The Effect of Crystallographic Orientation and Nanoscale Surface Morphology on Poly-Si/SiO x Contacts for Silicon Solar Cells

Kale, Abhijit; Nemeth, William M.; Guthrey, Harvey L.; Nanayakkara, Sanjini U.; LaSalvia, Vincenzo A.; Theingi, San; Findley, Dawn; Page, Matthew; Al-Jassim, Mowafak M.; Young, David L.; Stradins, Pauls; Agarwal, Sumit

doi:10.1021/acsami.9b11889

Title: The Effect of Crystallographic Orientation and Nanoscale Surface Morphology on Poly-Si/SiO _x Contacts for Silicon Solar Cells

Journal Article · Tue Oct 15 00:00:00 EDT 2019 · ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.9b11889· OSTI ID:1571392

Kale, Abhijit ^[1]; Nemeth, William M. ^[2];

^[2]; Nanayakkara, Sanjini U. ^[2]; LaSalvia, Vincenzo A. ^[2]; Theingi, San ^[2]; Findley, Dawn ^[2]; Page, Matthew ^[2]; Al-Jassim, Mowafak M. ^[2]; Young, David L. ^[2]; Stradins, Pauls ^[2]; Agarwal, Sumit ^[3]

Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO (United States); National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO (United States)

High-efficiency crystalline silicon (Si) solar cells require textured surfaces for efficient light trapping. However, passivation of a textured surface to reduce carrier recombination is difficult. Here, we related the electrical properties of cells fabricated on a KOH-etched, random pyramidal textured Si surface to nanostructure of the passivated contact and the textured surface morphology. The effects of both microscopic pyramidal morphology and nanoscale surface roughness on passivated contacts consisting of a polycrystalline Si (poly-Si) deposited on top of an ultrathin, 1.5-2.2 nm, SiO_x layer is investigated. Using atomic force microscopy we show a pyramid face, which is predominantly a Si(111) plane to be significantly rougher than a polished Si(111) surface. This roughness results in a nonuniform SiOx layer as determined by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) of a poly-Si/SiO_x contact. Our device measurements also show an overall more resistive, and hence thicker SiO_x layer over the pyramidal surface as compared to a polished Si(111) surface, which we relate to increased roughness. Using electron-beam-induced current measurements of poly-Si/SiO_x contacts we further show that the SiO_x layer near the pyramid valleys is preferentially more conducting, and hence likely thinner than over pyramid tips, edges and faces. Hence, both the microscopic pyramidal morphology and nanoscale roughness lead to nonuniform SiO_x layer, thus leading to poor poly-Si/SiO_x contact passivation. Finally, we report >21% efficient and =80% fill factor front/back poly-Si/SiO_x solar cells on both single-side and double-side textured wafers without the use of transparent conductive oxide layers and show that the poorer contact passivation on a textured surface is limited to boron-doped poly-Si/SiO_x contacts.

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Research Organization:: National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office

Grant/Contract Number:: AC36-08GO28308

OSTI ID:: 1571392

Report Number(s):: NREL/JA-5900-75083

Journal Information:: ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, Vol. 11, Issue 45; ISSN 1944-8244

Publisher:: American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 16 works

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Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
silicon solar cell
passivated contact
silicon oxide
tunneling
surface orientation
electron beam induced current
atomic force microscopy

Title: The Effect of Crystallographic Orientation and Nanoscale Surface Morphology on Poly-Si/SiO x Contacts for Silicon Solar Cells

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