Influence of SiNx:H film properties according to gas mixture ratios for crystalline silicon solar cells

The Hydrogenated silicon nitride (SiN_x:H) using plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition is widely used in photovoltaic industry as an antireflection coating and passivation layer. In the high temperature firing process, the SiN_x:H film should not change the properties for its use as high quality surface layer in crystalline silicon solar cells. For optimizing surface layer in crystalline silicon solar cells, by varying gas mixture ratios (SiH₄ + NH₃ + N₂, SiH₄ + NH₃, SiH₄ + N₂), the hydrogenated silicon nitride films were analyzed for its antireflection and surface passivation (electrical and chemical) properties. The film deposited with the gas mixture of SiH₄ + NH₃ + N₂ showed the best properties in before and after firing process conditions.The single crystalline silicon solar cells fabricated according to optimized gas mixture condition (SiH₄ + NH₃ + N₂) on large area substrate of size 156 mm × 156 mm (Pseudo square) was found to have the conversion efficiency as high as 17.2%. The reason for the high efficiency using SiH₄ + NH₃ + N₂ is because of the good optical transmittance and passivation properties. Optimized hydrogenated silicon nitride surface layer and high efficiency crystalline silicon solar cells fabrication sequence has also been explained in this study.     

The impacts of LPCVD wrap-around on the performance of n-type tunnel oxide passivated contact c-Si solar cell

In this paper, Tunnel Oxide Passivated Contact (TOPCon) silicon solar cells with the industrial area (244.32 cm²) are fabricated on N-type silicon substrates. Both the ultra-thin tunnel oxide layer and phosphorus doped polycrystalline silicon (polysilicon) thin film are prepared by the LPCVD system. The wrap-around of polysilicon is observed on the surface of borosilicate glass (BSG). The polysilicon wrap-around can form a leakage current path, thus degrades the shunt resistance of solar cells, and leads to the degradation of solar cell efficiency. Different methods are adopted to treat the polysilicon wrap-around and improve shunt resistance of solar cells. The experimental results indicate that a chemical etching method can effectively solve the problem of polysilicon wrap-around and improve the performance of solar cells. Finally, a conversion efficiency of 22.81% has been achieved by our bifacial TOPCon solar cells, with V_oc of 702.6 mV, J_sc of 39.78 mA/cm² and FF of 81.62%.     

Investigation of rapid thermal oxide/ silicon nitride passivation stack of n+ emitter

To anticipate the initial phosphorus diffusion parameters of silicon solar cells process fabrication, we report in this paper an overview of our experiments on silicon n⁺-emitters passivation by means of rapid thermal silicon oxide/silicon nitride stack. The process-induced changes have been evaluated and explained. We found that 900 °C and 80 s were the appropriate process parameters to grow 10 nm silicon oxide. Investigation of the effect of this oxidation on n⁺ multicrystalline silicon emitters revealed a large decrease (more than 25%) of the sheet resistance and around 12% increase of the junction depth. The experiments also revealed that the passivation effect of the optimal silicon oxide/silicon nitride stack is efficient only for higher emitter quality. In addition, we found that this stack reduces the surface reflection more than the optimal single silicon nitride layer.     

Effects of textured morphology on the short circuit current of single crystalline silicon solar cells: Evaluation of alkaline wet-texture processes

The effect of different surface morphologies obtained by anisotropic etching on the light trapping and short circuit current of single crystalline silicon solar cells was investigated. The anisotropic texturing of a (1 0 0) silicon surface was performed using potassium hydroxide (KOH) solution and/or tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH) solution including isopropyl alcohol (IPA) additive or tertiary butyl alcohol (TBA) additive. Texturing in TMAH solution formed smaller pyramids on the textured surface compared with texturing in KOH solution. Although the textured samples showed similar reflectances (except in the case of the TBA additive), they showed different short circuit currents. Texturing in KOH/TMAH solution led to a 9.6% increase in short circuit current compared with texturing in KOH/IPA solution, a typical etchant in commercial processes. Based on these results, the reflectivity has no simple proportionality relationship to the short circuit current, and the short circuit current of silicon solar cells should be the criterion used in evaluating texturing effects on reducing reflectance and forming a sound junction with high collection efficiency.     

