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Design, development and analysis of large-area industrial silicon solar cells featuring a full area polysilicon based passivating contact on the rear and selective passivating contacts on the front

Journal Article · · Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [3];  [2]
  1. National Univ. of Singapore (Singapore); Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore (SERIS) (Singapore); OSTI
  2. Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA (United States)
  3. National Univ. of Singapore (Singapore); Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore (SERIS) (Singapore)

We present SERIS’ biPoly™ technology platform on large-area (M2), n-type rear-junction silicon solar cells featuring selective poly-Si/SiOx based passivated contacts on the front side and full-area poly-Si/SiOx contacts on the rear. The selective poly-Si ‘fingers’ are formed using an industrial ink-jet masking process followed by wet-chemical etching. The metal contacts are formed by an industrial screen-printing process using high-temperature fire-though metal pastes. We obtain excellent passivation on the front and rear surfaces, resulting in iVoc values between 720 mV and 730 mV on unmetallized solar cells. After high-temperature metallization, we achieve 22% efficiency on solar cells with selective poly-Si fingers on the front. We further develop the model for biPoly™ solar cells and with the help of a detailed loss analysis and simulations, identify the various loss components to identify the device modifications required for efficiency improvements.

Research Organization:
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA (United States); Arizona State Univ., Tempe, AZ (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office
Grant/Contract Number:
EE0008562; EE0008975; EE0009350
OSTI ID:
2418641
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 2483312
OSTI ID: 1999819
Journal Information:
Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, Journal Name: Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells Journal Issue: C Vol. 256; ISSN 0927-0248
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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