Will SiOx-pinholes for SiOx/poly-Si passivating contact enhance the passivation quality?

Passivating contacts based on poly-Si have enabled record-high c-Si solar cell efficiencies due to their excellent surface passivation quality and carrier selectivity. The eventual existence of pinholes within the ultra-thin SiOx layer is one of the key factors for carrier collection, beside the tunneling mechanism. However, pinholes are usually...

Poly-SiO_x Passivating Contacts with Plasma-Assisted N₂O Oxidation of Silicon (PANO-SiO_x)

Passivating contacts are crucial for realizing high-performance crystalline silicon solar cells. Herein, contact formation by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) followed by an annealing step is focused on. Poly-SiO_x passivating contacts by combining plasma-assisted N₂O-based oxidation of silicon (PANO-SiO...

Effects of (i)a-Si: H deposition temperature on high-efficiency silicon heterojunction solar cells

Excellent surface passivation induced by (i)a-Si:H is critical to achieve high-efficiency silicon heterojunction (SHJ) solar cells. This is key for conventional single-junction cell applications but also for bottom cell application in tandem devices. In this study, we investigated the effects of (i)a-Si:H deposition temperature on passivation...

Implantation-based passivating contacts for crystalline silicon front/rear contacted solar cells

In this work, we develop SiO_x/poly-Si carrier-selective contacts grown by low-pressure chemical vapor deposition and boron or phosphorus doped by ion implantation. We investigate their passivation properties on symmetric structures while varying the thickness of poly-Si in a wide range (20-250 nm). Dose and energy of implantation...

Optical characterization of poly-SiO_x and poly-SiC_x carrier-selective passivating contacts

The optical modelling for optimizing high-efficiency c-Si solar cells endowed with poly-SiO_x or poly-SiC_x carrier-selective passivating contacts (CSPCs) demands a thorough understanding of their optical properties, especially their absorption coefficient. Due to the mixed phase nature of these CSPCs, spectroscopic...

Realizing the Potential of RF-Sputtered Hydrogenated Fluorine-Doped Indium Oxide as an Electrode Material for Ultrathin SiO _x/Poly-Si Passivating Contacts

In high-efficiency silicon solar cells featuring carrier-selective passivating contacts based on ultrathin SiOx/poly-Si, the appropriate implementation of transparent conductive oxide (TCO) layers is of vital importance. Considerable deterioration in passivation quality occurs for thin poly-Si-based devices owing to the sputtering damage...

Effective Passivation of Black Silicon Surfaces via Plasma-Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition Grown Conformal Hydrogenated Amorphous Silicon Layer

Solar cells based on black silicon (b-Si) are proven to be promising in photovoltaics (PVs) by exceeding 22% efficiency. To reach high efficiencies with b-Si surfaces, the most crucial step is the effective surface passivation. Up to now, the highest effective minority carrier lifetimes are achieved with atomic layer-deposited Al₂O...

High-Mobility Hydrogenated Fluorine-Doped Indium Oxide Film for Passivating Contacts c-Si Solar Cells

Broadband transparent conductive oxide layers with high electron mobility (μ_e) are essential to further enhance crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cell performances. Although metallic cation-doped In₂O₃ thin films with high μ_e (>60 cm² V^-1 s^-1) have been extensively...

Front and rear contact Si solar cells combining high and low thermal budget Si passivating contacts

In this work we develop a rear emitter silicon solar cell integrating carrier-selective passivating contacts (CSPCs) with different thermal budget in the same device. The solar cell consists of a B-doped poly-Si/SiO_x hole collector and an i/n hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) stack acting as electron collector placed on the...

High temperature oxidation pre-treatment of textured c-Si wafers passivated by a-Si:H

This work shows an alternative surface cleaning method for c-Si wafers to replace the standard chemical procedures as RCA or HNO ₃ which involve hazardous chemicals or unstable processes. The method consists in a high-temperature oxidation treatment (HTO) performed in a classical tube furnace that incorporates organic and metal...