Origins of hydrogen that passivates bulk defects in silicon heterojunction solar cells

Journal Article · 16 December 2019 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5132368 · OSTI ID:1579582

Sun, Chang ; Weigand, William; Shi, Jianwei; Yu, Zhengshan; Basnet, Rabin ; Phang, Sieu Pheng; Holman, Zachary C.; Macdonald, Daniel

Silicon heterojunction solar cell fabrication incorporates a significant amount of hydrogen into the silicon wafer bulk, and the amount of injected hydrogen is comparable to that introduced by silicon nitride films during a high-temperature firing step. In this work, the origins of the hydrogen injected during heterojunction cell processing have been identified. We demonstrate that the hydrogen plasma treatment that is routinely included to improve surface passivation considerably increases the hydrogen concentration in the wafers. We also show that the hydrogenated amorphous silicon i/p+ stack is more effective than the i/n+ stack for bulk hydrogen incorporation, and both are more effective than intrinsic films alone.

• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• OSTI ID: 1579582
• Journal Information: Applied Physics Letters, Journal Name: Applied Physics Letters Journal Issue: 25 Vol. 115; ISSN 0003-6951
• Publisher: American Institute of PhysicsCopyright Statement
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English