Ultrathin silicon oxide prepared by in-line plasma-assisted N2O oxidation (PANO) and the application for n-type polysilicon passivated contact

Huang, Yuqing; Liao, Mingdun; Wang, Zhixue; Guo, Xueqi; Jiang, Chunsheng; Yang, Qing; Yuan, Zhizhong; Huang, Dandan; Yang, Jie; Zhang, Xinyu; Wang, Qi; Jin, Hao; Al-Jassim, Mowafak; Shou, Chunhui; Zeng, Yuheng; Yan, Baojie; Ye, Jichun

doi:10.1016/j.solmat.2019.110389

Title: Ultrathin silicon oxide prepared by in-line plasma-assisted N₂O oxidation (PANO) and the application for n-type polysilicon passivated contact

Full Record
Other Related Research

Abstract

We develop a plasma-assisted nitrous-oxide (N₂O) gas oxidation (PANO) method to prepare the ultrathin silicon oxide (SiO_x) for polysilicon (poly-Si) passivated contact. The effects of preparation conditions, including the substrate temperature, processing time, and plasma power, are studied. Afterwards, we integrate the PANO SiO_x into the polysilicon passivated contact and optimize the passivation and contact performances. Excellent surface passivation with the n-type poly-Si and PANO SiO_x on the n-type c-Si wafer is achieved by 880 °C annealing, which shows competitive passivation quality to the one with NASO SiO_x. Champion implied open-circuit voltage (iV_oc) and single-sided recombination saturated current (J₀) reach 730 mV and 4.3 fA/cm² after crystallization; and they are further improved to 747 mV and 2.0 fA/cm² (3 × 10¹⁵cm_-3) after subsequent AlO_x/SiN_x hydrogenation. Using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), we find that the thickness of PANO SiO_x ranges 1.1–2.4 nm and the controlled nitric acid oxidized SiO_x (NAOS) ranges 1.3–1.8 nm. The contact resistivity (ρ_c) is typically <10 mΩ cm² with the annealing temperature of >820 °C. Also, the crystallinity, phosphorous in-diffusion profile, and current-leaking density of the passivated contacts are investigated. In general, the PANO SiO_x and in-situ doping amorphous silicon precursor can be fabricated in one PECVDmore »« less

Authors:

Huang, Yuqing ^[1]; Liao, Mingdun ^[1]; Wang, Zhixue ^[2]; Guo, Xueqi ^[1]; Jiang, Chunsheng ^[3]; Yang, Qing ^[1]; Yuan, Zhizhong ^[4]; Huang, Dandan ^[1]; Yang, Jie ^[5]; Zhang, Xinyu ^[5]; Wang, Qi ^[5]; Jin, Hao ^[5]; Al-Jassim, Mowafak ^[3]; Shou, Chunhui ^[6]; Zeng, Yuheng ^[1]; Yan, Baojie ^[1]; Ye, Jichun ^[1]

Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Ningbo City (China). Ningbo Materials Inst. of Technology and Engineering
Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Ningbo City (China). Ningbo Materials Inst. of Technology and Engineering; Jiangsu Univ., Zhenjiang City (China). School of Material Science & Engineering
National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Jiangsu Univ., Zhenjiang City (China). School of Material Science & Engineering
Zhejiang Jinko Solar Co. Ltd, Haining City (China)
Zhejiang Energy Group R&D, Hangzhou (China)

Publication Date:: Thu Jan 02 00:00:00 EST 2020

Research Org.:: National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)

OSTI Identifier:: 1592396

Report Number(s):: NREL/JA-5K00-75830
Journal ID: ISSN 0927-0248

Grant/Contract Number:: AC36-08GO28308

Resource Type:: Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:: Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells

Additional Journal Information:: Journal Volume: 208; Journal Issue: C; Journal ID: ISSN 0927-0248

Publisher:: Elsevier

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Subject:: 14 SOLAR ENERGY; 36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; polysilicon passivated contact; plasma-assisted N2O oxidation; ultrathin silicon oxide; TOPCon

Citation Formats


                    Huang, Yuqing, Liao, Mingdun, Wang, Zhixue, Guo, Xueqi, Jiang, Chunsheng, Yang, Qing, Yuan, Zhizhong, Huang, Dandan, Yang, Jie, Zhang, Xinyu, Wang, Qi, Jin, Hao, Al-Jassim, Mowafak, Shou, Chunhui, Zeng, Yuheng, Yan, Baojie, and Ye, Jichun. Ultrathin silicon oxide prepared by in-line plasma-assisted N2O oxidation (PANO) and the application for n-type polysilicon passivated contact.  United States: N. p., 2020. 
Web.  doi:10.1016/j.solmat.2019.110389.