Design of AlInN on silicon heterojunctions grown by sputtering for solar devices

AlInN alloys offer great potential for photovoltaics thanks to their wide direct bandgap covering the solar spectrum from the infrared (0.7 eV – InN) to the ultraviolet (6.2 eV – AlN), and their superior resistance to high temperatures and high-energy particles. We report the design of AlInN-on-silicon heterojunctions grown by radio-frequency sputtering to explore their potential for low-cost devices. Particularly, we study the influence of AlInN bandgap energy, thickness and carrier concentration, silicon surface recombination, interface defect density and wafer quality, on the photovoltaic properties of the junction. The effect of introducing an anti-reflective coating is also assessed. Optimized AlInN-on-Si structures show a conversion efficiency of 23.6% under 1-sun AM1.5G illumination. In comparison with silicon homojunctions, they own an improved responsivity at wavelengths below 500 nm. These results make AlInN-on-Si heterojunctions a promising technology for solar devices with impact in space applications. Experimental results on novel AlInN-on-Si solar cells are also presented.     

Effect of rapid thermal oxidation on structure and photoelectronic properties of silicon oxide in monocrystalline silicon solar cells

This paper concerns the topic of surface passivation properties of rapid thermal oxidation on p-type monocrystalline silicon wafer for use in screen-printed silicon solar cells. It shows that inline thermal oxidation is a very promising alternative to the use of conventional batch type quartz tube furnaces for the surface passivation of industrial phosphorus-diffused emitters. Five minutes was the most favorable holding time for the rapid thermal oxidation growth of the solar cell sample, in which the average carrier lifetime was increased 19.4 μs. The Fourier transform infrared spectrum of the rapid thermal oxidation sample, whose structure was Al/Al-BSF/p-type Si/n-type SiP/SiO₂/SiN_x/Ag solar cell with an active area of 15.6 cm², contained an absorption peak at 1085 cm⁻¹, which was associated with the Si–O bonds in silicon oxide. The lowest average reflectance of this sample is 0.87%. Furthermore, for this sample, its average of internal quantum efficiency and conversion efficiency are respectively increased by 8% and 0.23%, compared with the sample without rapid thermal oxidation processing.     

Development of surface-textured hydrogenated ZnO:Al thin-films for μc-Si solar cells

This study addresses the optimization of rf magnetron-sputtered hydrogenated ZnO:Al (HAZO) films as front contacts in microcrystalline silicon solar cells. The front contact of a solar cell has to be highly conductive and highly transparent to visible and infrared radiation. Furthermore, it has to scatter the incident light efficiently in order for the light to be effectively trapped in the underlying silicon layers. In this research, HAZO films were rf-magnetron-sputtered on glass substrates from a ceramic (98 wt% ZnO, 2 wt% Al₂O₃) target. Various compositions of AZO films on glass substrates were prepared by changing the H₂/(Ar + H₂) ratio of the sputtering gas. The resulting smooth films exhibited high transparencies (T  85% for visible light including all reflection losses) and excellent electrical properties (ρ = 2.7 × 10⁻⁴ Ω · cm). Depending on their structural properties, these films developed different surface textures upon post-deposition etching using diluted hydrochloric acid. The light-scattering properties of these films could be controlled simply by varying the etching time. Moreover, the electrical properties of the films were not affected by the etching process. Therefore, within certain limits, it is possible to optimize the electro-optical and light-scattering properties separately. The microcrystalline silicon (μc-Si:H)-based p–i–n solar cells prepared using these new texture-etched AZO:H substrates showed high quantum efficiencies in the long wavelength range, thereby demonstrating effective light trapping. Using the optimum AZO:H thin-film textured surface, we achieved a p–i–n μc-Si solar cell efficiency of 7.78%.     

Determination of diffusion length in photovoltaic crystalline silicon by modelisation of light beam induced current

The diffusion length of minority carriers is one of the most important electrical parameters to qualify silicon for photovoltaic applications. One way to evaluate this parameter is to analyse the decay of the current induced when a focused beam is scanned away from the collector using Light Beam Induced Current (LBIC) technique. The LBIC signal was numerically calculated with 2D-DESSIS software under different boundary conditions, as a function of material thickness and surface recombination velocity in order to verify the limitations of analytical models and to fit the LBIC signal measured in thin silicon samples. Samples with thickness ranging from 55 μm to 2500 μm were evaluated with diffusion length values ranging from 70 μm to 2.5 mm. Analytical expressions of the Internal Quantum Efficiency (IQE) were also used to extract the minority carrier bulk and effective diffusion lengths from surface averaged spectral response and reflectivity data in thick solar cells.     

