Top-down Aluminum Induced Crystallization for N-type solar cell emitters

Author

Shumate, Seth ; Khaja, Hafeezuddin M. ; Hutchings, Douglas ; Shui-Qing Yu ; Naseem, Hameed

Author_Institution

Silicon Solar Solutions, Univ. of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, USA

fYear

2013

fDate

16-21 June 2013

Firstpage

1294

Lastpage

1297

Abstract

Top-down Aluminum Induced Crystallization (TAIC) has been used to form the p+ emitters of n-type solar cells. TAIC is a low temperature process with the potential for very good junction passivation and avoidance of parasitic absorption of amorphous silicon experienced by HIT cells. During experimentation, several crystallization possibilities emerged. The structure of these emitters were determined by Raman spectroscopy, SEM, and TEM. Solar cells were fabricated and measured. Theoretical projections and loss analyses were done by modeling these cells using PC1D. The highest efficiency cell achieved was 7.26% out of a theoretical 8.73%. These cells had no ARC/surface passivation, texturing, or a back surface field.

Keywords

Raman spectroscopy; amorphous semiconductors; crystallisation; elemental semiconductors; passivation; scanning electron microscopy; silicon; solar cells; transmission electron microscopy; ARC; HIT cells; Raman spectroscopy; SEM; Si; TEM; amorphous silicon; back surface field; junction passivation; n-type solar cells; p+ emitters; parasitic absorption; scanning electron microscopy; surface passivation; texturing; top-down aluminum induced crystallization; transmission electron microscopy; Aluminum; Amorphous silicon; Crystallization; Films; Passivation; Photovoltaic cells; Temperature measurement; TAIC; amorphous silicon; crystallization; n-type; photovoltaic cells;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC), 2013 IEEE 39th

Conference_Location

Tampa, FL

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/PVSC.2013.6744378

Filename

6744378