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The effect of gettering on areal inhomogeneities in large-area multicrystalline-silicon solar cells

Book ·
OSTI ID:302458
 [1];  [2]
  1. Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States)
  2. National Renewable Energy Lab., Golden, CO (United States)

Multicrystalline-silicon (mc-Si) materials and cells feature large areal variations in material and junction quality. The regions with poor device quality have been predicted to have more recombination current at forward bias than a simple area-weighted average due to the parallel interconnection of the good and bad regions by the front junction. The authors have examined the effect of gettering on areal inhomogeneities in large-area mc-Si cells. Cells with large areal inhomogeneities were found to have increased non-ideal recombination current, which is in line with theoretical predictions. Phosphorus-diffusion and aluminum-alloy gettering of mc-Si was found to reduce the areal inhomogeneities and improve large-area mc-Si device performance.

Research Organization:
Sandia National Laboratory
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
AC04-94AL85000; AC36-83CH10093
OSTI ID:
302458
Report Number(s):
CONF-970953--
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English