Processes for producing low cost, high efficiency silicon solar cells

Title: Processes for producing low cost, high efficiency silicon solar cells

Full Record
Other Related Research

Processes which utilize rapid thermal processing (RTP) are provided for inexpensively producing high efficiency silicon solar cells. The RTP processes preserve minority carrier bulk lifetime .tau. and permit selective adjustment of the depth of the diffused regions, including emitter and back surface field (bsf), within the silicon substrate. Silicon solar cell efficiencies of 16.9% have been achieved. In a first RTP process, an RTP step is utilized to simultaneously diffuse phosphorus and aluminum into the front and back surfaces, respectively, of a silicon substrate. Moreover, an in situ controlled cooling procedure preserves the carrier bulk lifetime .tau. and permits selective adjustment of the depth of the diffused regions. In a second RTP process, both simultaneous diffusion of the phosphorus and aluminum as well as annealing of the front and back contacts are accomplished during the RTP step. In a third RTP process, the RTP step accomplishes simultaneous diffusion of the phosphorus and aluminum, annealing of the contacts, and annealing of a double-layer antireflection/passivation coating SiN/SiO.sub.x.

Inventors:

Rohatgi, Ajeet ^[1]; Chen, Zhizhang ^[2]; Doshi, Parag ^[3]

(Marietta, GA)
(Duluth, GA)
(Atlanta, GA)

Issue Date:: 1996-01-01

OSTI Identifier:: 870383

Assignee:: Georgia Tech Research Corporation (Atlanta, GA) OSTI

Patent Number(s):: US 5510271

Contract Number:: E21-H21; E21-H31

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Subject:: processes; producing; cost; efficiency; silicon; solar; cells; utilize; rapid; thermal; processing; rtp; provided; inexpensively; preserve; minority; carrier; bulk; lifetime; tau; permit; selective; adjustment; depth; diffused; regions; including; emitter; surface; field; bsf; substrate; cell; efficiencies; 16; achieved; process; step; utilized; simultaneously; diffuse; phosphorus; aluminum; front; surfaces; respectively; moreover; situ; controlled; cooling; procedure; preserves; permits; simultaneous; diffusion; annealing; contacts; accomplished; third; accomplishes; double-layer; antireflection; passivation; coating; sio; solar cell; solar cells; silicon substrate; silicon solar; minority carrier; rtp process; rapid thermal; thermal processing; permits selective; passivation coating; cooling procedure; efficiency silicon; carrier bulk; rtp processes; controlled cooling; utilize rapid; surface field; inexpensively producing; preserve minority; processes preserve; /438/136/

Full Text
File size N/AView Full Text

Have feedback or suggestions for a way to improve these results? !

Save / Share this Record no
Export Metadata
- Endnote
- RIS
- Excel
- CSV
- XML
Send to Email

Send to Email

Email address:

Content:

Similar Records

Similar records in DOepatents and OSTI.GOV collections:

Processes for producing low cost, high efficiency silicon solar cells

Patent Rohatgi, Ajeet ; Doshi, Parag ; Tate, John Keith ; Mejia, Jose ; Chen, Zhizhang

Processes which utilize rapid thermal processing (RTP) are provided for inexpensively producing high efficiency silicon solar cells. The RTP processes preserve minority carrier bulk lifetime .tau. and permit selective adjustment of the depth of the diffused regions, including emitter and back surface field (bsf), within the silicon substrate. In a first RTP process, an RTP step is utilized to simultaneously diffuse phosphorus and aluminum into the front and back surfaces, respectively, of a silicon substrate. Moreover, an in situ controlled cooling procedure preserves the carrier bulk lifetime .tau. and permits selective adjustment of the depth of the diffused regions. Inmore »« less
Full Text Available June 1998
Processes for producing low cost, high efficiency silicon solar cells

Patent Rohatgi, A. ; Doshi, P. ; Tate, J.K. ; Mejia, J. ; Chen, Z.

Processes which utilize rapid thermal processing (RTP) are provided for inexpensively producing high efficiency silicon solar cells. The RTP processes preserve minority carrier bulk lifetime {tau} and permit selective adjustment of the depth of the diffused regions, including emitter and back surface field (bsf), within the silicon substrate. In a first RTP process, an RTP step is utilized to simultaneously diffuse phosphorus and aluminum into the front and back surfaces, respectively, of a silicon substrate. Moreover, an in situ controlled cooling procedure preserves the carrier bulk lifetime {tau} and permits selective adjustment of the depth of the diffused regions. Inmore »« less
June 1998
High efficiency low cost thin film silicon solar cell design and method for making

Patent Sopori, Bhushan L.

A semiconductor device having a substrate, a conductive intermediate layer deposited onto said substrate, wherein the intermediate layer serves as a back electrode, an optical reflector, and an interface for impurity gettering, and a semiconductor layer deposited onto said intermediate layer, wherein the semiconductor layer has a grain size at least as large as the layer thickness, and preferably about ten times the layer thickness. The device is formed by depositing a metal layer on a substrate, depositing a semiconductive material on the metal-coated substrate to produce a composite structure, and then optically processing the composite structure by illuminating itmore »« less
Full Text Available January 1999
High efficiency, low cost, thin film silicon solar cell design and method for making

Patent Sopori, Bhushan L.

A semiconductor device having a substrate, a conductive intermediate layer deposited onto said substrate, wherein the intermediate layer serves as a back electrode, an optical reflector, and an interface for impurity gettering, and a semiconductor layer deposited onto said intermediate layer, wherein the semiconductor layer has a grain size at least as large as the layer thickness, and preferably about ten times the layer thickness. The device is formed by depositing a metal layer on a substrate, depositing a semiconductive material on the metal-coated substrate to produce a composite structure, and then optically processing the composite structure by illuminating itmore »« less
Full Text Available January 2001
Processes for producing low cost, high efficiency silicon solar cells

Patent - in OSTI.gov collection Rohatgi, A. ; Chen, Z. ; Doshi, P.

Processes which utilize rapid thermal processing (RTP) are provided for inexpensively producing high efficiency silicon solar cells. The RTP processes preserve minority carrier bulk lifetime {tau} and permit selective adjustment of the depth of the diffused regions, including emitter and back surface field (bsf), within the silicon substrate. Silicon solar cell efficiencies of 16.9% have been achieved. In a first RTP process, an RTP step is utilized to simultaneously diffuse phosphorus and aluminum into the front and back surfaces, respectively, of a silicon substrate. Moreover, an in-situ controlled cooling procedure preserves the carrier bulk lifetime {tau} and permits selective adjustmentmore »« less
April 1996