High efficiency nanotextured silicon solar cells

We report the computational modeling of forward scattering phenomena arising in Au nanoparticles array near their localized surface plasmon resonance, which by producing a strong field enhancement effect on the substrate leads to higher optical absorption and, therefore, higher efficiencies of operation. Computational calculations indicate that the ultimate efficiency of an optimized silicon nanoholes (SiNH) array texture surface in combination with the surface and bottom-of-a-trench Au nanoparticles array described herein, is 39.67%, which compares favorably with the ultimate efficiency of 31.11% for an optimized silicon nanoholes array texture surface. Furthermore, the utilization of an optimized silicon nitride antireflection coating increases the ultimate efficiency to a promising value of 41.88%, while the utilization of a single-crystal silicon layer of thickness 2.8 μm will be instrumental in drastically reducing solar cell manufacturing cost.     

Antireflective properties of disordered Si SWSs with hydrophobic surface by thermally dewetted Pt nanomask patterns for Si-based solar cells

We have theoretically and experimentally investigated the antireflective properties of the disordered subwavelength structures (SWSs) with a hydrophobic surface on silicon (Si) substrates by an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) etching in SiCl₄/Ar plasma using thermally dewetted platinum (Pt) nanopatterns as etch masks for Si-based solar cells. The Pt thin films on the SiO₂/Si surface were properly changed into the optimized dot-like nanopatterns via the thermal dewetting by rapid thermal annealing process. The antireflection properties were definitely affected by the etched profile of SWSs which can be controlled by the conditions of etching process. For the tapered Si SWS with a high average height of 724 ± 78 nm, the reflectance was significantly reduced below 5% over a wide wavelength range of 350-1030 nm, leading to a relatively low solar weighted reflectance of 2.6%. The structure exhibited reflectances less than 14.8% at wide incident angles of 8-70°. The hydrophobic surface with a water contact angle of 113.2° was obtained. For Si SWSs, the antireflective properties were also analyzed by the rigorous coupled-wave analysis simulation. These calculated results showed similar behavior to the experimental results.     

Optimization of microcrystalline silicon thin film solar cell isolation processing parameters using ultraviolet laser

This study used ultraviolet laser to perform the microcrystalline silicon thin film solar cell isolation scribing process, and applied the Taguchi method and an L₁₈ orthogonal array to plan the experiment. The isolation scribing materials included ZnO:Al, AZO transparent conductive film with a thickness of 200 nm, microcrystalline silicon thin film at 38% crystallinity and of thickness of 500 nm, and the aluminum back contact layer with a thickness of 300 nm. The main objective was to ensure the success of isolation scribing. After laser scribing isolation, using the minimum scribing line width, the flattest trough bottom, and the minimum processing edge surface bumps as the quality characteristics, this study performed main effect analysis and applied the ANOVA (analysis of variance) theory of the Taguchi method to identify the single quality optimal parameter. It then employed the hierarchical structure of the AHP (analytic hierarchy process) theory to establish the positive contrast matrix. After consistency verification, global weight calculation, and priority sequencing, the optimal multi-attribute parameters were obtained. Finally, the experimental results were verified by a Taguchi confirmation experiment and confidence interval calculation. The minimum scribing line width of AZO (200 nm) was 45.6 μm, the minimum scribing line width of the microcrystalline silicon (at 38% crystallinity) was 50.63 μm and the minimum line width of the aluminum thin film (300 nm) was 30.96 μm. The confirmation experiment results were within the 95% confidence interval, verifying that using ultraviolet laser in the isolation scribing process for microcrystalline silicon thin film solar cell has high reproducibility.     

