ASU Electronic Theses and Dissertations
This collection includes most of the ASU Theses and Dissertations from 2011 to present. ASU Theses and Dissertations are available in downloadable PDF format; however, a small percentage of items are under embargo. Information about the dissertations/theses includes degree information, committee members, an abstract, supporting data or media.
In addition to the electronic theses found in the ASU Digital Repository, ASU Theses and Dissertations can be found in the ASU Library Catalog.
Dissertations and Theses granted by Arizona State University are archived and made available through a joint effort of the ASU Graduate College and the ASU Libraries. For more information or questions about this collection contact or visit the Digital Repository ETD Library Guide or contact the ASU Graduate College at gradformat@asu.edu.
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Description
GaAs-based solar cells have attracted much interest because of their high conversion efficiencies of ~28% under one sun illumination. The main carrier recombination mechanisms in the GaAs-based solar cells are surface recombination, radiative recombination and non-radiative recombination. Photon recycling reduces the effect of radiative recombination and is an approach to obtain the device performance described by detailed balance theory. The photon recycling model has been developed and was applied to investigate the loss mechanisms in the state-of-the-art GaAs-based solar cell structures using PC1D software. A standard fabrication process of the GaAs-based solar cells is as follows: wafer preparation, individual cell isolation by mesa, n- and p-type metallization, rapid thermal annealing (RTA), cap layer etching, and anti-reflection coating (ARC). The growth rate for GaAs-based materials is one of critical factors to determine the cost for the growth of GaAs-based solar cells. The cost for fabricating GaAs-based solar cells can be reduced if the growth rate is increased without degrading the crystalline quality. The solar cell wafers grown at different growth rates of 14 μm/hour and 55 μm/hour were discussed in this work. The structural properties of the wafers were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) to identify the crystalline quality, and then the as-grown wafers were fabricated into solar cell devices under the same process conditions. The optical and electrical properties such as surface reflection, external quantum efficiency (EQE), dark I-V, Suns-Voc, and illuminated I-V under one sun using a solar simulator were measured to compare the performances of the solar cells with different growth rates. Some simulations in PC1D have been demonstrated to investigate the reasons of the different device performances between fast growth and slow growth structures. A further analysis of the minority carrier lifetime is needed to investigate into the difference in device performances.
ContributorsZhang, Chaomin (Author) / Honsberg, Christiana (Thesis advisor) / Goodnick, Stephen (Committee member) / Faleev, Nikolai (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
In this thesis, a novel silica nanosphere (SNS) lithography technique has been developed to offer a fast, cost-effective, and large area applicable nano-lithography approach. The SNS can be easily deposited with a simple spin-coating process after introducing a N,N-dimethyl-formamide (DMF) solvent which can produce a highly close packed SNS monolayer over large silicon (Si) surface area, since DMF offers greatly improved wetting, capillary and convective forces in addition to slow solvent evaporation rate. Since the period and dimension of the surface pattern can be conveniently changed and controlled by introducing a desired size of SNS, and additional SNS size reduction with dry etching process, using SNS for lithography provides a highly effective nano-lithography approach for periodically arrayed nano-/micro-scale surface patterns with a desired dimension and period. Various Si nanostructures (i.e., nanopillar, nanotip, inverted pyramid, nanohole) are successfully fabricated with the SNS nano-lithography technique by using different etching technique like anisotropic alkaline solution (i.e., KOH) etching, reactive-ion etching (RIE), and metal-assisted chemical etching (MaCE).
In this research, computational optical modeling is also introduced to design the Si nanostructure, specifically nanopillars (NPs) with a desired period and dimension. The optical properties of Si NP are calculated with two different optical modeling techniques, which are the rigorous coupled wave analysis (RCWA) and finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) methods. By using these two different optical modeling techniques, the optical properties of Si NPs with different periods and dimensions have been investigated to design ideal Si NP which can be potentially used for thin c-Si solar cell applications. From the results of the computational and experimental work, it was observed that low aspect ratio Si NPs fabricated in a periodic hexagonal array can provide highly enhanced light absorption for the target spectral range (600 ~ 1100nm), which is attributed to (1) the effective confinement of resonant scattering within the Si NP and (2) increased high order diffraction of transmitted light providing an extended absorption length. From the research, therefore, it is successfully demonstrated that the nano-fabrication process with SNS lithography can offer enhanced lithographical accuracy to fabricate desired Si nanostructures which can realize enhanced light absorption for thin Si solar cell.
In this research, computational optical modeling is also introduced to design the Si nanostructure, specifically nanopillars (NPs) with a desired period and dimension. The optical properties of Si NP are calculated with two different optical modeling techniques, which are the rigorous coupled wave analysis (RCWA) and finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) methods. By using these two different optical modeling techniques, the optical properties of Si NPs with different periods and dimensions have been investigated to design ideal Si NP which can be potentially used for thin c-Si solar cell applications. From the results of the computational and experimental work, it was observed that low aspect ratio Si NPs fabricated in a periodic hexagonal array can provide highly enhanced light absorption for the target spectral range (600 ~ 1100nm), which is attributed to (1) the effective confinement of resonant scattering within the Si NP and (2) increased high order diffraction of transmitted light providing an extended absorption length. From the research, therefore, it is successfully demonstrated that the nano-fabrication process with SNS lithography can offer enhanced lithographical accuracy to fabricate desired Si nanostructures which can realize enhanced light absorption for thin Si solar cell.
ContributorsChoi, JeaYoung (Author) / Honsberg, Christiana (Thesis advisor) / Alford, Terry (Thesis advisor) / Goodnick, Stephen (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015