Diploma thesis deals with crystalline solar modules i relation to PID phenomenon. The thesis focuses on methods of investigation of changing electrical parameters, in the course of PID degradation, such as prallel resistance and leakage current. The effect of degradation will be examined by V-A characteristics and by electroluminiscence method.

This thesis discusses modern methods for fast defect detection of solar cells. For the means of the defect classification, the technological production process of crystalline silicon solar cells is described. The defects are researched by the electroluminescence and prohtoluminescence methods. The Photoluminiscence method is improved by the posibility of using different wavelenght of excitacion sources. The range of using in industrial production is determined for the discussed methods.

Parmi les nouveaux matériaux massifs pour le silicium photovoltaïque (PV), le silicium multicristallin haute performance (HPmc-Si) a émergé en raison de son rendement de conversion supérieur à celui du silicium multi-cristallin (mc-Si) utilisé largement pour le solaire PV. Ce travail de recherche vise à comprendre l'influence des germes et des conditions de croissance sur les lingots HPmc-Si (structure de grains, dislocations, impuretés et propriétés PV). Cinq lingots ont été élaborés par solidification dirigée. Pour l’un d’entre eux, deux types de germes ont été utilisés. Les caractéristiques de la région de croissance initiale (jusqu’à 50 mm) sont directement liées aux propriétés de la couche de germes. Or, celle-ci dépend à la fois des types de germes utilisés et des paramètres de l’étape de fusion. Les paramètres de croissance prennent le contrôle de la structure de grains après la région affectée par la couche initiale de germes. Cependant, les paramètres de croissance étudiés modifient peu les caractéristiques entre lingots HPmc-Si et le rendement de conversion des cellules solaires. Les zones de faible durée de vie des porteurs minoritaires déterminent le rendement de conversion et peuvent être principalement associées aux défauts structuraux et à la taille du grain, en plus des impuretés métalliques. La compétition des grains est un phénomène dynamique qui permet la disparition de certains grains défectueux pendant la croissance et surtout le maintien d’une taille de grains et homogène. Cette homogénéité obtenue pour la gamme de paramètres étudiée est une des caractéristiques principales des lingots HPmc-Si / Among new bulk silicon PV materials, HPmc-Si is one to be considered due its higher conversion efficiency compared to mc-Si solar PV. This research work aims at understanding the influence of the seeding materials and growth conditions on HPmc-Si ingots (dislocations and impurities). Five ingots were grown, and two types of seeding materials are compared to study the grain structure, the electrical properties and the conversion efficiency of solar cells. The initial growth region up to 50 mm is directly linked to the seed layer properties which are dependent on the melting segment parameters. The growth parameters take control on the grain structure after the seed affected region. The growth parameters studied modify little the characteristics of HPmc-Si ingots and the solar cell conversion efficiency. Low carrier lifetimeareas determine the conversion efficiency and they can mainly be associated to the grain size, besides metallic impurities. The grain competition is very dynamic to suppress defective grains and to maintain smaller grain size variation, homogeneous grain size and properties being the most important characteristic of HPmc-Si ingots

Mit wellenlängenabhängigen Messungen der Oberflächenphotospannung (Surface Photovoltage, SPV) lässt sich die Diffusionslänge von Ladungsträgern im Volumen von Siliziumproben messen. Das Ziel der Arbeit war es, mit Hilfe temperatur- und injektionsabhängiger Messungen der Diffusionslänge die Natur rekombinationsaktiver Defekte in kristallinem Silizium zu untersuchen. Im Rahmen der Arbeit wurde eine zu diesem Zwecke geeignete Messanlage sowie die nötigen Mess- und Auswerteprozeduren entwickelt. Die Möglichkeiten und Grenzen der aufgebauten Anlage wurden durch Messungen an gezielt mit Eisen, Kupfer oder Chrom verunreinigten mono- und multikristallinen Siliziumproben bewertet. Es zeigt sich, dass die SPV-Methode in einem jeweils begrenzten Temperatur- und Injektionsbereich bei Vorhandensein dominanter Defekte zur Defekt-Spektroskopie einsetzbar ist. Eine Anwendung fand das Verfahren an industriell relevantem, aufbereitetem metallurgischen Silizium (umg-Si).