Rapid optical measurement of surface texturing result of crystalline silicon wafers for high efficiency solar cells application

Surface texturing of crystalline silicon (c-Si wafers) wafers is a frequently used technique in high efficiency solar cells processing to reduce the light reflectance. Measuring the surface texturing result is important in the manufacturing process of high efficiency solar cells because the surface texturing of c-Si wafers is sensitive to the performance of reducing front reflection. Traditional approach for measuring surface roughness of texturing of c-Si wafers is atomic force microscopy. The disadvantage of this approach include long lead-time and slow measurement speed. To solve this problem, an optical inspection system for rapid measuring the surface roughness of texturing of c-Si wafers is proposed in this study. It is found that the incident angle of 60° is a good candidate for measuring surface roughness of texturing of c-Si wafers and y = ?188.62x + 70.987 is a trend equation for predicting the surface roughness of texturing of c-Si wafers. Roughness average (Ra) of texturing of c-Si wafers (y) can be directly determined from the peak power density (x) using the optical inspection system developed. The results were verified by atomic force microscopy. The measurement error of the optical inspection system developed is approximately 0.89%. The saving in inspection time of the surface roughness of texturing of c-Si wafers is up to 87.5%.     

Characteristics of silicon solar cell emitter with a reduced diffused phosphorus inactive layer

The diffusion of phosphorus using a phosphorous oxychloride (POCl₃) source in silicon has been used widely in crystalline silicon solar cells. The thermal diffusion process in the furnace consists of two steps: pre-deposition and drive-in. The phosphorous doping profile via thermal diffusion often exhibits high concentrations in the surface-near emitter, which result in a recombination increase. This layer, called the dead layer, should be inhibited in order to fabricate high efficiency silicon solar cells. In this paper, the amount of the POCl₃ flow rate was varied during the pre-deposition process in order to minimize the dead layer, and the characteristics of the phosphosilicate glass (PSG) and emitter were analyzed. From the secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) and electrochemical capacitance–voltage profiler (ECV) measurements, the emitter formed using a POCl₃ flow rate of 1000 sccm contained the least amount of inactive dopant and resulted in reasonable performance in the silicon solar cell. As the POCl₃ flow rate increased, the doped silicon wafer included electrically inactive P near the surface, which functions as a defect degrading the electrical performance of the emitter. As a result of this, the removal of the dead layer containing the inactive P was attempted through dipping the doped wafer in a HF solution. After this process, the emitter saturation current density and implied V_oc were improved. The completed solar cells and their external quantum efficiencies at a short wavelength also demonstrated improved performance. A quantitative analysis of the emitter can provide a deeper understanding of methods to improve the electrical characteristics of the silicon solar cell.     

The 18.3% Silicon Solar Cells with Nano-Structured Surface and Rear Emitter

A nano-structured surface is formed on the pyramid structure of n-type silicon solar cells by size-controlled silver nano-particle assisted etching. Such a nano-structure creates a front average weighted reflectance of less than 2.5%in the 300-1200 nm range due to the broadband reflection suppression. The sodium hydroxide is used to obtain the low-area surface by post-etching the nano-structure, thus the severe carrier recombination associated with the nano-structured surface could be reduced. After emitter forming, screen printing and firing by means of the industrial fabrication protocol, an 18.3%-efficient nano-structured silicon solar cell with rear emitter is fabricated.The process of fabricating the solar cells matches well with industrial manufacture and shows promising prospects.     

Optimization of 1D photonic crystals to minimize the reflectance of silicon solar cells

This paper presents a process to easily fabricate photonic crystals (PCs) on silicon to increase the efficiency of solar cells by reducing the sunlight reflection in the front surface of the cell. The process, based on laser interference lithography (LIL) and reactive ion etching (RIE), allows creating nanostructures over large areas with different shapes and dimensions. The reflectance of the resulting surface depends on the height, pitch, width and shape of the created PC. In this work, these parameters have been optimized by computer simulation and the best PC so far found has been fabricated on silicon. We obtain a normal reflectance under 10% in the spectral region between 500 and 900 nm without any other material employed as antireflecting coating.     

