Design, Optimization, and In-Depth Understanding of Front and Rear Junction Screen-Printed Double-Side Passivated Contacts Solar Cells
In this work, detailed numerical modeling is performed for front junction (FJ) and rear junction (RJ) n-type Si solar cells with screen-printed double-side poly-Si based tunnel oxide passivated contacts (TOPCon). Fundamental understanding of both structures is crucial to explore factors that limit the efficiency potential of the two designs. By investigating several key parameters such as front poly sheet resistance and thickness, bulk material properties, and carrier transport in our simulation model, we determine and explain why RJ cells outperform FJ cells. Our findings reveal that FJ suffers from present technological limitations of p-poly based passivated contacts, namely, i) large recombination observed in textured p-TOPCon emitter and ii) low solid solubility and hole mobility in boron-doped poly-Si resulting in very high sheet resistance of front p-poly layers which must be made thin to reduce absorption losses. In contrast, RJ desensitized the cell efficiency to front sheet resistance allowing application of ultra-thin front n-poly layers and is therefore ideally suited for double-side TOPCon cells. Lastly, we have developed a roadmap for efficiency projections of commercial-type screen-printed RJ and FJ topologies reaching ~24% and >22.5% efficiencies respectively, quantifying and explaining the impact of technological innovations on the performance of each design.
- Research Organization:
- Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office
- DOE Contract Number:
- EE0008562
- OSTI ID:
- 1696795
- Report Number(s):
- DOE-GIT-Con-8562-1
- Journal Information:
- Conference Record of the IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, Vol. 2020; Conference: 2020 IEEE Conference on Photovoltaic Specialists; ISSN 0160-8371
- Publisher:
- IEEE
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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