A novel and effective PECVD SiO[sub 2]/SiN antireflection coating for Si solar cells

Chen, Zhizhang; Sana, P; Salami, J; Rohatgi, A

doi:10.1109/16.214744

Title: A novel and effective PECVD SiO[sub 2]/SiN antireflection coating for Si solar cells

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Abstract

It is shown for the first time that sequential plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) of SiN and SiO[sub 2] can produce a very effective double-layer antireflection (AR) coating. This AR coating is compared with the frequency used and highly efficient MgG[sub 2]/ZnS double layer coating. It is shown that the SiO[sub 2]/SiN coating improves the short-circuit current (J[sub sc]) by 47%, open-circuit voltage (V[sub oc]) by 3.7%, and efficiency (Eff) by 55% for silicon cells with oxide surface passivation. The counterpart MgF[sub 2]/ZnS coating gives similar but slightly smaller improvements in V[sub oc] and Eff. However, if silicon cells do not have the oxide passivation, the PECVD SiO[sub 2]/SiN gives much greater improvement in the cell parameters, 57% in J[sub sc], 8% in V[sub oc], and 66% in efficiency, compared to the MgF[sub 2]/ZnS coating which improves J[sub sc] by 50%, V[sub oc] by 2%, and cell efficiency by 54%. This significant additional improvement results from the PECVD deposition-induced surface/defect passivation. The internal quantum efficiency (IQE) measurements showed that the PECVD SiO[sub 2]/SiN coating absorbs fair amount of photons in the short-wavelength range (<500 nm), however, the improved surface/defect passivation more than compensates for the loss in J[sub sc] andmore »« less

Authors:

Chen, Zhizhang; Sana, P; Salami, J; Rohatgi, A ^[1]

Georgia Inst. of Tech., Atlanta, GA (United States)

Publication Date:: Tue Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 1993

OSTI Identifier:: 6416525

Resource Type:: Journal Article

Journal Name:: IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers); (United States)

Additional Journal Information:: Journal Volume: 40:6; Journal ID: ISSN 0018-9383

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Subject:: 14 SOLAR ENERGY; SILICON NITRIDES; CHEMICAL VAPOR DEPOSITION; SILICON OXIDES; SILICON SOLAR CELLS; ANTIREFLECTION COATINGS; COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS; ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES; MAGNESIUM FLUORIDES; PASSIVATION; QUANTUM EFFICIENCY; ZINC SULFIDES; ALKALINE EARTH METAL COMPOUNDS; CHALCOGENIDES; CHEMICAL COATING; COATINGS; DEPOSITION; DIRECT ENERGY CONVERTERS; EFFICIENCY; EQUIPMENT; EVALUATION; FLUORIDES; FLUORINE COMPOUNDS; HALIDES; HALOGEN COMPOUNDS; INORGANIC PHOSPHORS; MAGNESIUM COMPOUNDS; NITRIDES; NITROGEN COMPOUNDS; OXIDES; OXYGEN COMPOUNDS; PHOSPHORS; PHOTOELECTRIC CELLS; PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS; PHYSICAL PROPERTIES; PNICTIDES; SILICON COMPOUNDS; SOLAR CELLS; SOLAR EQUIPMENT; SULFIDES; SULFUR COMPOUNDS; SURFACE COATING; ZINC COMPOUNDS; 140501* - Solar Energy Conversion- Photovoltaic Conversion

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                    Chen, Zhizhang, Sana, P, Salami, J, and Rohatgi, A. A novel and effective PECVD SiO[sub 2]/SiN antireflection coating for Si solar cells.  United States: N. p., 1993. 
        Web.  doi:10.1109/16.214744.

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                    Chen, Zhizhang, Sana, P, Salami, J, & Rohatgi, A. A novel and effective PECVD SiO[sub 2]/SiN antireflection coating for Si solar cells.  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1109/16.214744

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                    Chen, Zhizhang, Sana, P, Salami, J, and Rohatgi, A. 1993.  
        "A novel and effective PECVD SiO[sub 2]/SiN antireflection coating for Si solar cells".  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1109/16.214744.

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@article{osti_6416525,

  title        = {A novel and effective PECVD SiO[sub 2]/SiN antireflection coating for Si solar cells},

  author       = {Chen, Zhizhang and Sana, P and Salami, J and Rohatgi, A},

  abstractNote = {It is shown for the first time that sequential plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) of SiN and SiO[sub 2] can produce a very effective double-layer antireflection (AR) coating. This AR coating is compared with the frequency used and highly efficient MgG[sub 2]/ZnS double layer coating. It is shown that the SiO[sub 2]/SiN coating improves the short-circuit current (J[sub sc]) by 47%, open-circuit voltage (V[sub oc]) by 3.7%, and efficiency (Eff) by 55% for silicon cells with oxide surface passivation. The counterpart MgF[sub 2]/ZnS coating gives similar but slightly smaller improvements in V[sub oc] and Eff. However, if silicon cells do not have the oxide passivation, the PECVD SiO[sub 2]/SiN gives much greater improvement in the cell parameters, 57% in J[sub sc], 8% in V[sub oc], and 66% in efficiency, compared to the MgF[sub 2]/ZnS coating which improves J[sub sc] by 50%, V[sub oc] by 2%, and cell efficiency by 54%. This significant additional improvement results from the PECVD deposition-induced surface/defect passivation. The internal quantum efficiency (IQE) measurements showed that the PECVD SiO[sub 2]/SiN coating absorbs fair amount of photons in the short-wavelength range (<500 nm), however, the improved surface/defect passivation more than compensates for the loss in J[sub sc] and gives higher improvement in the cell efficiency compared to the MgF[sub 2]/ZnS coating.},

  doi          = {10.1109/16.214744},

  url          = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/6416525},
  journal      = {IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers); (United States)},

  issn         = {0018-9383},

  number       = ,

  volume       = 40:6,

  place        = {United States},

  year         = {Tue Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 1993},

  month        = {Tue Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 1993}

}

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