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Title: Modeling the potential of screen printed front junction CZ silicon solar cell with tunnel oxide passivated back contact

Abstract

Carrier selective passivated contacts composed of thin oxide, n + polycrystalline Si and metal on top of a n-Si absorber can significantly lower the recombination current density (Jorear ≤8 fA/cm2) under the contact while providing excellent specific contact resistance (5–10 mΩ-cm2); 25.1% efficient small area cells with photolithography front contacts on boron doped selective emitter and Fz wafers have been achieved by Fraunhofer ISE using their tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) approach. This paper shows a methodology to model such passivated contact cells using Sentaurus device model, which involves replacing the TOPCon region by carrier selective electron and hole recombination velocities to match the measured Jorear of the TOPCon region as well as all the light IV values of the cell. We first validated the methodology by modeling a 24.9% reference cell. The model was then extended to assess the efficiency potential of large area TOPCon cells on commercial grade n-type Cz material with screen-printed front contacts. To use realistic input parameters, a 21% n-type PERT cell was fabricated on Cz wafer (5 Ω-cm, 1.5-ms lifetime). Modeling showed that the cell efficiency will improve to only 21.6% if the back of this cell is replaced by the above TOPCon, andmore » the performance is limited by the homogenous emitter. Efficiency was then modeled to improve to 22.6% with the implementation of selective emitter (150/20 Ω/sq). Lastly, it is shown that screen printing of 40-µm-wide lines and improved bulk material (10 Ω-cm, 3-ms lifetime) can raise the single side TOPCon Cz cell efficiency to 23.2%.« less

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [2];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [3]
+ Show Author Affiliations
  1. Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA (United States)
  2. Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (Germany)
  3. Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA (United States); Suniva Inc., Norcross, GA (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office
OSTI Identifier:
1893912
Grant/Contract Number:  
EE0007554; EE0006336
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Progress in Photovoltaics
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 25; Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 1062-7995
Publisher:
Wiley
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
14 SOLAR ENERGY; n-type solar cell; passivated contact; poly-Si; tunnel oxide; Sentaurus model

Citation Formats

Chen, Chia-Wei, Hermle, Martin, Benick, Jan, Tao, Yuguo, Ok, Young-Woo, Upadhyaya, Ajay, Tam, Andrew M., and Rohatgi, Ajeet. Modeling the potential of screen printed front junction CZ silicon solar cell with tunnel oxide passivated back contact. United States: N. p., 2016. Web. doi:10.1002/pip.2809.
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Chen, Chia-Wei, Hermle, Martin, Benick, Jan, Tao, Yuguo, Ok, Young-Woo, Upadhyaya, Ajay, Tam, Andrew M., & Rohatgi, Ajeet. Modeling the potential of screen printed front junction CZ silicon solar cell with tunnel oxide passivated back contact. United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/pip.2809
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Chen, Chia-Wei, Hermle, Martin, Benick, Jan, Tao, Yuguo, Ok, Young-Woo, Upadhyaya, Ajay, Tam, Andrew M., and Rohatgi, Ajeet. Tue . "Modeling the potential of screen printed front junction CZ silicon solar cell with tunnel oxide passivated back contact". United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/pip.2809. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1893912.
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@article{osti_1893912,
title = {Modeling the potential of screen printed front junction CZ silicon solar cell with tunnel oxide passivated back contact},
author = {Chen, Chia-Wei and Hermle, Martin and Benick, Jan and Tao, Yuguo and Ok, Young-Woo and Upadhyaya, Ajay and Tam, Andrew M. and Rohatgi, Ajeet},
abstractNote = {Carrier selective passivated contacts composed of thin oxide, n + polycrystalline Si and metal on top of a n-Si absorber can significantly lower the recombination current density (Jorear ≤8 fA/cm2) under the contact while providing excellent specific contact resistance (5–10 mΩ-cm2); 25.1% efficient small area cells with photolithography front contacts on boron doped selective emitter and Fz wafers have been achieved by Fraunhofer ISE using their tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) approach. This paper shows a methodology to model such passivated contact cells using Sentaurus device model, which involves replacing the TOPCon region by carrier selective electron and hole recombination velocities to match the measured Jorear of the TOPCon region as well as all the light IV values of the cell. We first validated the methodology by modeling a 24.9% reference cell. The model was then extended to assess the efficiency potential of large area TOPCon cells on commercial grade n-type Cz material with screen-printed front contacts. To use realistic input parameters, a 21% n-type PERT cell was fabricated on Cz wafer (5 Ω-cm, 1.5-ms lifetime). Modeling showed that the cell efficiency will improve to only 21.6% if the back of this cell is replaced by the above TOPCon, and the performance is limited by the homogenous emitter. Efficiency was then modeled to improve to 22.6% with the implementation of selective emitter (150/20 Ω/sq). Lastly, it is shown that screen printing of 40-µm-wide lines and improved bulk material (10 Ω-cm, 3-ms lifetime) can raise the single side TOPCon Cz cell efficiency to 23.2%.},
doi = {10.1002/pip.2809},
journal = {Progress in Photovoltaics},
number = 1,
volume = 25,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Oct 04 00:00:00 EDT 2016},
month = {Tue Oct 04 00:00:00 EDT 2016}
}
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https://doi.org/10.1002/pip.2809
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    Works referencing / citing this record:

    Review of status developments of high-efficiency crystalline silicon solar cells
    journal, February 2018

    • Liu, Jingjing; Yao, Yao; Xiao, Shaoqing
    • Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, Vol. 51, Issue 12
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    Electrical internal quantum efficiency improved by interval doping method
    journal, November 2018

    • Chen, Ke; Wang, Yuanyuan; Yu, Xiaopeng
    • Applied Optics, Vol. 57, Issue 34
    • DOI: 10.1364/ao.57.010072
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