Enhancing poly-Si contact through a highly conductive and ultra-thin TiN layer for high-efficiency passivating contact silicon solar cells

Yu, Jian; Chen, Yang; He, Jiang; Bai, Yu; Su, Rong; Cao, Taiqiang; Liu, Wenzhu; Chen, Tao

doi:10.1016/j.solmat.2023.112491

Cited by 6 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…In the last decade, titanium nitride (TiN) has attracted growing interest in solar cell [19], surface plasmon enhanced Raman scattering [20,21], and plasmon sensing [22], etc The broad application of TiN associates closely with its strong potential candidate to substitute traditional plasmon material of gold and silver due to the high melting point, thermal stability, and compatibility with CMOS technology. It benefits from the low-loss plasmon characteristic of TiN-like materials, whose plasmon properties originate from the complex balance between intraband and interband transitions acting as the screening term of global electron gas [23].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, TiN is revealed to exhibit similar optoelectronic properties to Au to many extent, including the low imaginary part of the dielectric function, although not zero, and the low-energy plasmon excitation. This allows its adjustable localized surface plasmon resonance from visible to NIR band by the geometry of TiN nanostructure and dielectric environments [19][20][21][22][23]. Yet, literature reports about plasmonic chirality are noted to focus on noble metal metamaterials while TiN metamaterials are still limited [24][25][26][27][28].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Chiro-plasmon responses of x-shaped titanium nitride (TiN) nanoarrays by numerical simulations

Zhang,

Du,

Ding

et al. 2024

Phys. Scr.

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Titanium nitride (TiN) has recently been taken as a potential candidate for plasmonic material, which supports surface plasmon resonances and exhibits excellent thermal stability. In this article, we proposed a novel chiral metamaterial with TiN, which consists of X-shaped TiN nanorods periodically arranged on a glass substrate. Its extinction, circular dichroism (CD) spectra, and g-factors were calculated and regulated by the detailed geometry through numerical simulations using the finite element method to further boost the application of TiN in chiro-plasmonic system. We show that it presents chiral responses both in visible and near infrared (NIR) ranges. Under the optimized geometric parameters and NIR incidence, it predicts ~4 and 2 fold E-field enhancement and g-factor, respectively, than that of experimental reports of TiN nanohelices. The obtained excellent chiro properties are elucidated well in terms of the obtained superchiral field and charge distributions, whose origin was analyzed by a linear superposition method. Moreover, the influence of dielectric environments is discussed as well. Overall, the findings underscore the potential of TiN as a chiro-plasmonic refractory metamaterial and shed light on the design of alternative chiro-plasmon metamaterials for NIR applications in the future.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chiro-plasmon responses of x-shaped titanium nitride (TiN) nanoarrays by numerical simulations

Zhang,

Du,

Ding

et al. 2024

Phys. Scr.

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“…According to recent research, poly-silicon plays a significant role in a photovoltaic solar cell [1,2]. For such a material whose performance is limited by defects and impurities, it is essential to be passivated using hydrogen to get higher energy conversion efficiency [3].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phosphorus deactivation mechanisms by hydrogenation in the n+ emitter region and its effect on defects passivation in n+pp+ poly-silicon solar cells

Ouldamer,

Belfennache,

Madi

et al. 2024

JOR

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Doping level of the n+ emitter region is an essential parameter that controls the performance of the n+ pp+ poly-silicon solar cells. Also, most poly-silicon n+ pp+ solar cell manufacturers apply hydrogenation from the phosphorus emitter n+ side to improve photovoltaic efficiency. Although hydrogen can passivate defects as well as it changes initial phosphorus doping level through phosphorus-hydrogen complex formation. Consequently, phosphorus deactivation can have a harmful effect on photovoltaic efficiency. In this context, the primary purpose of this work is to investigate the phosphorus deactivation in n+ emitter region and its effect on defects passivation of hydrogenated n+ pp+ poly-silicon solar cells. To do this, hydrogenation is performed by microwave plasma discharge involving an electron cyclotron resonance system. Besides, hydrogen passivates defects in poly-silicon, at the same time it deactivates phosphorus. For this reason, we have chosen to separate these simultaneous effects. So, we performed phosphorus deactivation on Schottky diodes-based mono-silicon, while defect passivation was operated in n+ pp+ poly-silicon solar cells. Our results reveal that hydrogen effectively deactivates phosphorus dopant. This effect is deeper in Schottky diodes with low initial phosphorus doping level where hydrogen diffuses easily in the bulk. This behavior is clearly revealed in open circuit-voltage values (Voc) measured on n+ pp+ samples. In fact, solar cells with low phosphorus concentration in n+ region revealed 319 mV compared to 230 mV for high doping level. Also, all n+ pp+ poly-silicon solar cells show a saturation of Voc at high microwave plasma power. Reasons for such case were explained and discussed in detail.

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“…However, a poly-Si layer with a thickness of 100 nm is necessary under current metallization conditions [ 4 , 33 ]. At the same time, various studies have been conducted to prevent metal finger penetration by using a barrier interlayer, such as titanium nitride (TiN) [ 34 , 35 ] or SiO x [ 36 , 37 ], created through a low-temperature method like Laser-Enhanced Contact Optimization (LECO) [ 38 ]. Although there are many positive outcomes regarding the formation of planar (n) poly-Si passivating contacts, one of the challenging and critical tasks associated with poly-Si layers is determining how to balance parasitic absorption and contact in poly-Si layers [ 24 , 39 , 40 , 41 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects on Metallization of n+-Poly-Si Layer for N-Type Tunnel Oxide Passivated Contact Solar Cells

Wang,

Gao,

et al. 2024

Materials

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Thin polysilicon (poly-Si)-based passivating contacts can reduce parasitic absorption and the cost of n-TOPCon solar cells. Herein, n+-poly-Si layers with thicknesses of 30~100 nm were fabricated by low-pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) to create passivating contacts. We investigated the effect of n+-poly-Si layer thickness on the microstructure of the metallization contact formation, passivation, and electronic performance of n-TOPCon solar cells. The thickness of the poly-Si layer significantly affected the passivation of metallization-induced recombination under the metal contact (J0,metal) and the contact resistivity (ρc) of the cells. However, it had a minimal impact on the short-circuit current density (Jsc), which was primarily associated with corroded silver (Ag) at depths of the n+-poly-Si layer exceeding 40 nm. We introduced a thin n+-poly-Si layer with a thickness of 70 nm and a surface concentration of 5 × 1020 atoms/cm3. This layer can meet the requirements for low J0,metal and ρc values, leading to an increase in conversion efficiency of 25.65%. This optimized process of depositing a phosphorus-doped poly-Si layer can be commercially applied in photovoltaics to reduce processing times and lower costs.

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Enhancing poly-Si contact through a highly conductive and ultra-thin TiN layer for high-efficiency passivating contact silicon solar cells

Cited by 6 publications

References 22 publications

Chiro-plasmon responses of x-shaped titanium nitride (TiN) nanoarrays by numerical simulations

Chiro-plasmon responses of x-shaped titanium nitride (TiN) nanoarrays by numerical simulations

Phosphorus deactivation mechanisms by hydrogenation in the n+ emitter region and its effect on defects passivation in n+pp+ poly-silicon solar cells

Effects on Metallization of n+-Poly-Si Layer for N-Type Tunnel Oxide Passivated Contact Solar Cells

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