Improvement of MC Si solar cells by Al-gettering and hydrogen passivation

Author

Hahn, Giso ; Fath, Peter ; Bucher, E.

Author_Institution

Fakultat fur Phys., Konstanz Univ.

fYear

1997

fDate

29 Sep-3 Oct 1997

Firstpage

75

Lastpage

78

Abstract

Systematic Al-gettering and MIRHP (microwave induced remote hydrogen plasma) passivation studies have been carried out on various ribbon (EFG, Bayer RGS) and multicrystalline (mc) Si materials (Baysix, Eurosil, Solarex, EMC) with initial minority carrier diffusion lengths varying from <30-300 μm. Gettering was investigated between 700-1050°C. Solar cells with optimized Al-gettering conditions including a selective emitter structure were characterized before and after MIRHP passivation in order to separate the benefits of gettering and hydrogen passivation. We could achieve improvements for most materials by Al-gettering and an increase in all cell parameters for all materials by MIRHP passivation, with an increase in efficiency for the ribbon Si materials of up to 30% relative

Keywords

aluminium; carrier lifetime; elemental semiconductors; getters; hydrogen; minority carriers; passivation; silicon; solar cells; 30 to 300 mum; 700 to 1050 C; Al; Al-gettering; H₂; Si; Si solar cells; hydrogen passivation; microwave induced remote hydrogen plasma; minority carrier diffusion lengths; multicrystalline Si materials; ribbon Si materials; selective emitter structure; Costs; Crystalline materials; Electromagnetic compatibility; Gettering; Hydrogen; Manufacturing processes; Passivation; Photovoltaic cells; Production; Temperature;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 1997., Conference Record of the Twenty-Sixth IEEE

Conference_Location

Anaheim, CA

ISSN

0160-8371

Print_ISBN

0-7803-3767-0

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/PVSC.1997.653928

Filename

653928