Passivation of polycrystalline silicon solar cells by low-energy hydrogen ion implantation

Müller, Jean-Claude; Ababou, Yahya; Barhdadi, Abdelfettah; Courcelle, E.; Unamuno, S. de; Salles, Daniela C.; Siffert, P.; Fally, J.

doi:10.1016/0379-6787(86)90013-x

Cited by 36 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…6,9 To study the effect of post-annealing, three samples that provided the highest lifetime gains after H 2 S annealing and FGA were selected for post-annealing in air. One is the sample annealed at 450…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Samples without post-annealing lose almost ∼25% of their earlier-recorded minority carrier lifetime, although H 2 S annealed samples continue to show higher lifetime gains, as high as ∼1500% as compared to ∼230% for FGA samples. Degradation is expected for hydrogenpassivated samples due to the desorption of hydrogen atoms from the passivated sites, 6 but a question remains about the exact mechanism for the ∼550…”

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confidence: 99%

“…2 A number of grain boundary or bulk passivation methods have been developed for multi-Si solar cells. [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] These methods include passivation by hydrogen plasma, 4,5 low-energy hydrogen implantation, [6][7][8] forming gas annealing (FGA) 9,10 and hydrogenated silicon nitride (SiN x :H). [11][12][13][14][15] Among them, SiN x :H passivation is widely employed because SiN x :H serves multiple purposes in multi-Si solar cells: antireflection, surface passivation and bulk passivation.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…[4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] These methods include passivation by hydrogen plasma, 4,5 low-energy hydrogen implantation, [6][7][8] forming gas annealing (FGA) 9,10 and hydrogenated silicon nitride (SiN x :H).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Grain Boundary Passivation in Multicrystalline Silicon Using Hydrogen Sulfide

Saha

Zhang

Sun

et al. 2015

ECS J. Solid State Sci. Technol.

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A new grain boundary passivation method for multicrystalline silicon using hydrogen sulfide has been developed in this work. It has the added benefit of both hydrogen and sulfur for grain boundary passivation. Minority carrier lifetime of the samples is measured to monitor the effect of passivation. It is found that sulfur passivation takes place at higher temperatures, ∼100 • C higher, than hydrogen passivation, and sulfur passivation results in much higher lifetime gains than hydrogen passivation. Post-annealing in ambient further improves the lifetime of the samples, which is attributed to improved surface passivation on the p-type silicon samples by aluminum oxide. The highest lifetime gain achieved after post-annealing is 6750% over the control sample for hydrogen sulfide annealed samples vs. ∼2400% for forming gas annealed samples. Post-annealing also improves the stability of the passivation. Multicrystalline silicon (multi-Si) solar cells are the most popular among various cell technologies today. They are lower cost than monocrystalline silicon (mono-Si) solar cells, although they come with a lower efficiency. The current record efficiency for laboratory multi-Si cells is 20.4%, whereas it is 25.6% for mono-Si cells. 1One of the fundamental bottlenecks for higher-efficiency multi-Si solar cells is the defects along the grain boundaries such as dangling bonds. These defects act as recombination centers for minority carriers, thus reducing the minority carrier lifetime.2,3 To improve the efficiency of multi-Si cells, passivation of defects along the grain boundaries is important, along with good surface passivation.2 A number of grain boundary or bulk passivation methods have been developed for multi-Si solar cells. [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] These methods include passivation by hydrogen plasma, 4,5 low-energy hydrogen implantation, [6][7][8] forming gas annealing (FGA) 9,10 and hydrogenated silicon nitride (SiN x :H).11-15 Among them, SiN x :H passivation is widely employed because SiN x :H serves multiple purposes in multi-Si solar cells: antireflection, surface passivation and bulk passivation. An important commonality in all the methods above is that hydrogen bonding to dangling bonds is the mechanism responsible for grain boundary passivation. In metal-oxide-Si field-effect transistors, deuterium passivation has been demonstrated which terminates dangling bonds at the oxide/Si interface. 16 Sulfur is a double-valency element which has been proven effective in terminating dangling bonds on the Si(100) surface. Sulfur passivation of Si(100) can be performed either in solution [17][18][19] or from gaseous hydrogen sulfide (H 2 S).20 Using H 2 S for grain boundary passivation could take advantage of both hydrogen and sulfur. This allows sulfur to terminate double dangling bond sites, while hydrogen terminates single dangling bond sites along the grain boundaries. In this paper, we report a new method for grain boundary passivation using H 2 S. The experiment was carried out on p-type mult...

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Grain Boundary Passivation in Multicrystalline Silicon Using Hydrogen Sulfide

Saha

Zhang

Sun

et al. 2015

ECS J. Solid State Sci. Technol.

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“…1,2 Polycrystalline silicon in the form of thin layers promises strong cost reduction. [5][6][7] However, not in all cases was efficient defect passivation obtained. For efficient solar cells, diffusion lengths exceeding the cell thickness are required.…”

Section: ͓S0003-6951͑97͒04741-4͔mentioning

confidence: 99%

Efficient defect passivation by hot-wire hydrogenation

Plieninger

Wanka

Kühnle

et al. 1997

Applied Physics Letters

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EBIC Study of Backside Hydrogenation of Poly-Si Solar Cell Grain Boundaries

Chen

Matson

Burton

1992

Phys. Stat. Sol. (a)

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Hydrogen passivation of grain boundaries in poly-Si solar cells from the backside of the cells is studied by using a Kaufman ion source in conjunction with electron beam induced current (EBIC) measurements. It is found that the EBIC measurement is an effective way to monitor the passivation efficiency. Grain boundary passivation depths of over 230 pm from the back surface are determined by EBIC measurements on the frontside of the cell. Quantitative determination of the grain boundary recombination velocity and minority carrier diffusion length before and after passivation are presented. Nonuniform passivation along grain boundaries was observed. An annealing experiment after hydrogen passivation provides insight into the hydrogen configuration in the grain boundaries. Passivierung von Korngrenzen durch Wasserstoff an Poly-Si-Solarzellen von der Zellenruckseite wird unter Verwendung einer Kaufmanschen Ionenquelle in Verbindung mit EBIC-Messungen untersucht. Es zeigt sich, daB EBIC-Messung eine wirksame Methode zur Registrierung des Passivierungsgrades ist. Korngrenzenpassivierungstiefen von mehr als 230 pm von der Riickseite werden durch EBIC-Messungen an der Vorderseite der Zelle bestimmt. Quantitative Werte der Korngrenzen-Rekombinationsgeschwindigkeit und der Minoritatsladungstragerdiffusionslange vor und nach der Passivierung werden mitgeteilt. Es wird eine ungleichmaBige Passivierung entlang der Korngrenze beobachtet. Ein Ausheilexperiment nach Passivierung durch Wasserstoff gibt Einblick in die Wasserstoffkonfiguration in den Korngrenzen.

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Passivation of polycrystalline silicon solar cells by low-energy hydrogen ion implantation

Cited by 36 publications

References 17 publications

Grain Boundary Passivation in Multicrystalline Silicon Using Hydrogen Sulfide

Grain Boundary Passivation in Multicrystalline Silicon Using Hydrogen Sulfide

Efficient defect passivation by hot-wire hydrogenation

EBIC Study of Backside Hydrogenation of Poly-Si Solar Cell Grain Boundaries

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