Interdigitated back‐contact heterojunction solar cell concept for liquid phase crystallized thin‐film silicon on glass

Sonntag, Paul; Haschke, Jan; Kühnapfel, Sven; Frijnts, Tim; Amkreutz, Daniel; Rech, Bernd

doi:10.1002/pip.2725

Cited by 19 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…One cell type is an interdigitated back-contact (IBC) system featuring an amorphous hydrogenated silicon (a-Si:H)/crystalline silicon heterojunction (SHJ) 18 with a cell size of 0.6 cm 2 similar to the one described in ref. 19 while the other is a small rectangular test structure. This cell is also back-junction-back-contacted, but only the emitter is counted as cell area.…”

Section: Sample Preparationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Silicon Solar Cells on Glass with Power Conversion Efficiency above 13% at Thickness below 15 Micrometer

Sonntag

Preissler

Bokalič

et al. 2017

Sci Rep

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Liquid phase crystallized silicon on glass with a thickness of (10–40) μm has the potential to reduce material costs and the environmental impact of crystalline silicon solar cells. Recently, wafer quality open circuit voltages of over 650 mV and remarkable photocurrent densities of over 30 mA/cm2 have been demonstrated on this material, however, a low fill factor was limiting the performance. In this work we present our latest cell progress on 13 μm thin poly-crystalline silicon fabricated by the liquid phase crystallization directly on glass. The contact system uses passivated back-side silicon hetero-junctions, back-side KOH texture for light-trapping and interdigitated ITO/Ag contacts. The fill factors are up to 74% and efficiencies are 13.2% under AM1.5 g for two different doping densities of 1 · 1017/cm3 and 2 · 1016/cm3. The former is limited by bulk and interface recombination, leading to a reduced saturation current density, the latter by series resistance causing a lower fill factor. Both are additionally limited by electrical shading and losses at grain boundaries and dislocations. A small 1 × 0.1 cm2 test structure circumvents limitations of the contact design reaching an efficiency of 15.9% clearly showing the potential of the technology.

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Section: Sample Preparationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Contrary to the 0.6% NaOH solution used in ref. 19, a 2.5% solution of (TMAH) was deployed for development. It is a metal-ion-free developer solution which is described by Tabata el al.…”

Section: Sample Preparationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Silicon Solar Cells on Glass with Power Conversion Efficiency above 13% at Thickness below 15 Micrometer

Sonntag

Preissler

Bokalič

et al. 2017

Sci Rep

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“…This is explained by the etch rate of the (p)a-Si:H emitter in alkaline etchants, which is low compared with the etch rate of the (n)a-Si:H emitter. This difference in etch rates for doped amorphous Si layers has been described previously, and has been exploited for selective etching of heterojunction emitters [7], [22]. On n-type c-Si samples, the (p)a-Si:H emitter therefore acts as an etch barrier.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 69%

“…Laser structuring was performed on the full area for the lifetime samples, and for cell samples only on the area of the cell test structures (1 cm 2 ). Line pitch and laser width were not specifically adapted, instead they were chosen to fit an already existing lithography process used for the metallization of thin film silicon samples [22]. The laser spot width can be adapted by changing the beam shaping optical element or the focus conditions to obtain wider contact stripes.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Emitter Patterning for Back-Contacted Si Heterojunction Solar Cells Using Laser Written Mask Layers for Etching and Self-Aligned Passivation (LEAP)

Ring

Kirner

Schultz

et al. 2016

IEEE J. Photovoltaics

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A novel emitter patterning method for backcontacted Si heterojunction solar cells is presented, which combines laser processing and wet etching of a mask layer stack with self-aligned repassivation, thus reducing the process complexity, as compared with the commonly used emitter patterning methods. Lifetime samples demonstrate that with a suitable mask stack, laser scribing can be performed without inducing laser damage to the passivation. Despite nonoptimal wet etch and repassivation processes which currently limit the obtained lifetime, proof-of-concept cells on p-type wafers fabricated using this novel emitter patterning process and lithographically patterned metallization exhibit an open-circuit voltage of 694 mV and pseudo-fill-factors of 83%. With the laser written mask layers for etching and self-aligned passivation process, we have thus developed the proof-of-concept for a simple, lithography free, and contactless emitter patterning method for industrial applicationsIndex Terms-Heterojunction silicon solar cells, interdigitated back-contact (IBC), laser processing, self-alignment.

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“…The spectra measured within microcrystals of the absorber present the same features as spectra of crystalline silicon wafers without showing defect luminescence indicating the high electronic material quality of the liquid-phase multi-crystalline layer after hydrogen plasma treatment. [1][2][3][4][5][6] comparable to industrial and highest efficient multi-crystalline wafer solar cells. 7 Therefore, LPCSG presents a promising material to fabricate solar cells and modules.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Photoluminescence at room temperature of liquid-phase crystallized silicon on glass

2016

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The room temperature photoluminescence (PL) spectrum due band-to-band recombination in an only 8 μm thick liquid-phase crystallized silicon on glass solar cell absorber is measured over 3 orders of magnitude with a thin 400 μm thick optical fiber directly coupled to the spectrometer. High PL signal is achieved by the possibility to capture the PL spectrum very near to the silicon surface. The spectra measured within microcrystals of the absorber present the same features as spectra of crystalline silicon wafers without showing defect luminescence indicating the high electronic material quality of the liquid-phase multi-crystalline layer after hydrogen plasma treatment.

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Interdigitated back‐contact heterojunction solar cell concept for liquid phase crystallized thin‐film silicon on glass

Cited by 19 publications

References 24 publications

Silicon Solar Cells on Glass with Power Conversion Efficiency above 13% at Thickness below 15 Micrometer

Silicon Solar Cells on Glass with Power Conversion Efficiency above 13% at Thickness below 15 Micrometer

Emitter Patterning for Back-Contacted Si Heterojunction Solar Cells Using Laser Written Mask Layers for Etching and Self-Aligned Passivation (LEAP)

Photoluminescence at room temperature of liquid-phase crystallized silicon on glass

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