Large-area 21% efficient Si solar cells

Sinton, Ronald A.; Verlinden, Pierre J.; Crane, R.A.; Swanson, R.M.; Tilford, C.; Perkins, John D.; Garrison, K.

doi:10.1109/pvsc.1993.347061

Cited by 12 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…On the textured wafers, the procedure produced a slightly thicker thermal oxide, since a thermal Si02 grows about 10% faster on (111) than on (100) oriented silicon; and it produced a higher sheet resistance of 280 ± 10 Q/sq, presumably due to the higher surface area of the textured silicon. These oxides are similar to those used in many high-efficiency solar cells [5][6][7][8][9], whereas the diffusion is probably a little lighter (100-200 Q/sq is more typical). Approximately 70 nm of PECVD SiNx was then deposited on both surfaces of one planar and one textured wafer.…”

Section: Experiments 1: Pecvd Sinxmentioning

confidence: 67%

“…The diffusion, passivation and morphology of these samples are very similar to those employed in high efficiency silicon cells [5][6][7][8][9]. It is concerning, therefore, that the JOE of the Si02 samples increases from 42 to 72 fA/cm 2 after 200 hrs (required of the humidity-freeze reliability test) and to 95 fAlcm 2 after 1000 hrs (required of damp-heat reliability test).…”

Section: Time (Hrs)mentioning

confidence: 92%

“…Many high-efficiency silicon solar cells utilise oxide passivation [5][6][7][8][9]. In order for these cells to withstand the damp-heat component of the standard reliability tests [10], and to survive long-term exposure in the field, the Si-Si02 interface must be protected.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is therefore desirable that this ARC be impermeable to water vapour, which prevents the need for an additional coating. The ARCs used in oxide-passivated high-efficiency cells have been Ti02 [5], MgF2 [6], ZnO [6], PECVD SiNx [7] and LPCVD SbN4 [9]. It has already been shown that APCVD Ti02 deposited at 400°C is permeable to water vapour and offers no protection to the underlying oxide [3].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Protection of Si-SiO<inf>2</inf> interfaces from damp heat by overlying SiN<inf>x</inf> and Si<inf>3</inf>N<inf>4</inf> coatings

Dai

McIntosh

2010

2010 35th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference

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PECVD SiNx antireflection coatings are found to suppress the degradation of an underlying oxide during "damp-heat" exposure. Samples are submitted to 85°C and 85% relative humidity, replicating the damp-heat conditions of the standard reliability tests for PV modules. The samples are diffused with phosphorus and passivated with a thermal oxide, where the resistivity of the diffusion and the oxide thickness are similar to those used in many high efficiency silicon solar cells. We find that when the samples are not coated with SiNx, exposure to 1000 hours of damp-heat causes their emitter saturation current density JOE to increase from 32 to 53 fAlcm 2 on planar (100) wafers, and from 42 to 95 fAlcm 2 on textured wafers.We show that this degradation requires the presence of water vapour and does not occur due to the elevated temperature alone. These results suggest that high efficiency silicon cells would fail the damp-heat reliability test if their Si02 were not protected from the damp-heat. Happily, the degradation is strongly suppressed when the samples are coated with a PECVD SiNx antireflection coating. This suggests that the SiNx limits the diffusion of water vapour into the Si02. We also find that LPCVD SbN4 suppresses damp-heat degradation although the results are less conclusive due to the initial JOE being many times higher than for PECVD SiNx.

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Section: Experiments 1: Pecvd Sinxmentioning

confidence: 67%

Section: Time (Hrs)mentioning

confidence: 92%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Protection of Si-SiO<inf>2</inf> interfaces from damp heat by overlying SiN<inf>x</inf> and Si<inf>3</inf>N<inf>4</inf> coatings

Dai

McIntosh

2010

2010 35th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference

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“…The sublinearity in the short-circuit current was determined by taking the ratio of the current with and without a screen in front of the Fresnel lens to determine the ratio of current for a fixed ratio in incident power. For this project, SunPower chose to use it's first-generation Fresnel-cell process technology in conjunction with the simplified one-sun cell designs demonstrated previously [6,18]. This project required an extensive program of quality control in order to maintain a tight efficiency distribution and a high fabrication yield.…”

Section: Testina Of Cell 'Stabilitu and Eficiencumentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of manufacturing capability for high-concentration, high-efficiency silicon solar cells

Sinton¹,

Verlinden²,

Crane³

et al. 1996

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Back‐contacted back‐junction n‐type silicon solar cells featuring an insulating thin film for decoupling charge carrier collection and metallization geometry

Reichel

Granek

Hermle

et al. 2012

Progress in Photovoltaics

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In this study, back‐contacted back‐junction n‐type silicon solar cells featuring a large emitter coverage (point‐like base contacts), a small emitter coverage (point‐like base and emitter contacts), and interdigitated metal fingers have been fabricated and analyzed. For both solar cell designs, a significant reduction of electrical shading losses caused by an increased recombination in the non‐collecting base area on the rear side was obtained. Because the solar cell designs are characterized by an overlap of the B‐doped emitter and the P‐doped base with metal fingers of the other polarity, insulating thin films with excellent electrical insulation properties are required to prevent shunting in these overlapping regions. Thus, with insulating thin films, the geometry of the minority charge carrier collecting emitter diffusion and the geometry of the interdigitated metal fingers can be decoupled. In this regard, plasma‐enhanced chemical vapor deposited SiO2 insulating thin films with various thicknesses and deposited at different temperatures have been investigated in more detail by metal‐insulator‐semiconductor structures. Furthermore, the influence of different metal layers on the insulation properties of the films has been analyzed. It has been found that by applying a SiO2 insulating thin film with a thickness of more than 1000 nm and deposited at 350 °C to solar cells fabricated on 1 Ω cm and 10 Ω cm n‐type float‐zone grown silicon substrates, electrical shading losses could be reduced considerably, resulting in excellent short‐circuit current densities of more than 41 mA/cm2 and conversion efficiencies of up to 23.0%. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Large-area 21% efficient Si solar cells

Cited by 12 publications

References 4 publications

Protection of Si-SiO<inf>2</inf> interfaces from damp heat by overlying SiN<inf>x</inf> and Si<inf>3</inf>N<inf>4</inf> coatings

Protection of Si-SiO<inf>2</inf> interfaces from damp heat by overlying SiN<inf>x</inf> and Si<inf>3</inf>N<inf>4</inf> coatings

Development of manufacturing capability for high-concentration, high-efficiency silicon solar cells

Back‐contacted back‐junction n‐type silicon solar cells featuring an insulating thin film for decoupling charge carrier collection and metallization geometry

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