescence to extract the bulk lifetime of semiconductors under varying surface recombination, Journal of Applied Physics 125, 105703 (2019).
6. Y. Zhu, M.K Juhl, G. Coletti, Z. Hameiri, Reassessments of minority carrier traps in silicon with photoconductance decay measurements, IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics 9(3), 652-659, (2019).
7. Hieu T. Nguyen, Anyao Liu, Di Yan, Harvey Guthrie, Thien N. Truong, Mike Tebyetekerwa, Ziyuan Li, Zhuofeng Li, Mowafak Al-Jassim, Andres Cuevas, Daniel Macdonald, “Sub-bandgap luminescence from doped poly and amorphous silicon films and its application to understanding passivating-contact solar cells”, ACS Applied Energy Materials 1 (11), 6619-6625 (2018).
8. Fiacre E. Rougieux, Chang Sun and Daniel Macdonald, “Determining the charge states and capture mechanisms of defects in silicon through accurate recombination analyses”, Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells 187, 263-272 (2018).
9. AnYao Liu, Di Yan, Jennifer Wong-Leung, Li Li, Sieu Pheng Phang, Andres Cuevas, and Daniel Macdonald, “Direct observation of the impurity gettering layers in polysilicon-based passivating contacts for silicon solar cells”, ACS Advanced Energy Materials 1 (5), 2275-2282 (2018).
10. Tasmiat Rahman, Hieu T. Nguyen, Antulio Tarazona, Jingxing Shi, Daniel Macdonald and Stuart A. Boden, “Characterisation of epitaxial heavily-doped regions formed by HWCVD using Micro-Raman and Photoluminescence Spectroscopy”, IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics 8 (3), 813-819 (2018).
11. A. Y. Liu and D. Macdonald, “Impact of annealing on the gettering effects of atomic layer deposited aluminium oxide thin films for silicon wafers”, Physica Status Solidi Rapid Research Letters 12, 1700430 (2018).
12. AnYao Liu, Di Yan, Sieu Pheng Phang, Andres Cuevas, and Daniel Macdonald, “Effective impurity gettering by phosphorus- and boron-diffused polysilicon passivating contacts for silicon solar cells”, Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells 179, pp. 136-141 (2018).
13. Hang Cheong Sio, Haitao Wang, Quanzhi Wang, Wei Chen, Hao Jin, Daniel Macdonald, “Light and elevated temperature induced degradation in p-type and n-type cast-grown multicrystalline silicon”, Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells 182, pp. 98-104 (2018).
14. Y. Zhu, F.D. Heinz, MK. Juhl, M.C. Schubert, T. Trupke, and Ziv Hameiri Photoluminescence Imaging at Uniform Excess Carrier Density Using Adaptive Non-Uniform Excitation, IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics 8(6), 1787-1792 (2018).
15. R. Dumbrell, M.K Juhl, T. Trupke, Z. Hameiri, Extracting metal contact recombination from effective lifetime data, IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics 8(6), 1413-1420 (2018).
16. A. Paduthol, M.K. Juhl, G. Nogay, P Löper, T. Trupke, Measuring carrier injection from amorphous silicon into crystalline silicon using photoluminescence, Progress in Photovoltaics 26(12), 968-973, (2018).
17. P. Verlinden, P.P Altermatt, Z. Xiong, Q. He; W. Deng, F. Ye, Y. Yang, Y. Chen, Z. Feng, A. Liu; D.H. Macdonald, T. Luka, D. Lausch, M. Turek, C, Hagendorf, H. Wagner-Mohnsen, J. Schön, W. Kwapil, F. Frühauf, O. Breitenstein, E.E. Looney, T. Buonassisi, D.B. Needleman, C.M. Jakson, A.R. Arehart, S.A. Ringel, K.R. McIntosh, M.D. Abbott, B.A. Sudbury, A. Zuschlag, C. Winter, D. Skorka, G. Hahn, D. Chung, B. Mitchell, P. Geelan-Small, T. Trupke, High-performance p-type multicrystalline silicon (mc-Si): its characterization and projected performance in PERC solar cells, Solar Energy 175, 55-60 (2018).
18. F.D. Heinz, Y. Zhu, Z. Hameiri, T. Trupke, M.C. Schubert, The principle of adaptive excitation for photoluminescence imaging on silicon: Theory, Physica Status Solidi – Rapid Research Letters 12(7), 1800137 (2018).
