Dielectric Rear Surface Passivation for Industrial Multicrystalline Silicon Solar Cells

Thermal oxides are commonly used for the production of high-efficiency silicon solar cells from mono- and multicrystalline silicon and have led to the highest conversion efficiencies reported so far. Following the development of high-efficiency cells of small area (1 or 4 cm²) using photolithographic techniques, in the present study large area cells (ges100 cm²) are manufactured employing an industrial front structure. In this paper we present two different passivation schemes for the rear surface of industrial multicrystalline silicon solar cells. The first scheme is a thick thermal oxide grown under wet conditions. The second scheme represents a stack system which comprises the benefits of silicon oxide and silicon nitride layers. In both cases the front surface metallisation is achieved with standard industrial screen-printed silver paste