Straighforward in-line processing for a 16.8% efficient mc-Si solar cell

Author

Tool, C.J.J. ; Coletti, G. ; Granek, F.J. ; Hoornstra, J. ; Koppes, M. ; Kossen, E.J. ; Rieffe, H.C. ; Romjin, I.G. ; Weeber, A.W.

Author_Institution

ECN Solar Energy, Petten, Netherlands

fYear

2005

Firstpage

1324

Lastpage

1327

Abstract

A simple in-line industrial process has been developed for commercial multicrystalline silicon (mc-Si) which results in solar cells with an average efficiency of 16.5%. The best cell has an efficiency of 16.8%. These are the highest efficiencies reported for full inline processing. The process consists of an acidic etch for texturing, homogeneous spin-on phosphorous and a belt furnace emitter diffusion, MicroWave PECVD for silicon nitride layers, and screen-printed metallization. The silicon nitride layer serves as antireflection coating and provides bulk and surface passivation. Detailed characterization and computer simulation showed that implementation of already proven technologies in the current cell processing could lead to efficiencies close to 18%.

Keywords

antireflection coatings; diffusion; elemental semiconductors; etching; firing (materials); passivation; phosphorus; plasma CVD; semiconductor device metallisation; silicon; silicon compounds; solar cells; surface texture; 16.8 percent; MicroWave PECVD; Si:P; SiN; antireflection coating; belt furnace emitter diffusion; commercial multicrystalline silicon; homogeneous spin-on phosphorous; inline processing; passivation; screen-printed metallization; silicon nitride layers; solar cell; texturing; Belts; Electromagnetic heating; Etching; Furnaces; Infrared heating; Metallization; Performance evaluation; Photovoltaic cells; Reflectivity; Silicon;

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.2005.1488385

Filename

1488385