Direct nanoscale mapping of open circuit voltages at local back surface fields for PERC solar cells

Longacre, Alexandra; Martin, Michael; Moran, Thomas; Kolosov, Oleg V.; Schneller, Eric; Curran, Alan J.; Wang, Menghong; Dai, Jianfang; Bruckman, Laura S.; Jaubert, Jean-Nicolas; Davis, Kristopher O.; Braid, Jennifer L.; French, Roger H.; Huey, Bryan D.

doi:10.1007/s10853-020-04736-x

Direct nanoscale mapping of open circuit voltages at local back surface fields for PERC solar cells

Journal Article · Mon May 04 00:00:00 EDT 2020 · Journal of Materials Science

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-020-04736-x· OSTI ID:1845846

Longacre, Alexandra ^[1]; Martin, Michael ^[2]; Moran, Thomas ^[2]; Kolosov, Oleg V. ^[3]; Schneller, Eric ^[4]; Curran, Alan J. ^[5]; Wang, Menghong ^[5]; Dai, Jianfang ^[6]; Bruckman, Laura S. ^[5]; Jaubert, Jean-Nicolas ^[7]; Davis, Kristopher O. ^[4]; Braid, Jennifer L. ^[5]; French, Roger H. ^[5]; ^[2]

Univ. of Connecticut, Storrs, CT (United States); Case Western Reserve University
Univ. of Connecticut, Storrs, CT (United States)
Lancaster Univ., Bailrigg (United Kingdom)
Univ. of Central Florida, Orlando, FL (United States)
Case Western Reserve Univ., Cleveland, OH (United States)
Cybrid Technologies, Jiangsu (China)
Canadian Solar Inc., Jiangsu (China)

The open circuit voltage (V_OC) is a critical and common indicator of solar cell performance as well as degradation, for panel down to lab-scale photovoltaics. Detecting V_OC at the nanoscale is much more challenging, however, due to experimental limitations on spatial resolution, voltage resolution, and/or measurement times. Accordingly, in this work an approach based on Conductive Atomic Force Microscopy is implemented to directly detect the local V_OC, notably for monocrystalline Passivated Emitter Rear Contact (PERC) cells which are the most common industrial-scale solar panel technology in production worldwide. This is demonstrated with cross-sectioned monocrystalline PERC cells around the entire circumference of a poly-Aluminum-Silicide via through the rear emitter. The V_OC maps reveal a local Back Surface Field extending ~2 μm into the underlying p-type Si absorber due to Al in-diffusion as designed. Such high spatial resolution methods for photovoltaic performance mapping are especially promising for directly visualizing the effects of processing parameters, as well as identifying signatures of degradation for silicon and other solar cell technologies.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Case Western Reserve Univ., Cleveland, OH (United States)

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

Grant/Contract Number:: EE0008172

OSTI ID:: 1845846

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1799442

Journal Information:: Journal of Materials Science, Journal Name: Journal of Materials Science Journal Issue: 25 Vol. 55; ISSN 0022-2461

Publisher:: SpringerCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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14 SOLAR ENERGY
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