19. A. Paduthol, M.K. Juhl, G. Nogay, P Löper, A. Ingenito, T. Trupke, Impact of different capping layers on carrier injection efficiency between amorphous and crystalline silicon measured using photoluminescence, Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells 187, 55-60 (2018).
20. D. Chung, B. Mitchell, M.D. Abbot, M.K. Juhl, T. Trupke, Lifetime imaging on silicon bricks using the ratio of photoluminescence images with different excitation wavelengths, IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics 8(4), 943-951 (2018).
21. A. Paduthol, M.K. Juhl, T. Trupke, Addressing limitations of photoluminescence based external quantum efficiency measurements, Journal of Applied Physics 123, 023105 (2018).
22. A. Paduthol, M.K. Juhl, T. Trupke, Correcting the effect of LED spectra on external quantum efficiency measurements of solar cells, IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics 8(2) 559-564 (2018).
23. Y. Zhu, M.K. Juhl, G. Coletti, Z. Hameiri, 'On the transient negative photoconductance in n-type Czochralski silicon', IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, 2018, 8, 421-427 (2018).
Conference papers
24. A. Paduthol, O. Kunz, D. Lausch, T. Trupke, Magnetic Field imaging: Strengths and limitations in characterising solar cells, 46th IEEE PVSC, Chicago, USA, June 2019.
25. O. Kunz, A. Paduthol, A. Slade, M. Edwards, L. Kaufmann, M. Patzold, D. Lausch, T. Trupke, Investigating metal-semiconductor contacts in solar cells using magnetic field measurements, 46th IEEE PVSC, Chicago, USA, June 2019.
26. R. Bhoopathy, O. Kunz, M. Juhl, T. Trupke, Z. Hameiri, A simplified contactless method for outdoor photoluminescence imaging, 46th IEEE PVSC, Chicago, USA, June 2019.
27. S Nie, S. Tind-Kristensen, A. Gu, T. Trupke, S. Hameiri, A Novel Method for Characterizing Temperature Sensitivity of Silicon Wafers and Cells, 46th IEEE PVSC, Chicago, USA, June 2019.
28. Y. Zhu, G. Coletti and Ziv Hameiri, Two-Level Defect in Injection Dependent Lifetime Spectroscopy, 46th IEEE PVSC, Chicago, USA, June 2019.
29. R. Evans, M.K. Juhl, D. Chung, B. Mitchell, P.P. Altermatt T. Trupke, Influence of multicrystalline Silicon Ingot Properties on the fill factor of PERC solar cells, 7th World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion, Hawaii, USA, June 2018.
30. R. Dumbrell, M.K. Juhl, T. Trupke, Z. Hameiri, Extracting surface saturation current density from lifetime measurements of samples with metallized surfaces, 7th World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion, Hawaii, USA, June 2018.
31. R.L. Chin, M.E. Pollard, T. Trupke, Z. Hameiri, Determining Limits of Two-Photon Time-Resolved Photoluminescence for Measuring the Bulk Lifetime in Semiconductors, 7th World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion, Hawaii, USA, June 2018.
32. D.Chung, C. Chan, B. Mitchell, P.P Altermatt, T. Trupke, M. Abbott, Effect of wafer position in ingot on the light and elevated temperature induced degradation of multicrystalline silicon, 7th World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion, Hawaii, USA, June 2018.
33. Y. Zhu, F.D. Heinz, M.K. Juhl, M.C. Schubert, T. Trupke and Z. Hameiri, Photoluminescence Imaging at Uniform Excess Carrier Density Using Adaptive Non-Uniform Excitation, 7th World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion, Hawaii, USA, June 2018 (Best Paper Award).
34. A. Paduthol, M.K. Juhl, G. Nogay, A. Ingenito, P. Löper, T. Trupke, Carrier injection from amorphous silicon into crystalline silicon determined with photoluminescence, 7th World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion, Hawaii, USA, June 2018.
35. R. Bhoopathy, O. Kunz, M.K. Juhl, T. Trupke, Z. Hameiri, Inspecting series resistance effects and bypass diode failure using contactless outdoor photoluminescence imaging, 7th World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion, Hawaii, USA, June 2018 (Best Poster Award).
36. R. Bhoopathy, O. Kunz, R. Dumbrell, T. Trupke, Z. Hameiri, Contactless extraction of implied I-V curves of individual solar cells in fully assembled modules using photoluminescence, 7th World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion, Hawaii, USA, June 2018.
