Rapid Thermal Annealing and Hydrogen Passivation of Polycrystalline Silicon Thin-Film Solar Cells on Low-Temperature Glass

Abstract

The changes in open-circuit voltage (Voc), short-circuit current density (Jsc), and internal quantum efficiency (IQE) of aLuminum induced crystallization, ion-assisted deposition (ALICIA) polycrystalline silicon thin-film solar cells on low-temperature glass substrates due to rapid thermal anneal (RTA) treatment and subsequent remote microwave hydrogen plasma passivation (hydrogenation) are examined.Vocimprovements from 130 mV to 430 mV,Jscimprovements from 1.2 mA/cm2to 11.3 mA/cm2, and peak IQE improvements from 16% to>70% are achieved. A 1-second RTA plateau at 1000°C followed by hydrogenation increases theJscby a factor of 5.5. Secondary ion mass spectroscopy measurements are used to determine the concentration profiles of dopants, impurities, and hydrogen. Computer modeling based on simulations of the measured IQE data reveals that the minority carrier lifetime in the absorber region increases by 3 orders of magnitude to about 1 nanosecond (corresponding to a diffusion length of at least 1 μm) due to RTA and subsequent hydrogenation. The evaluation of the changes in the quantum efficiency andVocdue to RTA and hydrogenation with computer modeling significantly improves the understanding of the limiting factors to cell performance.

High-temperature laser annealing for thin film polycrystalline silicon solar cell on glass substrate

“…When the same sample is measured from the glass side, the V oc becomes 485 mV mainly due to lower reflection from the glass side thanks to the SiN layer. This high V oc value is comparable to that obtained after rapid thermal annealing [7,8].…”

“…The RTA (rapid thermal annealing) process was extensively applied for the crystallization of amorphous silicon on glass for solar cells and thin film transistors (TFTs) applications [1][2][3]. In case of polycrystalline silicon based solar cells, the RTA process has been employed to reduce the point defects present in the poly-Si layers and to activate the dopant elements [4][5][6][7][8].…”

Advances in Evaporated Solid‐Phase‐Crystallized Poly‐Si Thin‐Film Solar Cells on Glass (EVA)

“…Both postdeposition treatments (RTA and hydrogenation) are essential processes for achieving appreciable performance of SPC poly-Si solar cells on glass [10,11]. The total thickness of the poly-Si films is about 2 μm.…”

Oxygen passivation of silicon nanocrystals: Influences on trap states, electron mobility, and hybrid solar cell performance

“…For bulk silicon, either thermal annealing in a hydrogen atmosphere or wet chemical processing in HF solution can provide a good hydrogen-passivated surface [49,50], however, both methods are inapplicable for Si NCs. Thermal annealing at temperatures greater than 800 1C has a high risk of sintering the particles together.…”