Copy to clipboard


                    Huang, Yuqing, Liao, Mingdun, Wang, Zhixue, Guo, Xueqi, Jiang, Chunsheng, Yang, Qing, Yuan, Zhizhong, Huang, Dandan, Yang, Jie, Zhang, Xinyu, Wang, Qi, Jin, Hao, Al-Jassim, Mowafak, Shou, Chunhui, Zeng, Yuheng, Yan, Baojie, & Ye, Jichun. Ultrathin silicon oxide prepared by in-line plasma-assisted N2O oxidation (PANO) and the application for n-type polysilicon passivated contact.  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solmat.2019.110389

Copy to clipboard


                    Huang, Yuqing, Liao, Mingdun, Wang, Zhixue, Guo, Xueqi, Jiang, Chunsheng, Yang, Qing, Yuan, Zhizhong, Huang, Dandan, Yang, Jie, Zhang, Xinyu, Wang, Qi, Jin, Hao, Al-Jassim, Mowafak, Shou, Chunhui, Zeng, Yuheng, Yan, Baojie, and Ye, Jichun. Thu .  
"Ultrathin silicon oxide prepared by in-line plasma-assisted N2O oxidation (PANO) and the application for n-type polysilicon passivated contact".  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solmat.2019.110389.  https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1592396.

Copy to clipboard


                    
@article{osti_1592396,

  title        = {Ultrathin silicon oxide prepared by in-line plasma-assisted N2O oxidation (PANO) and the application for n-type polysilicon passivated contact},

  author       = {Huang, Yuqing and Liao, Mingdun and Wang, Zhixue and Guo, Xueqi and Jiang, Chunsheng and Yang, Qing and Yuan, Zhizhong and Huang, Dandan and Yang, Jie and Zhang, Xinyu and Wang, Qi and Jin, Hao and Al-Jassim, Mowafak and Shou, Chunhui and Zeng, Yuheng and Yan, Baojie and Ye, Jichun},

  abstractNote = {We develop a plasma-assisted nitrous-oxide (N2O) gas oxidation (PANO) method to prepare the ultrathin silicon oxide (SiOx) for polysilicon (poly-Si) passivated contact. The effects of preparation conditions, including the substrate temperature, processing time, and plasma power, are studied. Afterwards, we integrate the PANO SiOx into the polysilicon passivated contact and optimize the passivation and contact performances. Excellent surface passivation with the n-type poly-Si and PANO SiOx on the n-type c-Si wafer is achieved by 880 °C annealing, which shows competitive passivation quality to the one with NASO SiOx. Champion implied open-circuit voltage (iVoc) and single-sided recombination saturated current (J0) reach 730 mV and 4.3 fA/cm2 after crystallization; and they are further improved to 747 mV and 2.0 fA/cm2 (3 × 1015cm-3) after subsequent AlOx/SiNx hydrogenation. Using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), we find that the thickness of PANO SiOx ranges 1.1–2.4 nm and the controlled nitric acid oxidized SiOx (NAOS) ranges 1.3–1.8 nm. The contact resistivity (ρc) is typically <10 mΩ cm2 with the annealing temperature of >820 °C. Also, the crystallinity, phosphorous in-diffusion profile, and current-leaking density of the passivated contacts are investigated. In general, the PANO SiOx and in-situ doping amorphous silicon precursor can be fabricated in one PECVD system without additional equipment or transfer procedures, which is favorable for the high-efficiency, low-cost industrial manufacture.},

  doi          = {10.1016/j.solmat.2019.110389},

  journal      = {Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells},

  number       = C,

  volume       = 208,

  place        = {United States},

  year         = {Thu Jan 02 00:00:00 EST 2020},

  month        = {Thu Jan 02 00:00:00 EST 2020}

}

Copy to clipboard

Journal Article:

Free Publicly Available Full Text

Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Publisher's Version of Record

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solmat.2019.110389

Other availability

Search WorldCat to find libraries that may hold this journal

Citation Metrics:

Cited by: 33 works

Citation information provided by
Web of Science

Save / Share:

Export Metadata

Save to My Library

Similar Records in DOE PAGES and OSTI.GOV collections:

Process–Structure–Properties Relationships of Passivating, Electron–Selective Contacts Formed by Atmospheric Pressure Chemical Vapor Deposition of Phosphorus–Doped Polysilicon

Journal Article Mousumi, Jannatul Ferdous ; Gregory, Geoffrey ; Ganesan, Jeya Prakash ; ... - Physica Status Solidi. Rapid Research Letters