On the mechanism of potential‐induced degradation in crystalline silicon solar cells

Multicrystalline standard p‐type silicon solar cells, which undergo a potential induced degradation, are investigated by different methods to reveal the cause of the degradation. Microscopic local ohmic shunts are detected by electron‐beam‐induced current measurements, which correlate with the sodium distribution in the nitride layer close to the Si surface imaged by time‐of‐flight secondary ion mass spectroscopy. The results are compatible with a model of the formation of a charge double layer on or in the nitride, which inverts the emitter. (© 2012 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Effective surface passivation of crystalline silicon by rf sputtered aluminum oxide

In recent years, excellent surface passivation has been achieved on both p‐type and n‐type surfaces of silicon wafers and solar cells using aluminum oxide deposited by plasma‐assisted atomic layer deposition. However, alternative deposition methods may offer practical advantages for large‐scale manufacturing of solar cells. In this letter we show that radio‐frequency magnetron sputtering is capable of depositing negatively‐charged aluminum oxide and achieving good surface passivation both on p‐type and n‐type silicon wafers. We thus establish that sputtered aluminum oxide is a very promising method for the surface passivation of high efficiency solar cells. (© 2009 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Ultrasound application for the decontamination of roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa L.) seeds: Influence on fungal inhibition and seed quality

Seed decay is a major problem caused by pathogens that adversely affect seed yield and quality in agricultural production. Herein, the effect of 28 KHz ultrasound treatment for 20, 40 and 60 min and 1.5% sodium hypochlorite solution for 20 min was assessed for the decontamination of roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa L.) seeds. In addition, seed germination indices, seedling growth traits, total phenolic content and the activity of defense-related enzymes, viz. peroxidase, superoxide dismutase, catalase and malondialdehyde were measured in the treated seeds. An isolate of Fusarium solani was obtained from roselle seeds and identified as the causal agent of roselle seed rot based on morphological and molecular characteristics. After six days of seed storage, the microbial infection caused the highest seed rot in the control seeds on the average of 56.67%, whereas ultrasound treatment for 60 min could remarkably reduce the seed decay by 3.33%. At the end of seed storage, the fungal load showed the highest (7.72 Log CFU ml⁻¹) and lowest (6.99 Log CFU ml⁻¹) rates in the control and ultrasound treatment for 60 min, respectively. Total phenolic content was significantly increased in ultrasound treatment for 60 min compared to control and sodium hypochlorite treatments. Moreover, the activity of peroxidase, superoxide dismutase and catalase was noticeably improved in ultrasound treatment for 60 min. Furthermore, ultrasound treatment did not show any adverse effects on seed germination indices and seedling growth traits of the roselle plants. Overall, ultrasound treatment for 60 min could effectively decrease roselle seed decay and the fungal load without changing seed and seedling quality.     

Photovoltaic properties of black silicon microstructured by femtosecond pulsed laser

Prototype devices based on black silicon have been fabricated by microstructuring 250 μm thick multicrystalline n doped silicon wafers using femtosecond pulsed laser in ambient gas of SF₆ to measure its photovoltaic properties. The enhanced optical absorption of black silicon extends across the visible region and all the black silicons prepared in this work exhibit enhanced optical absorption close to 90% from 300 nm to 800 nm. The highest open-circuit voltage (V_oc) and short-circuit current (I_sc) under the illumination of He–Ne continuous laser at 632.8 nm were measured to be 53.3 mV and 0.11 mA, respectively at a maximum power conversion efficiency of 1.44%. Upon excitation with He–Ne continuous laser at 632.8 nm, external quantum efficiency (EQE) of black silicon as high as 112.9% has also been observed. Development of black silicon for photovoltaic purposes could open up a new perspective in achieving high efficient silicon-based solar cell by means of the enhanced optical absorption in the visible region. The current–voltage characteristic and photo responsivity of these prototype devices fabricated with microstructured silicon were also investigated.     

Reflectivity of porous-pyramids structured silicon surface

The antireflection of porous-pyramids structured silicon surface has been studied. The porous surface is formed by stain etching in HF/Fe(NO₃)₃ aqueous solution after textured in KOH/IPA solution. Reflectivity measurements show an overall reflectance of 4.2% for porous-pyramids textured silicon surface in the range from 400 to 900 nm. An optimal etching time of 30 min is obtained when both reflectivity and photo-generated carriers lifetime are considered. This technique may be probably used in the texturization process for high-efficiency silicon solar cells.