PECVD Intermediate and Absorber Layers Applied in Liquid-Phase Crystallized Silicon Solar Cells on Glass Substrates

Gabriel, Onno; Frijnts, Tim; Calnan, Sonya; Ring, Sven; Kirner, Simon; Opitz, Andreas; Rothert, Inga; Rhein, H.; Zelt, Matthias; Bhatti, K.; Zollondz, J.-H.; Heidelberg, Andreas; Haschke, Jan; Amkreutz, Daniel; Gall, S.; Friedrich, F.; Stannowski, Bernd; Rech, Bernd; Schlatmann, Rutger

doi:10.1109/jphotov.2014.2354257

Cited by 26 publications

(57 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Hydrogen plasma passivation (HPP) of LPC‐Si can significantly enhance the charge carrier diffusion length in the absorber and improve the resulting solar cell performance . In this contribution, we demonstrate that this improvement depends on the doping type and concentration of p‐type and n‐type LPC‐Si absorbers as well as on the interlayer material, which is in contact with the absorber and, therefore, responsible for its passivation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Crystalline silicon on glass—interface passivation and absorber material quality

Gabriel

Frijnts

Preissler

et al. 2015

Progress in Photovoltaics

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Thin crystalline silicon solar cells prepared directly on glass substrates by means of liquid-phase crystallization of the absorber utilize only a small fraction of the silicon material used by standard wafer-based silicon solar cells. The material consists of large crystal grains of up to square centimeter area and results in solar cells with open-circuit voltages of 650 mV, which is comparable with results achieved with multi-crystalline silicon wafers. We give a brief status update and present new results on the electronic interface and bulk properties. The interrelation between surface passivation and additional hydrogen plasma passivation is investigated for p-type and n-type absorbers with different doping concentrations. Internal quantum efficiency measurements from both sides on bifacial solar cells are used to extract the bulk-diffusion length and surface-recombination velocity. Finally, we compare various types of solar cell devices based on 10 μm thin crystalline silicon, where conversion efficiencies of 11-12% were achieved with p-type and n-type liquid-phase crystallized absorbers on glass.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Crystalline silicon on glass—interface passivation and absorber material quality

Gabriel

Frijnts

Preissler

et al. 2015

Progress in Photovoltaics

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“…4 All of the layers were grown with a substrate temperature (T sub ) of 400°C as was used for the silicon absorber deposition. The other process parameters were varied over a range of values in order to adjust the properties of the different materials as summarized in Table 1 silicon wafers.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…4 Absorber p-type doping was achieved by depositing a thin boron doped a-Si:H layer on top of the precursor. The boron from this layer was homogeneously distributed throughout the absorber during liquidphase crystallization resulting in an acceptor concentration of about 10 16 cm −3 .…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The preceding NO(ON)-interlayer stack provided an adequate barrier for boron from glass and was successfully implemented in solar cells leading to a photoconversion efficiency of 10.8% using a 4.3 μm thick p-type absorber as reported elsewhere. 4 Additionally, since the wettability of silicon on an a-SiO x N y :H surface is below that of a-SiN x :H but higher than that of a-SiO x :H, 61 an adequate adhesion of the silicon absorber on the glass after crystallization was guaranteed. In order to investigate how to further improve the NO(ON) IL, we studied the LPC-Si/a-SiO x N y :H interface using cross-section TEM.…”

Section: Effect Of Hydrogen Plasma Passivation and Correlation To Pasmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Influence of Chemical Composition and Structure in Silicon Dielectric Materials on Passivation of Thin Crystalline Silicon on Glass

Calnan

Gabriel

Rothert

et al. 2015

ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces

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In this study, various silicon dielectric films, namely, a-SiOx:H, a-SiNx:H, and a-SiOxNy:H, grown by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) were evaluated for use as interlayers (ILs) between crystalline silicon and glass. Chemical bonding analysis using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy showed that high values of oxidant gases (CO2 and/or N2), added to SiH4 during PECVD, reduced the Si-H and N-H bond density in the silicon dielectrics. Various three layer stacks combining the silicon dielectric materials were designed to minimize optical losses between silicon and glass in rear side contacted heterojunction pn test cells. The PECVD grown silicon dielectrics retained their functionality despite being subjected to harsh subsequent processing such as crystallization of the silicon at 1414 °C or above. High values of short circuit current density (Jsc; without additional hydrogen passivation) required a high density of Si-H bonds and for the nitrogen containing films, additionally, a high N-H bond density. Concurrently high values of both Jsc and open circuit voltage Voc were only observed when [Si-H] was equal to or exceeded [N-H]. Generally, Voc correlated with a high density of [Si-H] bonds in the silicon dielectric; otherwise, additional hydrogen passivation using an active plasma process was required. The highest Voc ∼ 560 mV, for a silicon acceptor concentration of about 10(16) cm(-3), was observed for stacks where an a-SiOxNy:H film was adjacent to the silicon. Regardless of the cell absorber thickness, field effect passivation of the buried silicon surface by the silicon dielectric was mandatory for efficient collection of carriers generated from short wavelength light (in the vicinity of the glass-Si interface). However, additional hydrogen passivation was obligatory for an increased diffusion length of the photogenerated carriers and thus Jsc in solar cells with thicker absorbers.

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“…Very recently, the efficiency as high as 11.8% with open-circuit voltage (V oc ) of 632 mV and short-circuit current density (J sc ) of 27.8 mA/cm 2 has been obtained for solar cells made by linefocus e-beam crystallization of 10-μm e-beam evaporated poly-Si films on antireflection (AR) buffer layer-coated planar glass superstrate with a backcontacted a-Si:H heterojunction design [4]. In another work, an initial efficiency of 11.7% (stable at 10.4%), with V oc of 585 mV and J sc of 27.6 mA/cm 2 has been realized for a diode laser crystallized 10-μm e-beam evaporated poly-Si thin-film solar cell on planar glass superstrate with the similar AR buffer layer, etch-back Si texture, P-diffused rear emitter, and point-contacts metallization [5], [6]. However, the mentioned devices still suffer from incomplete light absorption when compared with J sc above 29 mA/cm 2 for only about 2-μm-thick SPC poly-Si solar cells made on textured glass [7], [8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Light Absorption Enhancement in Laser-Crystallized Silicon Thin Films on Textured Glass

Pakhuruddin

Huang

Dore

et al. 2016

IEEE J. Photovoltaics

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Liquid-phase crystallization of Si films on textured glass by line-focus diode laser produces a material with large highquality grains of several hundred micrometers in width and up to centimeters in length, similar to the films crystallized on planar glass. A combination of glass texturing, rear Si texturing, white paint rear reflector, and a front moth-eye antireflection foil on a 7-μm absorber results in significant broadband absorption enhancement in the Si film with potential short-circuit current densities in solar cells of 27.8 mA/cm 2 or 36.3% enhancement compared with a planar reference film without light-trapping features. Index Terms-Absorption enhancement, light-trapping (LT), liquid-phase crystallization (LPC), polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si).

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PECVD Intermediate and Absorber Layers Applied in Liquid-Phase Crystallized Silicon Solar Cells on Glass Substrates

Cited by 26 publications

References 16 publications

Crystalline silicon on glass—interface passivation and absorber material quality

Crystalline silicon on glass—interface passivation and absorber material quality

Influence of Chemical Composition and Structure in Silicon Dielectric Materials on Passivation of Thin Crystalline Silicon on Glass

Light Absorption Enhancement in Laser-Crystallized Silicon Thin Films on Textured Glass

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