37. O. Kunz, R.J. Evans, M.K. Juhl and T. Trupke, Understanding partial shading effects on shingled PV modules, 7th World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion, Hawaii, USA, June 2018.
38. I. Zafirovska, M.K. Juhl and T. Trupke, Comparison of line scan luminescence imaging techniques for defect characterisation in crystalline silicon solar modules, 7th World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion, Hawaii, USA, June 2018.
39. A. Paduthol, M.K.Juhl, Z.Hameiri, G. Nogay, P. Löper, T. Trupke, Impact of different capping layers on carrier injection efficiency between amorphous and crystalline silicon measured using photoluminescence, 8th SiliconPV Conference, Lausanne, Switzerland, March 2018.
40. Z. Hameiri, R. Bhoopathy, I. Zafirovska, O. Kunz, M. Juhl, T. Trupke, ‘Outdoor and indoor luminescence imaging of photovoltaic modules’, Photovoltaic Reliability Workshop, 2018.
41. Z. Hameiri, R. Bhoopathy, D. Chung, R. Dumbrell, M. Juhl, O. Kunz, R. Lee Chin, A. Paduthol, I. Zafirovska, Y. Zhu, T. Trupke, ‘Progress in photoluminescence-based characterisation of silicon bricks, wafers and modules’, European Advanced Energy Materials and Technology Congress, 2018.
42. M.C. Schubert, F. Schindler, W. Kwapil, F.D. Heinz, T. Niewelt, R. Eberle, Y. Zhu, M.K. Juhl, Z. Hameiri, T. Trupke, F. Rougieux, D. Macdonald, ‘Understanding the efficiency limitation of silicon material for solar cells’, 10th International Workshop on Crystalline Silicon for Solar Cells, 2018.
43. R. Lee Chin, Y. Zhu, G. Coletti, S. Binetti, M. Pollard, Z. Hameiri, ‘Insights into striations in n-type Czochralski wafers investigated via low-temperature hyperspectral and temperature-dependent spectral photoluminescence’, 10th International Workshop on Crystalline Silicon for Solar Cells, 2018.
44. Y. Zhu, M. Juhl, G. Coletti, Z. Hameiri, ‘Reassessment of minority carrier traps in silicon during “quasi-steady-state” photoconductance measurements’, 7th World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion, 2018, 77-80.
45. R. Lee Chin, Y. Zhu, G. Coletti, S. Binetti, M. Pollard, Z. Hameiri, ‘Insights into bulk defects in n-type monocrystalline silicon wafers via temperature-dependent micro-photoluminescence spectroscopy’, 7th World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion, 2018, 2524-2527.
46. R. Bhoopathy, O. Kunz, M. Juhl, T. Trupke, Z. Hameiri, ‘Photoluminescence based characterization techniques for photovoltaic modules in the field’, 28th Silicon Workshop, 2018.
47. M Goodarzi, RA Sinton, D Macdonald, Improving transient photoconductance lifetime measurements on ingots with deeper photogeneration, AIP Conference Proceedings 1999 (1), 020008 (2018).
48. AY Liu, D Yan, J Wong-Leung, L Li, SP Phang, A Cuevas, D Macdonald, Impurity Gettering by Diffusion-doped Polysilicon Passivating Contacts for Silicon Solar Cells, IEEE 7th World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion (WCPEC), Hawaii, (2018).
49. R Basnet, W Weigand, JY Zhengshan, C Sun, SP Phang, FE Rougieux, Impact of Tabula Rasa and Phosphorus Diffusion Gettering on 21% Heterojunction Solar Cells Based on n-Type Czochralski-Grown Upgrade Metallurgical-Grade Silicon, IEEE 7th World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion (WCPEC), Hawaii, (2018).
50. H Wu, R Basnet, HT Nguyen, D Macdonald, Modeling Photoluminescence Spectra in Heavily Boron Doped Silicon, IEEE 7th World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion (WCPEC), Hawaii, (2018).
51. M Siriwardhana, D Macdonald, FD Heinz, FE Rougieux, Slow minority carrier trapping and de-trapping in Czochralski silicon: Influence of thermal donors and the doping density, IEEE 7th World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion (WCPEC), Hawaii, (2018).
52. FE Rougieux, C Sun, Y Zhu, DH Macdonald, Accurate defect recombination parameters: what are the limitations of current analyses?, IEEE 7th World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion (WCPEC), Hawaii, (2018).