Electron beam induced current (EBIC) and atom probe tomography (APT) were used in this study to determine electrical activities and impurity compositions at extended defects in multicrystalline silicon (mc-Si) samples. The results provide, for the first time, information regarding the chemical species present at defects whose electrical activity has previously been measured. A new APT specimen fabrication process was developed with the ability to select a specific defect for APT analysis. Development of the APT specimen fabrication process proceeded by first selecting and optimising the preferential etching for nano-scale defect delineation. Three etchants were evaluated, namely Secco, Sirtl and Dash, from which the Secco etch was selected. Three parameters were optimised to produce etch pits with geometries that meet the requirements imposed by APT specimen fabrication methods. The optimum parameters were 0.05M potassium dichromate concentration, 20°C etch temperature, and 30sec etch time. In the second stage, marking techniques were developed in order for the defects to be located throughout the APT specimen fabrication process. However, it became apparent that the conventional APT specimen fabrication method could not be used to fabricate APT specimens containing selected defects in a mc-Si sample. This led to the development of a novel APT specimen fabrication approach which allowed APT specimens to be fabricated, reproducibly, containing grain boundaries and isolated dislocations. In order to evaluate accurately iron contamination in mc-Si, four atom probe parameters were optimised to maximise detection sensitivity: the evaporation rate, the laser beam energy, the pulse repetition rate and the specimen temperature. The optimisation process can be divided in to two parts. In the first part, a matrix of pre-sharpened single-crystal silicon specimens was subjected to a variety of experimental parameters. The optimised parameters were determined to be 0.3% evaporation rate, 0.5nJ beam energy, 160kHz repetition rate and 55K specimen temperature. The second part was to determine the iron detection efficiency –the percentage of detected Fe ions that can be correctly identified as Fe– and sensitivity using these parameters to analyse a specially prepared iron calibration specimen. The values were determined to be a detection efficiency of about 35% and sensitivity of 54ppm or 2.70x10¹⁸ atom/cm³. The APT specimen fabrication process and the optimised APT analysis parameters were used to analyse four extended defects in mc-Si samples subjected to three different processing conditions, namely gold-contaminated, as-grown and phosphorus diffusion gettering (PDG). The important aspects of the analysis are listed below: • Gold was not detected at the grain boundary and its associated dislocations in the gold-contaminated specimen. The binding enthalpy of gold to such defects is thus less than 0.63eV. • Iron was not detected in any specimen. • Copper was observed at the grain boundary in the as-grown specimen in the form of individual atoms as well as clusters with diameters ranging between 4nm and 9nm. The electrical activity of the grain boundary was about 58%. • Nickel and carbon were detected at the grain boundary in the post-PDG specimen with the former having platelet structures with diameters and thicknesses ranging between 4nm-7nm and 2nm-4nm, respectively. The recombination strength of the defect was about 22%. • Two nickel clusters were found at the isolated dislocation in the post-PDG specimen. The clusters were spherical with an average diameter of 10nm. The distance between the two clusters was 35nm. The recombination strength of the defect was about 4%.

