The investigation of the properties of solar cells based on Kazakhstan silicon

Abstract

The investigation of the properties of solar cells based on Kazakhstan silicon The study of the properties of solar cells is a relevant topic since the development of solar energy corresponds to the global trend and the course of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan on the transition to a «green» economy. Various properties of solar cells such as resistivity and surface resistance, carrier lifetime, reflectivity, quantum efficiency, directly affect the efficiency of solar cells. This paper is devoted to obtaining and comprehensive study of solar cells manufactured on the basis of the Kazakhstani silicon of «solar» quality. The study applied: a method of microwave detected photoconductive decay (μ-PCD), four probe methods for measuring resistance, methods for spectrometric analysis of reflection, transmission and photoluminescence coefficients, scanning electron microscopy, and methods for analyzing current-voltage characteristics. The mastered methods of solar cells production are described. A modification of the standard Back Surface Field (BSF) cell line to the Passivated Emitter and Rear Cell (PERC) line has been proposed.

Adapting M2 silicon half-wafers processing on industrial-scale equipment dedicated to 4″ solar technology

“…Such process for basic Aluminum back surface field (Al-BSF) solar cells can give conversion efficiencies of $16% with multicrystalline wafers with Jsc = 32 mA/cm 2 , Voc = 0.62 V and FF = 78%. These values are quite close to the standard process mostly used for similar structures (Klinovitskaya et al, 2019). As passivated emitter and rear contact (PERC) cell has become the new standard technology, our future work will focus on applying the ongoing development of alumina/SiN x passivating bilayer at the rear of the device (Zougar et al, 2019) to get an efficient solar cell with dimensions up to M10 format.…”

Modification of a standard Al-BSF solar cell line into PERC using PECVD

“…The production process of standard Al-BSF PVCs involves the following key stages [9]: texturization; phosphorus diffusion, formation of a p−n junction; removal of phosphosilicate glass (PSG) and etching of the parasitic emitter; deposition of an antireflective coating by plasmaenhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD); fabrication of current-collecting bus lines and a contact grid (metallization) by screen printing; drying of the rear aluminum surface field and firing of contacts; measurement of the current-voltage curve (CVC) of finished PVCs.…”

Hydrogen energy in Kazakhstan: prospects for development and potential

“…To this end, the recently inaugurated "Astana Solar" facility in Astana is focused on manufacturing photovoltaic modules. The plant intends to produce solar panels utilizing Kazakh silicon, starting with an initial capacity of 50 MW, which can potentially be expanded to 100 MW (Karatayev et al 2017;Klinovitskaya et al 2019; Kazakhstan truth 2013).…”