Herein, we investigate the process–structure–properties relationships of in situ phosphorus (P)-doped polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) films by atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition (APCVD) for fabricating poly-Si passivating, electron selective contacts. This high-throughput in-line APCVD technique enables to achieve a low-cost, simple manufacturing process for crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cells featuring poly-Si passivating contact by excluding the need for vacuum/plasma environment, and additional post-deposition doping steps. A thin layer of this P-doped poly-Si is deposited on an ultrathin (1.5 nm) silicon oxide (SiO _x) coated c-Si substrate to fabricate the passivating contact. This is followed by various post-deposition treatments, including a high-temperaturemore »« less
https://doi.org/10.1002/pssr.202100639

Full Text Available
Sputtered indium tin oxide as a recombination layer formed on the tunnel oxide/poly-Si passivating contact enabling the potential of efficient monolithic perovskite/Si tandem solar cells

Journal Article Yoon, Woojun ; Scheiman, David ; Ok, Young-Woo ; ... - Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells

We focus on utilizing sputtered indium tin oxide (ITO) as a recombination layer, having low junction damage to an n-type silicon solar cell with a front-side tunnel oxide passivating electron contact, thereby enabling the development of a high efficiency monolithic perovskite/Si tandem device. High transparency and low resistivity ITO films are deposited via low power DC magnetron sputtering at room temperature onto a front-side thin SiO_x/n⁺ poly-Si contact in a complete Cz n-Si cell with a back-side Al₂O₃/SiN_x passivating boron-diffused p⁺-emitter on a random pyramid textured surface. We report the cell characteristics before and after ITO sputtering, and we findmore »« less
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solmat.2020.110482

Full Text Available
Fully screen-printed bifacial large area 22.6% N-type Si solar cell with lightly doped ion-implanted boron emitter and tunnel oxide passivated rear contact

Journal Article Huang, Ying-Yuan ; Ok, Young-Woo ; Madani, Keeya ; ... - Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells

We report on the fabrication of fully screen-printed bifacial large area (239 cm²) high-efficiency n-type Si solar cells with ion-implanted homogeneous boron emitter on the front side and carrier-selective tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) on the rear. Our phosphorus-doped poly-Si/SiO_x passivated contact with SiNx capping layer gave excellent surface passivation with a very low recombination current density (J_{0_TOPCon}) of ~1 fA/cm² after a simulated firing treatment at ~770 °C without metallization. After screen-printed and fire-through metallization on n-TOPCon with ~13% metal coverage, metallized J_{0_TOPCon} value increased to only ~5 fA/cm². In addition, homogenous boron implanted emitter (~180 Ω/sq) passivated withmore »« less
Cited by 23
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solmat.2020.110585

Full Text Available
Fabrication of Poly-Si on Locally Etched SiOx as Passivating Contacts for c-Si Solar Cells

Conference Lima Salles, Caroline ; Nemeth, William ; Guthrey, Harvey ; ...

Polysilicon on silicon oxide (poly-Si/SiO x ) passivating contacts with predominant charge-carrier transport via pinholes were prepared with room temperature metal-assisted chemical etching. Pinhole areal densities in the range of 2.8 x 10^4 to 4.5 x 10^7 cm^-2 were imaged by SEM. Contact resistivity of 32 m-ohm-cm^2 and implied open circuit voltage of 729 mV were obtained for symmetric n+ poly-Si/SiOx grown onto randomly textured n-Cz. We also show preliminary data pertaining boron-doped polysilicon on nitride/oxide passivating contacts, with which we achieved implied open circuit voltage above 730 mV and recombination current of 0.2 fA/cm^2.
https://doi.org/10.1109/PVSC43889.2021.9518647
Tunnel oxide passivated contacts formed by ion implantation for applications in silicon solar cells

Journal Article Reichel, Christian ; Feldmann, Frank ; Müller, Ralph ; ... - Journal of Applied Physics

Passivated contacts (poly-Si/SiO_x/c-Si) doped by shallow ion implantation are an appealing technology for high efficiency silicon solar cells, especially for interdigitated back contact (IBC) solar cells where a masked ion implantation facilitates their fabrication. This paper presents a study on tunnel oxide passivated contacts formed by low-energy ion implantation into amorphous silicon (a-Si) layers and examines the influence of the ion species (P, B, or BF2), the ion implantation dose (5 × 10¹⁴ cm^–2 to 1 × 10¹⁶ cm^–2), and the subsequent high-temperature anneal (800 °C or 900 °C) on the passivation quality and junction characteristics using double-sided contacted siliconmore »« less
Cited by 51
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4936223

Full Text Available

Similar Records

Title: Ultrathin silicon oxide prepared by in-line plasma-assisted N2O oxidation (PANO) and the application for n-type polysilicon passivated contact

Abstract

Citation Formats

Title: Ultrathin silicon oxide prepared by in-line plasma-assisted N₂O oxidation (PANO) and the application for n-type polysilicon passivated contact