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We present n‐type bifacial solar cells with a rear interfacial SiOx/n+:poly‐Si passivating contact (‘monoPoly’ cells) where the interfacial oxide and n+:poly‐Si layers are fabricated using an industrial inline plasma‐enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) tool. We demonstrate outstanding passivation quality with dark saturation current density (J0) values of approximately 3 fA/cm2 and implied open‐circuit voltage (iVoc) of 730 mV at 1‐sun conditions after firing in an industrial belt furnace. Using a simple solar cell process flow that can be easily adapted for mass production, a peak cell efficiency of 22.8% with a cell open circuit voltage (Voc) of 696 mV is achieved on large‐area, screen‐printed, Czochralski‐silicon (Cz‐Si) solar cells using commercial fire‐through metal pastes.

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The origin behind crystalline silicon surface passivation by Al2O3 films is studied in detail by means of spatially‐resolved electron energy loss spectroscopy. The bonding configurations of Al and O are studied in as‐deposited and annealed Al2O3 films grown on c‐Si substrates by plasma‐assisted and thermal atomic layer deposition. The results confirm the presence of an interfacial SiO2‐like film and demonstrate changes in the ratio between tetrahedrally and octahedrally coordinated Al in the films after annealing. These observations reveal the underlying origin of c‐Si surface passivation by Al2O3. (© 2013 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

The surface passivation performance of atomic layer deposited ultra-thin aluminium oxide layers with different thickness in the tunnel layer regime, i.e., ranging from one atomic cycle (∼0.13 nm) to 11 atomic cycles (∼1.5 nm) on n-type silicon wafers is studied. The effect of thickness and thermal activation on passivation performance is investigated with corona-voltage metrology to measure the interface defect density Dit(E) and the total interface charge Qtot. Furthermore, the bonding configuration variation of the AlOx films under various post-deposition thermal activation conditions is analyzed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Additionally, poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) poly(styrene sulfonate) is used as capping layer on ultra-thin AlOx tunneling layers to further reduce the surface recombination current density to values as low as 42 fA/cm2. This work is a useful reference for using ultra-thin ALD AlOx layers as tunnel layers in order to form hole selective passivated contacts for silicon solar cells.

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