Skip to main content
OSTI.GOVU.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information
 

Laser Crystallization and Dopant Activation of a-Si:H Carrier-Selective Layer in TOPCon Si Solar Cells

Journal Article · · IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics
 [1];  [2];  [2];  [3]
  1. Univ. of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA (United States); Georgia Institute of Technology
  2. Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA (United States)
  3. Univ. of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations
Herein, we present a pulsed-laser processing method for crystallization and dopant activation of a highly n-doped amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) carrier-selective layer in a tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) Si solar cell structure. Here, the laser method provides enhanced conductivity and implied open circuit voltage while reducing emitter saturation current density and surface heating, as opposed to conventional high-temperature furnace annealing of the bulk Si wafer with a TOPCon structure. We identify an appropriate laser wavelength, fluence, and layer thickness using modeling and simulations. Raman and Hall effect measurements demonstrate increased crystallinity and dopant activation, whereas photoconductive decay shows enhanced surface and interface passivation quality. Additionally, we examine the role of subsequent SiNx deposition on further improving the passivation of laser-processed TOPCon layers to achieve a 5.9 kΩ/sq film sheet resistance, 2 ms effective carrier lifetime, 718 mV implied open-circuit voltage (iVOC), and 8.6 fA/cm 2 one-side recombination current density (J0) with the potential for further passivation improvement via laser process and a-Si layer thickness optimization.
Research Organization:
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office
Grant/Contract Number:
EE0007554
OSTI ID:
1893733
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1893902
Journal Information:
IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, Journal Name: IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics Journal Issue: 5 Vol. 10; ISSN 2156-3381
Publisher:
IEEECopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (15)

Fast simulation code for heating, phase changes and dopant diffusion in silicon laser processing using the alternating direction explicit (ADE) method journal September 2009
Structural, optical and electrical properties of SIPOS passivation layers journal August 1993
Parasitic Absorption in Polycrystalline Si-layers for Carrier-selective Front Junctions journal August 2016
Laser annealing of silicon surface defects for photovoltaic applications journal October 2016
An investigation of the thermal stability of the interfacial oxide in polycrystalline silicon emitter bipolar transistors by comparing device results with high‐resolution electron microscopy observations journal January 1987
Carrier-selective contacts for Si solar cells journal May 2014
A 720 mV open circuit voltage SiO x : c ‐Si:SiO x double heterostructure solar cell journal December 1985
Ion-Implanted Screen-Printed n-Type Solar Cell With Tunnel Oxide Passivated Back Contact journal January 2016
Fabrication and Modeling of High-Efficiency Front Junction N-Type Silicon Solar Cells With Tunnel Oxide Passivating Back Contact journal September 2017
Building blocks for back-junction back-contacted cells and modules with ion-implanted poly-Si junctions
  • Peibst, Robby; Romer, Udo; Larionova, Yevgeniya
  • 2014 IEEE 40th Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC), 2014 IEEE 40th Photovoltaic Specialist Conference (PVSC) https://doi.org/10.1109/PVSC.2014.6925049
conference June 2014
Carrier selective tunnel oxide passivated contact enabling 21.4% efficient large-area N-type silicon solar cells conference June 2016
Laser Crystallization and Dopant Activation for a-Si:H Film in Carrier-Selective Contacts for Silicon Solar cells conference June 2019
Heat conduction in silicon thin films: Effect of microstructure journal August 1995
Polycrystalline silicon passivated tunneling contacts for high efficiency silicon solar cells journal March 2016
Laser processing of materials for renewable energy applications journal February 2015

Similar Records

Enhanced Stability of Exposed PECVD Grown Thin n+ Poly-Si/SiOx Passivating Contacts With Al2O3 Capping Layer During High Temperature Firing
Journal Article · Tue Dec 22 19:00:00 EST 2020 · IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics · OSTI ID:1893735

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
carrier-selective contact
dopant activation
laser annealing
laser processing
silicon crystallization
surface passivation
tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon)