X. Niquille

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Author Statistics

Papers

Citation

H-Index

i-10 index

Research Trends

Author Order

Document Type

Co-Authors

Christophe Ballif

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Franz‐Josef Haug

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

V. Terrazzoni-Daudrix

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

T. Söderström

Meyer Burger Technology (Switzerland)

J. Guillet

Laboratoire de Physique des Interfaces et des Couches Minces

A. Shah

Lurie Children's Hospital

J. Bailat

Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology (Switzerland)

Fanny Meillaud

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Matthieu Despeisse

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

E. Vallat‐Sauvain

Oerlikon (Switzerland)

Cooperative Institutions

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

University of Neuchâtel

Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology (Switzerland)

Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems

IMDEA Energy Institute

Thinfilm (Sweden)

Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Physics

École Normale Supérieure - PSL

Oerlikon (Switzerland)

Forschungszentrum Jülich

Author Statistics

Papers

Citation

H-Index

i-10 index

Research Field

Microcrystalline n-i-p solar cells deposited at 10 Å/s by VHF-GD

Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells (2001)

L. Feitknecht O. Kluth Y. Ziegler X. Niquille P. Torres

Microcrystalline

Tandem

Deposition

Microcrystalline silicon

10.1016/s0927-0248(00)00200-2

Cite

Citations (33)

HIPERION: Scale-up of hybrid planar micro-tracking solar panels for rooftop compatible CPV

AIP conference proceedings (2022)

Stephen Askins César Domínguez Gaël Nardin Mathieu Ackermann Delphine Petri

Within the EU-funded project HIPERION, significant progress has been made on the Insolight solar panel: a high-efficiency rooftop compatible micro-CPV device with integrated planar microtracking and diffuse collection via additional low-cost Si solar cells. The IES-UPM and other R&D centers in the consortium have been tasked with characterizing the various generation of this technology. In this work we discuss the evolution of the module design and present the latest results for "Gen1" solar panels showing significant improvement in performance in self-tracking compared to earlier results even in the face of a 5X increase in module area.

Tracking (education)

10.1063/5.0101843

Cite

Citations (1)

Annealing behaviour and nature of defects of light-soaked microcrystalline silicon solar cells

Fanny Meillaud E. Vallat‐Sauvain X. Niquille D. Dominé Abdul Salam Shah

Note: IMT-NE Number: 442 Reference PV-LAB-CONF-2006-005 Record created on 2009-02-10, modified on 2017-05-10

Microcrystalline

Microcrystalline silicon

Source

Cite

Citations (1)

Optimization of front SiNx/ITO stacks for high-efficiency two-side contacted c-Si solar cells with co-annealed front and rear passivating contacts

Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells (2020)

F. Meyer Arnaud Savoy Juan J. Díaz León Marc Persoz X. Niquille

In this contribution, we present an electron selective passivating contact metallised with a low temperature process to target front side applications in crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cells. In addition to an interfacial silicon oxide (SiOx) and an in-situ phosphorous doped micro-crystalline silicon (μc-Si(n)) layer, it comprises an ultra-thin indium tin oxide (ITO) layer of 15 nm for lateral conductivity and a hydrogen rich silicon nitride (SiNx:H) layer which serves as hydrogen (H) reservoir and as anti-reflection coating. We use one single thermal treatment for 30 min at 350 °C to sinter the screen-printed paste, to recover sputtering damage induced during ITO deposition, and to diffuse hydrogen from the SiNx:H layer towards the c-Si/SiOx interface where it passivates interfacial defects. Applied to symmetrically processed textured samples, we find implied open-circuit voltage (iVOC) > 728 mV for optimal ITO thickness of 15 nm and annealing temperatures of 350 °C. The developed stack was applied on the front textured side of co-annealed (800 °C) p-type c-Si solar cells in combination with a tunnel oxide hole selective passivating contact on the rear side. We demonstrate solar cells with fill factor (FF) up to 81.9% and an open-circuit voltage (VOC) up to 719 mV. With a short-circuit current density (JSC) of 38.6 mA/cm2, we obtain a final cell efficiency to 22.8%. We find that the annealing of the SiNx:H/ITO stack strongly increases the ITO free carrier density penalizing the solar cell spectral response at high wavelengths.

