Dr. Violetta Gianneta Violetta Gianneta was born in Patras, Greece on October 25, 1978. She received the B.Sc. degree in physics and the M.S. degree in environmental studies from the University of Patras, Greece, in 2002 and 2005 respectively. She joined the Institute of Microelectronics of NCSR “Demokritos” in 2005, where she performed a PhD thesis in Microelectronics and nanotechnology, in collaboration with the Physics Department of the University of Patras, Greece. In 2009 she received a postdoctoral position at the same Institute of Microelectronics of NCSR Demokritos in the field of fabrication and characterization of nanostructured materials. She has important expertise and experience in the fabrication and characterization (electrical, structural) of porous materials, thin films, nanowires and other nanostructures on Si or other substrates and the fabrication and characterization of corresponding devices, including solar cells. The last two years she focused on the fabrication and characterization of Si-based photovoltaic devices. In this direction she has developed innovative and simple processes which lead to efficient devices.
Photovoltaic (PV) solar cells are devices that convert sunlight directly into electricity. With the sun providing the Earth with more than 10,000 times the energy humans currently consume, solar cells have the potential to be a large and environmentally friendly energy source. Especially the third generation PV cells are devices that are potentially able to overcome the Shockley–Queisser limit of 31-41% power efficiency for single bandgap solar cells. This includes a range of alternatives to cells made of semiconducting p-n junctions (“first generation”) and thin film cells (“second generation”). In this talk we will describe a novel low cost technology of Si-based solar cells using a p+n junction fabricated by Aluminium Induced Crystallisation (AIC) and doping of an initially amorphous Si layer, deposited on n-type Si. The AIC process is performed at low temperatures (350 to 500oC), which is interesting for lowering energy consumption of fabrication. The obtained efficiency, up to 13.5%, in combination with the simplicity of the fabrication, makes this technology very promising for the fabrication of future competitive commercial solar cell devices