Influence of the precursor layer composition and deposition processes on the electronic quality of liquid phase crystallized silicon absorbers

Amkreutz, Daniel; Preissler, Natalie; Thi-Trinh, Cham; Trahms, Martina; Sonntag, Paul; Schlatmann, Rutger; Rech, Bernd

doi:10.1002/pip.2953

Cited by 8 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…An increase in bulk lifetime by a factor of 2-3 opens the way towards open circuit voltages up to 660 mV -670 mV and higher. The bulk quality itself can be enhanced by advanced crystallization resulting in preferential orientation and a reduction in recombinationactive grain boundaries [Kühnapfel15] or by altering the absorber deposition process as described in [Amkreutz17]. Furthermore, gettering techniques that are regularly used for multicrystalline wafers can be adapted to LPC-Si to reduce the impurity related recombination.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As for BSF passivation this defect layer could have its physical representation in inhomogeneous layer growth of the a-Si:H(i) layer due to surface morphology or insufficient cleaning of the silicon surface before deposition. Another cause for imperfections at the interface could be the incorporation and segregation of carbon and oxygen related impurities [Becker13,Amkreutz17]. However, as for the current density the improvement of the bulk quality promises a significant increase in open circuit voltage towards 660 mV -670 mV.…”

Section: Short Circuit Current Density and Open Circuit Voltagementioning

confidence: 99%

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Progress in and potential of liquid phase crystallized silicon solar cells

et al. 2018

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Liquid phase crystallization of silicon (LPC-Si) offers great potential for high-quality Si films and a cost effective fabrication technique for thin crystalline silicon solar cells on glass. In this work, we report on the progress on LPC-silicon at HZB in the past years. Beginning with a brief description of the fabrication process, we summarize the work on the different contact systems developed for these absorbers before focusing on the interdigitated back contact architecture on which the highest efficiencies were reported. State-of-the art cells form the basis for a detailed discussion of the status of this technology. We investigate the current loss mechanisms and explore the potential for further improvement. Finally, based on this comprehensive quality assessment, we develop a roadmap to increase the cell efficiencies to wafer-equivalent values.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Short Circuit Current Density and Open Circuit Voltagementioning

confidence: 99%

Progress in and potential of liquid phase crystallized silicon solar cells

et al. 2018

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“…The high defect state density with O/N IL stack is not desirable, since it makes S eff,front very sensitive to variations in Q IL,eff . Furthermore, it is likely that SiN x layers that are in direct contact to silicon during the crystallization process are thermally unstable . The O/N/O stack provides a lower defect sate density at the front‐side interface.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Passivation of Liquid‐Phase Crystallized Silicon With PECVD‐SiN_x and PECVD‐SiN_x/SiO_x

Preissler

Amkreutz

Dulanto

et al. 2018

Physica Status Solidi (a)

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Silicon nitride (SiN x ) and silicon oxide (SiO x ) grown with plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition are used to passivate the front-side of liquid-phase crystallized silicon (LPC-Si). The dielectric layer/LPC-Si interface is smooth and layers are well-defined as demonstrated with transmission electron microscopy. Using electron energy loss spectroscopy a thin silicon oxynitride is detected which is related to oxidation of the SiN x prior to the silicon deposition. The interface defect state density (D it ) and the effective fixed charge density (Q IL,eff ) are obtained from high-frequency capacitance-voltage measurements on developed metal-insulator-semiconductor structures based on SiO x /SiN x /LPC-Si and SiO x /SiN x /SiO x /LPC-Si sequences. Charge transfer across the SiN x /LPC-Si interface is observed which does not occur with the thin SiO x between SiN x and LPC-Si. The SiO x /SiN x /LPC-Si interface is characterized by Q IL,eff > 10 12 cm À2 and D it,MG >10 12 eV À1 cm À2 . With SiO x /SiN x /SiO x stack, both parameters are around one order of magnitude lower. Based on obtained Q IL,eff and D it (E) and capture cross sections for electrons and holes of σ n ¼ 10 À14 cm s À1 and σ p ¼ 10 À16 cm s À1 , respectively, a front-side surface recombination velocity in the range of 10 cm s À1 at both interfaces is determined using the extended Shockley-Read-Hall recombination model. Results indicate that field-effect passivation is strong, especially with SiO x /SiN x stack.

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“…The layer stack simultaneously served as a diffusion barrier, antireflection coating and as a passivation layer. Further details on the development and deposition process of the intermediate layer stack are described in literature [16]. With the intermediate layer deposition completed we then applied the silicon absorber layer by high-rate electron beam evaporation.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multi crystalline silicon thin films grown directly on low cost soda-lime glass substrates

Kühnapfel

Severin

Kersten

et al. 2019

Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells

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Liquid phase crystallization of silicon is a promising technology platform to grow multi crystalline silicon thin films on foreign substrates. For solar cell application it has already been demonstrated that open circuit voltages of up to 661 mV [1] and efficiencies of up to 15.9 % [2] can be achieved on a silicon layer of a few microns only. However, while the quality of the material has been continuously improved, the cost factor of the utilized substrate has been given little attention. The present work focuses on the technology transfer from technical glass substrates to low cost soda-lime glass substrates to become more attractive for commercial applications. We demonstrate first liquid phase crystallized silicon layer on soda-lime glass substrate and show that the layer adhesion by the more than twice as large expansion coefficient of soda lime glasses compared to the established technical glasses has a significant influence on various processing options and countermeasures to overcome adhesion issues have to be considered. Furthermore, we investigate the electrical performance of the resulting absorber material for silicon thin film solar cells and report our first results on the electrical performance in terms of open circuit voltages, Hall mobility's and effective minority carrier lifetimes.

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Influence of the precursor layer composition and deposition processes on the electronic quality of liquid phase crystallized silicon absorbers

Cited by 8 publications

References 49 publications

Progress in and potential of liquid phase crystallized silicon solar cells

Progress in and potential of liquid phase crystallized silicon solar cells

Passivation of Liquid‐Phase Crystallized Silicon With PECVD‐SiN_x and PECVD‐SiN_x/SiO_x

Multi crystalline silicon thin films grown directly on low cost soda-lime glass substrates

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Influence of the precursor layer composition and deposition processes on the electronic quality of liquid phase crystallized silicon absorbers

Cited by 8 publications

References 49 publications

Progress in and potential of liquid phase crystallized silicon solar cells

Progress in and potential of liquid phase crystallized silicon solar cells

Passivation of Liquid‐Phase Crystallized Silicon With PECVD‐SiNx and PECVD‐SiNx/SiOx

Multi crystalline silicon thin films grown directly on low cost soda-lime glass substrates

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

Passivation of Liquid‐Phase Crystallized Silicon With PECVD‐SiN_x and PECVD‐SiN_x/SiO_x