Low-Resistivity Screen-Printed Contacts on Indium Tin Oxide Layers for Silicon Solar Cells With Passivating Contacts

Schube, Jörg; Tutsch, Leonard; Fellmeth, Tobias; Bivour, Martin; Feldmann, Frank; Hatt, Thibaud; Maier, Florian; Keding, Roman; Clement, Florian; Glunz, Stefan W.

doi:10.1109/jphotov.2018.2859768

Cited by 25 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…To minimize the temporary influence from the ambient air atmosphere on the static charging effect and to get clear comparative CPD values, repeated measurements were carried out. 34 Besides, the contact resistivity between the 75-nm-thick TCOs and screen-printed silver (SP, Ag) was studied with the transfer length method (TLM) on dedicated samples, 35 as shown in Figure 1a. Wafers with insulating SiO x coating layers were used as substrates to restrict the lateral current flow to the subsequently deposited TCO layers.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

High-Mobility Hydrogenated Fluorine-Doped Indium Oxide Film for Passivating Contacts c-Si Solar Cells

Han

Mazzarella

Zhao

et al. 2019

ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces

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Broadband transparent conductive oxide layers with high electron mobility (μe) are essential to further enhance crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cell performances. Although metallic cation-doped In2O3 thin films with high μe (>60 cm2 V–1 s–1) have been extensively investigated, the research regarding anion doping is still under development. In particular, fluorine-doped indium oxide (IFO) shows promising optoelectrical properties; however, they have not been tested on c-Si solar cells with passivating contacts. Here, we investigate the properties of hydrogenated IFO (IFO:H) films processed at low substrate temperature and power density by varying the water vapor pressure during deposition. The optimized IFO:H shows a remarkably high μe of 87 cm2 V–1 s–1, a carrier density of 1.2 × 1020 cm–3, and resistivity of 6.2 × 10–4 Ω cm. Then, we analyzed the compositional, structural, and optoelectrical properties of the optimal IFO:H film. The high quality of the layer was confirmed by the low Urbach energy of 197 meV, compared to 444 meV obtained on the reference indium tin oxide. We implemented IFO:H into different front/back-contacted solar cells with passivating contacts processed at high and low temperatures, obtaining a significant short-circuit current gain of 1.53 mA cm–2. The best solar cell shows a conversion efficiency of 21.1%.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

High-Mobility Hydrogenated Fluorine-Doped Indium Oxide Film for Passivating Contacts c-Si Solar Cells

Han

Mazzarella

Zhao

et al. 2019

ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces

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“…An important fact is that the addition of Ce results in N > 2 × 10 20 cm −3 , which is a critical factor for device integration, in particular for the formation of lowohmic contacts to charge carrier selective layers and to the metal. 5,24,25,39 As shown in Figure S1, the crystallization kinetics was affected by the incorporation of Ce. The onset temperature thereof significantly increased from around 155 C to 163 C when 0.5 wt% CeO 2 was added but then only slightly rose further (to 165 C) for a CeO 2 increment ≥1 wt%.…”

Section: Electro-optical Film Properties and Crystallization Dynamicsmentioning

confidence: 98%

The sputter deposition of broadband transparent and highly conductive cerium and hydrogen co‐doped indium oxide and its transfer to silicon heterojunction solar cells

Tutsch

Sai

Matsui

et al. 2021

Progress in Photovoltaics

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Indium oxide doped with tin (ITO) is the most commonly used material for lateral transport window layers in silicon heterojunction (SHJ) solar cells, as it currently offers the best combination of physical properties, industrial deposition capability, and module reliability. However, typically applied ITO layers by far do not exploit the full electro-optical potential of the indium oxide material class, resulting in optical and electrical losses limiting the solar cell efficiency. In this work, cerium and hydrogen co-doped indium oxide thin films are developed for their application as high-performance transparent conductive oxide layers in SHJ devices. Amorphous In 2 O 3 :Ce,H layers are fabricated via radio frequency magnetron sputtering, before being crystallized during post-deposition thermal treatments compatible with the SHJ temperature stability. The resulting excellent electro-optical film properties are on par with values so far solely reported for reactive plasma deposited films. It is shown that the surface morphology of the substrate (planar or textured) has a strong impact on the film properties, and further, the critical role of the atmosphere present during post-deposition annealing is elucidated. Finally, the large potential of an optimally processed In 2 O 3 :Ce,H window layer in SHJ cells is demonstrated, quantified by a gain in short circuit current density of 0.6 mA/cm 2 without impairing the resistive losses in comparison to the usage of a baseline ITO layer.

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“…Fingers after NOBLE metallization on the SHJ precursors are characterized in cross‐section by SEM as illustrated in Figure a and c. The metal stack of sputtered Cu (≈50 nm) or Ag (≈20 nm) and plated Cu–Ag are well adhering on the ITO of the SHJ solar cells even with a non‐optimized metal sputtering realized after vacuum interruption (samples were prepared on commercial precursors). No voids or uncontacted area could be noticed as it is regularly the case for printed fingers, which would increase the resistivity at the interface. Otherwise, the ITO thicknesses below the finger and in the non‐contact positions (Figure b) are similar (≈80 nm) − i.e., ITO was not attacked in the etching step.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 90%

“…Metal pastes printed on SHJ solar cells are designed for low‐temperature application, due to the thermal sensitivity of the amorphous layers. As the cells cannot be heated to above 200 °C, the conductivity of the metal paste is relatively low . This problem has been partly reduced by application of the smart wire technology, which can directly interconnect printed contact fingers with small solder‐coated wires that form the module interconnect .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Native Oxide Barrier Layer for Selective Electroplated Metallization of Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cells

et al. 2019

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The metallization of silicon heterojunction (SHJ) solar cells by electroplating of highly conductive copper onto a multifunctional patterned metal layer stack is demonstrated. The approach features several advantages: low temperature processing, high metal conductivity of plated copper, no organic making, and low material costs (almost Ag‐free). A PVD layer stack of copper and aluminum is deposited onto the cell subsequently to TCO deposition. The aluminum layer is patterned with a printed etchant and its native oxide on the remaining areas inhibits plating. The full area aluminum layer while electroplating supports plating current distribution and allows homogeneous plating height distributions over the cell. The NOBLE (native oxide barrier layer for selective electroplating) approach allows reaching a first encouraging SHJ solar cell efficiency of 20.2% with low contact resistivity.

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Low-Resistivity Screen-Printed Contacts on Indium Tin Oxide Layers for Silicon Solar Cells With Passivating Contacts

Cited by 25 publications

References 36 publications

High-Mobility Hydrogenated Fluorine-Doped Indium Oxide Film for Passivating Contacts c-Si Solar Cells

High-Mobility Hydrogenated Fluorine-Doped Indium Oxide Film for Passivating Contacts c-Si Solar Cells

The sputter deposition of broadband transparent and highly conductive cerium and hydrogen co‐doped indium oxide and its transfer to silicon heterojunction solar cells

Native Oxide Barrier Layer for Selective Electroplated Metallization of Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cells

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