As tecnologias usualmente aplicadas no mercado fotovoltaico mundial são, em sua maioria, voltadas aos painéis rígidos de células de silício cristalino, em função da redução de seus preços proporcionada pela economia de escala. No entanto, a crescente demanda no País de novos domicílios, principalmente de apartamentos, tem exigido soluções mais apropriadas: com menor ocupação de área horizontal e instaladas na fachada dos edifícios. Nesse sentido vão surgindo tecnologias fotovoltaicas como as de filmes finos como soluções mais apropriadas do que as emergentes de terceira geração, pelo fato dessas últimas ainda se encontrarem em fase de maturação técnica com poucas opções de fornecimento no mercado em nível comercial. Portanto, a abordagem desta dissertação se limitou às tecnologias de filmes finos e de vidros fotovoltaicos semi transparentes, além daquela mais usual que é a de silício cristalino. Contudo, o dinamismo do mercado mundial vem estimulando uma evolução no fator de desempenho dessas tecnologias, o que justificou a necessidade de uma revisão bibliográfica. Além disso, a maioria dos projetos fotovoltaicos vem adotando como base os painéis rígidos com células de silício cristalino, sem, no entanto, avaliarem alternativas com a aplicação de outras tecnologias. O que se nota é a falta de conhecimento mais profundo dos projetistas sobre as tecnologias de filmes finos e das melhores opções para sua aplicação em um edifício, no que tange ao seu desempenho e seu comportamento dentro do espectro de frequência. Assim, esta dissertação teve por objetivo contribuir com uma análise de desempenho energético com base em simulações para tomada de decisão técnica sobre as tecnologias mais adequadas de célula fotovoltaica para sistemas a serem instalados em fachadas de edifícios, auxiliadas por uma ferramenta computacional existente no mercado, o PVSYST. A tomada de decisão foi vista pela perspectiva de desempenho na geração de energia elétrica, pela análise comparativa dos resultados de simulações aplicadas na fachada de um edifício hipotético em São Paulo. Os resultados mostraram que as tecnologias baseadas no silício cristalino são as mais adequadas nos casos em que o pico de demanda de energia no ano seja no verão, como nos edifícios comerciais. Já os sistemas compostos pelos filmes finos do grupo do seleneto de índio e cobre são os mais indicados para os edifícios residenciais, em que o período de maior demanda é no inverno. / Technologies commonly applied in the global photovoltaic market are mostly with the rigid panels of crystalline silicon cells, due to the reduction of their prices provided by economies of scale. However, growing demand in the country of new housing units, mainly apartments, has required more appropriated solutions: with lower occupancy of horizontal area and installed on the building\'s facade. In this direction photovoltaic technologies are emerging such as thin films as better solutions than the emerging technologies of third generation, because still they are in technical maturation phase with few options of suppliers in the commercial market. Therefore, the approach of this dissertation was limited to technologies of thin films and semitransparent photovoltaic glazing, in addition to the more usual one that is crystalline silicon. However, the dynamism of the global market has stimulated an evolution in the performance factor of these technologies, which justified the necessity of literature review. Furthermore, most PV projects have been based on the rigid panels with crystalline silicon cells, not considering the alternatives using other technologies. What is noticed is the lack of deeper understanding of the designers about the thin film technologies and the best options for their application in a building, in terms of their performance and their behavior within the frequency spectrum. Thus, this work aimed to contribute to an energy performance analysis based on simulations for technical decision on the most appropriate photovoltaic cell technologies for systems to be installed on the facades of buildings, aided by an existing software tool on the market, PVSYST. Decision making was seen from the perspective of performance in electricity generation, by comparative analysis of simulations results applied on the facade of a hypothetical building in São Paulo. The results showed that the technologies based on crystalline silicon are the most appropriate in cases where energy demand peak in the year is in the summer, as in commercial buildings. On the other hand, the systems composed of the thin films based on indium and copper selenium group are the most suitable for residential buildings, where the period of greatest demand is in the winter.

Ce travail de thèse a pour but de comprendre l’impact des propriétés électriques du silicium cristallin sur les performances des cellules solaires Silicium à HétéroJonction (SHJ) et de déterminer des spécifications matériaux nécessaires en termes de durée de vie des porteurs de charge et de résistivité.Dans une première partie de cette thèse, le potentiel du silicium mono-like a été évalué pour la fabrication de cellules solaires SHJ. La forte productivité de cette technique permet de réduire considérablement les coûts de fabrication des plaquettes. Des rendements de conversion de 20% équivalents à ceux des matériaux du marché ont été obtenus ainsi qu’un rendement de 21.6% avec l’utilisation d’un procédé de fabrication de cellules haut rendements. Ces valeurs ont été obtenues pour des durées de vie volumiques moyennes sur les plaquettes supérieures à 1ms. Les principaux limitations de la qualité du matériau mono-like ont été identifiés. D’abord, la présence de zones multicristallines sur certaines plaquettes rend le matériau incomptable avec le procédé SHJ notamment en ce qui concerne les étapes de texturation des surfaces et ensuite l’uniformité en épaisseur des couches déposées. Ce type de défauts fait chuter en premier lieu la Jcc, puis la Vco et le FF et finalement le rendement de conversion. De plus, la présence de contamination et la génération de dislocations aux extrémités du lingot font également chuter la durée de vie volumique et les paramètres photovoltaïques des cellules. Finalement, seulement 30% de la hauteur de lingot a pu être utilisé pour des hauts rendements de conversion.La deuxième partie a été consacrée à l’étude et l’optimisation, avec la technologie SHJ, d’une technique de dopage innovante remplaçant celles utilisant des impuretés dopantes, telle que le phosphore, en générant des donneurs thermiques dans le substrat silicium cristallin. Cette méthode de dopage présente l’avantage d’utiliser l’oxygène naturellement présent dans le silicium en transformant en dopant par des recuits à 450°C. Cette technique est uniquement valable avec une procédé basse température tel que celui utilisé dans ce travail de thèse et permettrait de contrôler les propriétés électriques du silicium sur l’ensemble d’un lingot Cz afin d’augmenter le rendement matière. La compatibilité du silicium cristallin dopé par des DT a été validée pour une gamme de résistivité de 3-10Ω.cm et durées de vie volumique de 3-10ms. La limite d’utilisation des DT pour l’obtention de hauts rendements correspond à une concentration inférieure à 7x1014cm-3 (3Ω.cm, 3ms). La technique de dopage a été transférée avec succès à l’échelle du lingot et a permis d’obtenir de rendement de 20.7% avec un procédé industriel et même de 21.7% avec une métallisation « smart-wire ». Une perte de FF a été observée par rapport aux références, liées à une résistance série élevée dont l’origine n’a pas encore été confirmée mais dont la source la plus probable serait l’inhomogénéité radiale de résistivité générée par le dopage. / This study aims to understand the electrical properties impact of the crystalline Silicon on the HeteroJunction (SHJ) solar cells performances and define the required material specifications in terms of minority carrier lifetime and bulk resistivity.In the first part of this work, the potential of the mono-like silicon was evaluated for SHJ solar cells production The high productivity of the crystallization method allows to significantly reduce the material cost. 20% efficiencies comparable to reference wafers were obtained for industrial process and had reached 21.6% values have been reached with a high efficiency process. Values above 1ms bulk lifetime were mandatory to obtain these results. The main limitations of the material properties were identified. First, the presence of multicrystalline zones on the material is incompatible with the SHJ process especially regarding the texturization step and then layers thickness’ uniformity. This defects drive down, at the first order, the Jsc and then the Voc and FF. Moreover, the metallic contamination and the dislocations generation at the ingots ends induce also a bulk lifetime degradation and PV performances drop. Finally, only 30% of the ingot height was usable to obtain high solar cell efficiencies.In the second part of this work, an innovative doping method, replacing the ones which use doping impurities, such as phosphorus, by generating thermal donors (TD) was studied. The advantages of this doping method are to use the oxygen naturally content in the silicon to generate the doping after 450°C annealing. This method is only possible if low temperature solar cell process is performed such the one used in this work. It could control the electrical properties of the crystalline silicon throughout a complete Cz ingot and increase the material yield. For a resistivity range of 3-10Ω.cm and bulk lifetime between 3 and 10ms, the TD doped material is compatible with SHJ technology. The maximum TD concentration for a SHJ application was estimated to 7x1014cm-3.The doping method was successfully transferred to the ingot scale and allowed reaching 20.7% efficiency with an industrial process and 21.7% with the “smart-wire” improved metallization. A FF loss was observed compared to the references, related to high series resistances. The origin has not been confirmed yet, but the most likely source would be the radial resistivity inhomogeneity generated by doping on silicon bulk.

