Pulsed Laser Annealed Ga Hyperdoped Poly‐Si / SiO x Passivating Contacts for High‐Efficiency Monocrystalline Si Solar Cells

Chen, Kejun; Napolitani, Enrico; De Tullio, Matteo; Jiang, Chun‐Sheng; Guthrey, Harvey; Sgarbossa, Francesco; Theingi, San; Nemeth, William; Page, Matthew; Stradins, Paul; Agarwal, Sumit; Young, David L.

doi:10.1002/eem2.12542

Pulsed Laser Annealed Ga Hyperdoped Poly‐Si / SiO _x Passivating Contacts for High‐Efficiency Monocrystalline Si Solar Cells

Journal Article · Mon Jan 09 00:00:00 EST 2023 · Energy & Environmental Materials

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/eem2.12542· OSTI ID:1908384

^[1]; ^[2]; De Tullio, Matteo ^[2]; Jiang, Chun‐Sheng ^[3]; Guthrey, Harvey ^[3]; Sgarbossa, Francesco ^[2]; Theingi, San ^[3]; Nemeth, William ^[3]; Page, Matthew ^[3]; Stradins, Paul ^[3]; Agarwal, Sumit ^[4]; Young, David L. ^[3]

Colorado School of Mines 1500 Illinois St Golden Colorado 80401 USA, National Renewable Energy Laboratory 15013 Denver West Parkway Golden Colorado 80401 USA
Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia and CNR‐IMM Università degli Studi di Padova via Marzolo 8 Padova Italy
National Renewable Energy Laboratory 15013 Denver West Parkway Golden Colorado 80401 USA
Colorado School of Mines 1500 Illinois St Golden Colorado 80401 USA

Polycrystalline Si ( poly ‐Si)‐based passivating contacts are promising candidates for high‐efficiency crystalline Si solar cells. We show that nanosecond‐scale pulsed laser melting (PLM) is an industrially viable technique to fabricate such contacts with precisely controlled dopant concentration profiles that exceed the solid solubility limit. We demonstrate that conventionally doped, hole‐selective poly ‐Si/SiO _x contacts that provide poor surface passivation of c ‐Si can be replaced with Ga‐ or B‐doped contacts based on non‐equilibrium doping. We overcome the solid solubility limit for both dopants in poly ‐Si by rapid cooling and recrystallization over a timescale of ∼25 ns. We show an active Ga dopant concentration of ∼3 × 10 ²⁰ cm ⁻³ in poly ‐Si which is six times higher than its solubility limit in c ‐Si, and a B dopant concentration as high as ∼10 ²¹ cm ⁻³ . We measure an implied open‐circuit voltage of 735 mV for Ga‐doped poly ‐Si/SiO _x contacts on Czochralski Si with a low contact resistivity of 35.5 ± 2.4 mΩ cm ² . Scanning spreading resistance microscopy and Kelvin probe force microscopy show large diffusion and drift current in the p ‐ n junction that contributes to the low contact resistivity. Our results suggest that PLM can be extended for hyperdoping of other semiconductors with low solubility atoms to enable high‐efficiency devices.

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

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

Grant/Contract Number:: AC36-08GO28308

OSTI ID:: 1908384

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1961159
OSTI ID: 1983368

Report Number(s):: NREL/JA-5900-85419; e12542

Journal Information:: Energy & Environmental Materials, Journal Name: Energy & Environmental Materials Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 6; ISSN 2575-0356

Publisher:: Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: China

Language:: English

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