Investigation on the Impact of Metallic Surface Contaminations on Minority Carrier Lifetime of a-Si:H Passivated Crystalline Silicon

Sevenig, Florian; Breitenstein, Lena; Oltersdorf, A.; Zimmermann, K.; Hermle, Martin

doi:10.1016/j.egypro.2011.06.138

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 6 publications

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“…It is important to emphasize that, although in this simulation study an SRH recombination of only single impurities was considered, a mixture of various impurities can clearly result in a consistent description of the experimental data as well. Such a mixture of different impurity elements is even more likely, as various elements might be found on the wafer surfaces, as reported by Buchholz et al and Sevenig et al Still, we were able to exclude a dominating role of the group A impurities (Cu and Au) and group B impurities (Co and Zn), being an important result of this simulations study, at least for the considered energy level(s) of these impurities.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 73%

Impact of bulk impurity contamination on the performance of high‐efficiency n‐type silicon solar cells

Richter

Benick

Fell

et al. 2018

Progress in Photovoltaics

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The experimental variation of wafer thickness and resistivity at device level combined with a comprehensive device simulation study allows the identification of dominating recombinationinduced power loss mechanisms in high-efficiency n-type silicon solar cells (A. Richter et al, Sol. Energy Mater. Sol. Cells 173, p. 96, 2017). Under the assumption of specific Shockley-Read-Hall (SRH) recombination parameters, impurity recombination within the silicon bulk was identified as one main source for efficiency losses particularly for solar cells made of high-resistivity silicon. In this work, we extend that analysis approach focusing on the SRH recombination parameters in order to investigate whether certain properties of these recombination-active impurities can be identified using this kind of simulation-based analysis. Reported SRH recombination parameters of various common impurities (eg, Fe, Cr, or Ni) were considered. It was found that a dominating role of certain impurities as Cu, Au, Co, or Zn can be excluded. A general simulation study as a function of the fundamental SRH recombination parameters allowed us to reduce the possible SRH parameters significantly in particular of the capture cross-section ratio of electrons and holes. These results demonstrate that our analysis approach, which combines an experimental variation of wafer thickness and resistivity with a comprehensive device simulation, can provide deep insights into the solar cells loss mechanisms. In particular, the conclusions regarding SRH recombination are of importance for solar cells made of n-type silicon as there are no meta-stable impurity states formed that would allow a direct identification of impurity recombination-related power loss as reported for p-type Si.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 73%

Impact of bulk impurity contamination on the performance of high‐efficiency n‐type silicon solar cells

Richter

Benick

Fell

et al. 2018

Progress in Photovoltaics

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Silicon Heterojunction Technology: A Key to High Efficiency Solar Cells at Low Cost

Абрамов

Andronikov

Abolmasov³

et al. 2019

Springer Series in Optical Sciences

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Metal Removal and Defect Passivation Performed on Si Wafers for Solar Cell Use by HCN Treatments

Kimura

Takahashi

Kobayashi

2013

ECS J. Solid State Sci. Technol.

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Cleaning of Si wafers for solar cell use with HCN solutions can remove metal contaminants almost completely. Fe and Ni atoms with ∼2 × 1011 and ∼3 × 1010 atoms/cm2 concentrations reside on Si even after formation of pyramidal textured Si surfaces produced by anisotropic alkaline etching. The Fe and Ni concentrations decrease to less than ∼6 × 109 atoms/cm2 (i.e., detection limit of a total-reflection X-ray fluorescence (TXRF) spectrometer for Fe) and ∼1 × 1010 atoms/cm2, respectively, after cleaning with pH 11.5 HCN solutions containing 1.5 M isopropanol (IPA). Minority carrier lifetime for the pyramidal textured p-type single crystalline Si specimens increases from 58 to 220 μs by the HCN treatment with IPA. The micro-roughness on Si(111) surfaces treated with HCN solutions containing IPA is much less (i.e., 0.27 nm) than that without IPA (i.e., 0.52 nm). Adsorption of IPA on Si retards the etching rate from 32.7 to 8.6 nm/min, leading to enhancement of anisotropic etching, thus resulting in the formation of more complete pyramidal structure. Cleaning with pH 11.5 HCN solutions without IPA increases reflectivity due to isotropic etching, while that with IPA slightly decreases it due to the formation of more complete pyramidal textured surfaces. The increase in the minority carrier lifetime caused by HCN cleaning with IPA is attributable to i) removal of metal contaminants, ii) passivation of Si dangling bond defect states by CN− ions, and iii) a decrease in the defect density due to a decrease in the micro-roughness.

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Investigation on the Impact of Metallic Surface Contaminations on Minority Carrier Lifetime of a-Si:H Passivated Crystalline Silicon

Cited by 3 publications

References 6 publications

Impact of bulk impurity contamination on the performance of high‐efficiency n‐type silicon solar cells

Impact of bulk impurity contamination on the performance of high‐efficiency n‐type silicon solar cells

Silicon Heterojunction Technology: A Key to High Efficiency Solar Cells at Low Cost

Metal Removal and Defect Passivation Performed on Si Wafers for Solar Cell Use by HCN Treatments

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