This thesis focuses on the effects of dopant compensation on the electrical properties of crystalline silicon relevant to the operation of solar cells. We show that the control of the net dopant density, which is essential to the fabrication of high-efficiency solar cells, is very challenging in ingots crystallized with silicon feedstock containing both boron and phosphorus such as upgraded metallurgical-grade silicon. This is because of the strong segregation of phosphorus which induces large net dopant density variations along directionally solidified silicon crystals. To overcome this issue, we propose to use gallium co-doping during crystallization, and demonstrate its potential to control the net dopant density along p-type and n-type silicon ingots grown with silicon containing boron and phosphorus. The characteristics of the resulting highly-compensated material are identified to be: a strong impact of incomplete ionization of dopants on the majority carrier density, an important reduction of the mobility compared to theoretical models and a recombination lifetime which is determined by the net dopant density and dominated after long-term illumination by the boron-oxygen recombination centre. To allow accurate modelling of upgraded-metallurgical silicon solar cells, we propose a parameterization of these fundamental properties of compensated silicon. We study the light-induced lifetime degradation in p-type and n-type Si with a wide range of dopant concentrations and compensation levels and show that the boron-oxygen defect is a grown-in complex involving substitutional boron and is rendered electrically active upon injection of carriers through a charge-driven reconfiguration of the defect. Finally, we apply gallium co-doping to the crystallization of upgraded-metallurgical silicon and demonstrate that it allows to significantly increase the tolerance to phosphorus without compromising neither the ingot yield nor the solar cells performance before light-induced degradation.