Passivation

Open-circuit voltage

Indium tin oxide

10.1016/j.solmat.2020.110815

Cite

Citations (16)

Thin-film silicon solar cells for space applications: radiation hardness and applications for an integrated Solant (solar cell-antenna) module

J. Kuendig M. Goetz X. Niquille A. Shah S. Vaccaro

A new device called "Solant" (for SOLar cell-ANTenna) is presented in this paper. It is a combination of thin-film amorphous silicon solar cells and flat printed antennas. A proton irradiation campaign has also been carried out on a series of n-i-p amorphous and p-i-n micromorph [microcrystalline (/spl mu/c-Si:H) and amorphous (a-Si:H)] silicon tandem solar cells. The effect of thermal annealing on solar cells degraded by proton irradiation is investigated.

Microcrystalline

Plasmonic solar cell

Radiation hardening

10.1109/pvsc.2000.916074

Cite

Citations (6)

Electrical and microstructural characterisation of microcrystalline silicon layers and solar cells

World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion (2003)

C. Droz E. Vallat‐Sauvain J. Bailat L. Feitknecht J. Meier

This paper attempts to clarify the link between microstructure of hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon (/spl mu/c-Si:H) and layer transport properties as well as electrical performances of solar cells. Analysis of a series of layers shows that coplanar transport properties in /spl mu/c-Si:H (as evaluated by /spl sigma//sub dark/, /spl sigma//sub photo/ and L/sub amb/) relate to the size of nanocrystal conglomerates (as observed by TEM and AFM) and not to the average size of individual nanocrystals (as evaluated from XRD). Bifacial Raman crystallinity factors are defined and introduced in order to clarify the relationship between solar cell open-circuit voltage V/sub oc/ and crystallinity of the top and bottom interface regions. For a variety of nip and pin /spl mu/c-Si:H solar cells, V/sub oc/ linearly decreases as the average of the crystallinity factors measured on actual cells increases.

Microcrystalline

Open-circuit voltage

Source

Cite

Citations (12)

Periodic textures for enhanced current in thin film silicon solar cells

MRS Proceedings (2008)

Franz‐Josef Haug T. Söderström O. Cubero V. Terrazzoni-Daudrix X. Niquille

Texture (cosmology)

Microcrystalline silicon

Plasmonic solar cell

10.1557/proc-1101-kk13-01

Cite

Citations (9)

An Introduction To The Technology Of Thin Film Silicon Photovoltaics

Informacije MIDEM - Journal of Microelectronics Electronic Components and Materials (2009)

A. Feltrin R. Bartlomé Corsin Battaglia Mathieu Boccard G. Bugnon

Several aspects of the science and technology of thin film silicon for photovoltaic applications will be presented. The potential advantages of this technology over crystalline wafer technology will be discussed. A basic understanding of the material properties of thin film silicon layers enables to assess their potential and limitations when used in photovoltaic devices. A brief review of the production technology for thin films will be given with particular emphasis on amorphous and microcrystalline silicon. As for other photovoltaic technologies, the push for higher efficiency of thin film silicon devices is strong. An appealing feature of these materials is that they can be easily integrated in multi-junction tandem devices. For instance, stacking amorphous and microcrystalline silicon thin films in one tandem cell, the micromorph cell, increases the efficiency well above the characteristic values of single junction cells. The Institute of Microengineering (IMT) has been a pioneer in the research and development of thin film silicon photovoltaics over the last 20 years and several latest developments on are reviewed.

Nanocrystalline silicon

Tandem

Source

Cite

Citations (3)

Progress and Demonstration of Micro-CPV Module with Integrated Planar Tracking and Diffuse Light Collection

2022 IEEE 49th Photovoltaics Specialists Conference (PVSC) (2022)

Steve A Askins Guido Vallerotto César Domínguez Mathilde Duchemin Gaël Nardin

Several technologies have been identified that could produce a new type of high-performance solar product optimized for space-constrained applications: micro-CPV, planar microtracking, and diffuse capture. The Swiss start-up Insolight and the Hiperion consortium are bringing such a device to the industrial level. In this work we share the latest results for full-scale modules, discuss improvements to the design and resulting performance gains, and will report the results from pilot installations in Madrid and Freiburg.

Tracking (education)

10.1109/pvsc48317.2022.9938894

Cite

Citations (0)

Effect of Proton Irradiation on the Characteristics of Different Types of Thin-Film Silicon Solar Cells

J. Kuendig M. Goetz J. Meier P. Torres L. Feitknecht

Note: IMT-NE Number: 321 Reference PV-LAB-CONF-2000-009 Record created on 2009-02-10, modified on 2017-05-10

Source

Cite

Citations (3)