Implentation of a homogeneous high-sheet-resistance emitter in multicrystalline silicon solar cells

Author

Yelundur, Vijay ; Nakayashiki, Kenta ; Hilali, Mohamed ; Rohatgi, Ajeet

Author_Institution

Sch. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Georgia Inst. of Technol., Atlanta, GA, USA

fYear

2005

Firstpage

959

Lastpage

962

Abstract

Solar cell efficiency enhancement resulting from the implementation of a high-sheet-resistance emitter (95 Ω/sq.) in multicrystalline silicon solar cells with screen-printed contacts is demonstrated in this paper. Solar cells on low-cost string ribbon Si from Evergreen Solar, Baysix mc-Si from Deutsche Solar, and high-quality float zone silicon with 45 Ω/sq. and 95 Ω/sq. phosphorus-doped n⁺-emitters are fabricated with RTP-fired screen-printed contacts and characterized to asses the impact of a high-emitter-sheet resistance emitter on cell performance. Screen-printed mc-Si solar cells show an improvement in V_oc of 4-5 mV in most cases that is attributed to the use of the high-sheet-resistance emitter. An appreciable increase in J_sc by as much as 1.0 mA/cm² is also observed due to enhanced blue response identified by internal quantum efficiency measurement.

Keywords

carrier lifetime; electrical resistivity; elemental semiconductors; firing (materials); phosphorus; silicon; solar cells; 4 to 5 mV; RTP-fired screen-printed contacts; Si; float zone silicon; high-sheet-resistance emitter; internal quantum efficiency measurement; multicrystalline silicon solar cells; phosphorus-doped n⁺-emitters; screen-printed contacts; string ribbon; Contact resistance; Degradation; Doping; Electrical resistance measurement; Firing; Metallization; Photovoltaic cells; Radiative recombination; Silicon; Surface resistance;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 2005. Conference Record of the Thirty-first IEEE

ISSN

0160-8371

Print_ISBN

0-7803-8707-4

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/PVSC.2005.1488291

Filename

1488291