As tecnologias usualmente aplicadas no mercado fotovoltaico mundial são, em sua maioria, voltadas aos painéis rígidos de células de silício cristalino, em função da redução de seus preços proporcionada pela economia de escala. No entanto, a crescente demanda no País de novos domicílios, principalmente de apartamentos, tem exigido soluções mais apropriadas: com menor ocupação de área horizontal e instaladas na fachada dos edifícios. Nesse sentido vão surgindo tecnologias fotovoltaicas como as de filmes finos como soluções mais apropriadas do que as emergentes de terceira geração, pelo fato dessas últimas ainda se encontrarem em fase de maturação técnica com poucas opções de fornecimento no mercado em nível comercial. Portanto, a abordagem desta dissertação se limitou às tecnologias de filmes finos e de vidros fotovoltaicos semi transparentes, além daquela mais usual que é a de silício cristalino. Contudo, o dinamismo do mercado mundial vem estimulando uma evolução no fator de desempenho dessas tecnologias, o que justificou a necessidade de uma revisão bibliográfica. Além disso, a maioria dos projetos fotovoltaicos vem adotando como base os painéis rígidos com células de silício cristalino, sem, no entanto, avaliarem alternativas com a aplicação de outras tecnologias. O que se nota é a falta de conhecimento mais profundo dos projetistas sobre as tecnologias de filmes finos e das melhores opções para sua aplicação em um edifício, no que tange ao seu desempenho e seu comportamento dentro do espectro de frequência. Assim, esta dissertação teve por objetivo contribuir com uma análise de desempenho energético com base em simulações para tomada de decisão técnica sobre as tecnologias mais adequadas de célula fotovoltaica para sistemas a serem instalados em fachadas de edifícios, auxiliadas por uma ferramenta computacional existente no mercado, o PVSYST. A tomada de decisão foi vista pela perspectiva de desempenho na geração de energia elétrica, pela análise comparativa dos resultados de simulações aplicadas na fachada de um edifício hipotético em São Paulo. Os resultados mostraram que as tecnologias baseadas no silício cristalino são as mais adequadas nos casos em que o pico de demanda de energia no ano seja no verão, como nos edifícios comerciais. Já os sistemas compostos pelos filmes finos do grupo do seleneto de índio e cobre são os mais indicados para os edifícios residenciais, em que o período de maior demanda é no inverno. / Technologies commonly applied in the global photovoltaic market are mostly with the rigid panels of crystalline silicon cells, due to the reduction of their prices provided by economies of scale. However, growing demand in the country of new housing units, mainly apartments, has required more appropriated solutions: with lower occupancy of horizontal area and installed on the building\'s facade. In this direction photovoltaic technologies are emerging such as thin films as better solutions than the emerging technologies of third generation, because still they are in technical maturation phase with few options of suppliers in the commercial market. Therefore, the approach of this dissertation was limited to technologies of thin films and semitransparent photovoltaic glazing, in addition to the more usual one that is crystalline silicon. However, the dynamism of the global market has stimulated an evolution in the performance factor of these technologies, which justified the necessity of literature review. Furthermore, most PV projects have been based on the rigid panels with crystalline silicon cells, not considering the alternatives using other technologies. What is noticed is the lack of deeper understanding of the designers about the thin film technologies and the best options for their application in a building, in terms of their performance and their behavior within the frequency spectrum. Thus, this work aimed to contribute to an energy performance analysis based on simulations for technical decision on the most appropriate photovoltaic cell technologies for systems to be installed on the facades of buildings, aided by an existing software tool on the market, PVSYST. Decision making was seen from the perspective of performance in electricity generation, by comparative analysis of simulations results applied on the facade of a hypothetical building in São Paulo. The results showed that the technologies based on crystalline silicon are the most appropriate in cases where energy demand peak in the year is in the summer, as in commercial buildings. On the other hand, the systems composed of the thin films based on indium and copper selenium group are the most suitable for residential buildings, where the period of greatest demand is in the winter.

Standard crystalline silicon photovoltaic (PV) modules are designed to continuously convert solar energy into electricity for 25 years. However, the continual generation of electricity by the PV modules throughout their designed service life has been a concern. The key challenge has been the untimely fatigue failure of solder interconnections of solar cells in the modules due to accelerated thermo-mechanical degradation. The goal of this research is to provide adequate information for proper design of solar cell solder joint against fatigue failure through the study of cyclic thermo-mechanical stresses and strains in the joint. This is carried-out through finite element analysis (FEA) using ANSYS software to develop the solar cell assembly geometric models followed by simulations. Appropriate material constitutive model for solder alloy is employed to predict number of cycles to failure of solder joint, hence predicting its fatigue life. The results obtained from this study indicate that intermetallic compound thickness (TIMC); solder joint thickness (TSJ) and width (WSJ) have significant impacts on fatigue life of solder joint. The impacts of TIMC and TSJ are such that as the thicknesses increases solder joint fatigue life decreases. Conversely, as solder joint width (WSJ) increases, fatigue life increases. Furthermore, optimization of the joint is carried-out towards thermo-mechanical reliability improvement. Analysis of results shows the design with optimal parameter setting to be: TIMC -2.5μm, TSJ -20μm and WSJ -1000μm. In addition, the optimized model has 16,264 cycles to failure which is 18.82% more than the expected 13,688 cycles to failure of a PV module designed to last for 25 years.