Optical Enhancement of Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cells With Hydrogenated Amorphous Silicon Carbide Emitter

Zhang, Dong; Deligiannis, Dimitrios; Παπακωνσταντίνου, Γεώργιος; Swaaij, R.A.C.M.M. van; Zeman, Miro

doi:10.1109/jphotov.2014.2344768

Cited by 26 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…either reduce the thickness t or the extinction coefficient k of the front contact layer. A reduction of k can be achieved by alloying a-Si:H with other elements such as carbon [55,56] or oxygen [57,58], to increase the band gap. Unfortunately, in the case of a-SiO x (n), the doping efficiency is reduced with increasing oxygen content [59] and thus conductivity is decreased.…”

Section: Loss Mechanisms and Mitigation Strategiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Silicon heterojunction solar cells: Recent technological development and practical aspects - from lab to industry

Haschke

Dupré

Boccard

et al. 2018

Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells

170

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We review the recent progress of silicon heterojunction (SHJ) solar cells. Recently, a new efficiency world record for silicon solar cells of 26.7% has been set by Kaneka Corp. using this technology. This was mainly achieved by remarkably increasing the fill-factor (FF) to 84.9%-the highest FF published for a silicon solar cell to date. High FF have for long been a challenge for SHJ technology. We emphasize with the help of simulations the importance of minimised recombination, not only to reach high open-circuit voltages, but also high FF, and discuss the most important loss mechanisms. We review the different cell-to-module loss and gain mechanisms putting focus on those that impact FF. With respect to industrialization of SHJ technology, we discuss the current hindrances and possible solutions, of which many are already present in industry. With the intrinsic bifacial nature of SHJ technology as well as its low temperature coefficient record high energy production per rated power is achievable in many climate regions. 83.8%. This high FF was enabled by a series resistance of only 0.32 Ω cm 2 , demonstrating that very low-resistive contacts can be achieved also with SHJ contacts. Later in 2017, further progress in efficiency was reported, culminating at 26.7% [4]. This cell featured an

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Section: Loss Mechanisms and Mitigation Strategiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Silicon heterojunction solar cells: Recent technological development and practical aspects - from lab to industry

Haschke

Dupré

Boccard

et al. 2018

Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells

170

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“…Nowadays, the highest conversion efficiency in crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cells is enabled by quenching minority carriers' recombination velocity at the c-Si/contact interface by means of carrier-selective passivating contacts (CSPCs). These are technologies based on, for example, a-Si:H (Silicon Heterojunction, SHJ) 1,2,3,4 , doped poly-Si 5,6,7 , and metaloxides 8,9,10 . Both SHJ and poly-Si technologies have recently led to world-record, > 26%, interdigitated back-contacted (IBC) solar cells 11,12 .…”

Section: Delft University Of Technology Pvmd Group Mekelweg 4 2628mentioning

confidence: 99%

Poly-crystalline silicon-oxide films as carrier-selective passivating contacts for c-Si solar cells

Yang

Guo

Procel

et al. 2018

Applied Physics Letters

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The poly-Si carrier-selective passivating contacts (CSPCs) parasitically absorb a substantial amount of light, especially in the form of free carrier absorption. To minimize these losses, we developed CSPCs based on oxygen-alloyed poly-Si (poly-SiOx) and deployed them in c-Si solar cells. Transmission electron microscopy analysis indicates the presence of nanometer-scale silicon crystals within such poly-SiOx layers. By varying the O content during material deposition, we can manipulate the crystallinity of the poly-SiOx material and its absorption coefficient. Also, depending on the O content, the bandgap of the poly-SiOx material can be widened, making it transparent for longer wavelength light. Thus, we optimized the O alloying, doping, annealing, and hydrogenation conditions. As a result, an extremely high passivation quality for both n-type poly-SiOx (J0 = 3.0 fA/cm2 and iVoc = 740 mV) and p-type poly-SiOx (J0 = 17.0 fA/cm2 and iVoc = 700 mV) is obtained. A fill factor of 83.5% is measured in front/back-contacted solar cells with both polarities made up of poly-SiOx. This indicates that the carrier transport through the junction between poly-SiOx and c-Si is sufficiently efficient. To demonstrate the merit of poly-SiOx layers' high transparency at long wavelengths, they are deployed at the back side of interdigitated back-contacted (IBC) solar cells. A preliminary cell efficiency of 19.7% is obtained with much room for further improvement. Compared to an IBC solar cell with poly-Si CSPCs, a higher internal quantum efficiency at long wavelengths is observed for the IBC solar cell with poly-SiOx CSPCs, thus demonstrating the potential of poly-SiOx in enabling higher JSC.

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“…Ellipsometry measurements of a-SiC x :H layers were made with a Woolam M2000 system and a Cody-Lorentz model was used in the analysis, similarly to Ref. 28. A better fit of the data was obtained than with a Tauc-Lorentz model, especially for high R CH 4 , probably due to the large band tails in this material which are better reproduced with a Cody-Lorentz model.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Amorphous silicon carbide passivating layers for crystalline-silicon-based heterojunction solar cells

Boccard

Holman

2015

Journal of Applied Physics

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Amorphous silicon enables the fabrication of very high-efficiency crystalline-silicon-based solar cells due to its combination of excellent passivation of the crystalline silicon surface and permeability to electrical charges. Yet, amongst other limitations, the passivation it provides degrades upon high-temperature processes, limiting possible post-deposition fabrication possibilities (e.g., forcing the use of low-temperature silver pastes). We investigate the potential use of intrinsic amorphous silicon carbide passivating layers to sidestep this issue. The passivation obtained using device-relevant stacks of intrinsic amorphous silicon carbide with various carbon contents and doped amorphous silicon are evaluated, and their stability upon annealing assessed, amorphous silicon carbide being shown to surpass amorphous silicon for temperatures above 300 C. We demonstrate open-circuit voltage values over 700 mV for complete cells, and an improved temperature stability for the open-circuit voltage. Transport of electrons and holes across the hetero-interface is studied with complete cells having amorphous silicon carbide either on the hole-extracting side or on the electron-extracting side, and a better transport of holes than of electrons is shown. Also, due to slightly improved transparency, complete solar cells using an amorphous silicon carbide passivation layer on the hole-collecting side are demonstrated to show slightly better performances even prior to annealing than obtained with a standard amorphous silicon layer. V

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Optical Enhancement of Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cells With Hydrogenated Amorphous Silicon Carbide Emitter

Cited by 26 publications

References 15 publications

Silicon heterojunction solar cells: Recent technological development and practical aspects - from lab to industry

Silicon heterojunction solar cells: Recent technological development and practical aspects - from lab to industry

Poly-crystalline silicon-oxide films as carrier-selective passivating contacts for c-Si solar cells

Amorphous silicon carbide passivating layers for crystalline-silicon-based heterojunction solar cells

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