Novel Process for Screen-Printed Selective Area Front Polysilicon Contacts for TOPCon Cells Using Laser Oxidation
Abstract
The efficiency potential of double-side tunnel oxide passivated contact (DS-TOPCon) solar cells is limited by parasitic absorption in the front poly-Si layer, despite excellent passivation and high VOC. The use of patterned poly-Si only under the front metal grid lines can significantly reduce the parasitic absorption loss without sacrificing voltage. In this work, we demonstrate a simple, manufacturing-friendly method of patterning the front poly-Si using a nanosecond UV (355 nm) laser. We found that with laser powers ≥3 W at a 400 mm/s scan speed, an estimated 1–4 nm thick stoichiometric SiO2 layer was grown on TOPCon. This served as a mask for KOH-etching of 200 nm poly-Si, allowing for patterning of poly-Si fingers required for selective TOPCon. While laser powers above 3 W caused substantial deterioration in passivation quality, the resulting damage in J0 was largely recovered by subsequent PECVD SiNx deposition. At 3 W, the full area J0 was found to be 36.8 fA·cm–2. Furthermore, this translates to 1.68 fA·cm–2 for 4.48% coverage from the wing area of the polyfinger lines (100 lines–100 μm wide and 30 μm metal) contributing to a total front J0 of ~10 fA·cm–2, well suited for 25% efficient solar cells
- Authors:
-
- Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA (United States)
- Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA (United States); National Yang Ming Chiao Tung Univ., Tainan (Taiwan)
- National Univ. of Singapore (Singapore)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1895326
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 2282746
- Grant/Contract Number:
- EE0008562; EE0009350
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 12; Journal Issue: 6; Journal ID: ISSN 2156-3381
- Publisher:
- IEEE
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 42 ENGINEERING; double-side TOPCon; laser oxidation; passivating contacts; screen-printed contacts; selective area contacts; Double side TOPCon, Laser oxidation, Selective area contacts, passivating contacts, screen printed contacts
Citation Formats
Dasgupta, Sagnik, Ok, Young-Woo, Upadhyaya, Vijaykumar D., Choi, Wook-Jin, Huang, Ying-Yuan, Duttagupta, Shubham, and Rohatgi, Ajeet. Novel Process for Screen-Printed Selective Area Front Polysilicon Contacts for TOPCon Cells Using Laser Oxidation. United States: N. p., 2022.
Web. doi:10.1109/jphotov.2022.3196822.
Dasgupta, Sagnik, Ok, Young-Woo, Upadhyaya, Vijaykumar D., Choi, Wook-Jin, Huang, Ying-Yuan, Duttagupta, Shubham, & Rohatgi, Ajeet. Novel Process for Screen-Printed Selective Area Front Polysilicon Contacts for TOPCon Cells Using Laser Oxidation. United States. https://doi.org/10.1109/jphotov.2022.3196822
Dasgupta, Sagnik, Ok, Young-Woo, Upadhyaya, Vijaykumar D., Choi, Wook-Jin, Huang, Ying-Yuan, Duttagupta, Shubham, and Rohatgi, Ajeet. Mon .
"Novel Process for Screen-Printed Selective Area Front Polysilicon Contacts for TOPCon Cells Using Laser Oxidation". United States. https://doi.org/10.1109/jphotov.2022.3196822. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1895326.
@article{osti_1895326,
title = {Novel Process for Screen-Printed Selective Area Front Polysilicon Contacts for TOPCon Cells Using Laser Oxidation},
author = {Dasgupta, Sagnik and Ok, Young-Woo and Upadhyaya, Vijaykumar D. and Choi, Wook-Jin and Huang, Ying-Yuan and Duttagupta, Shubham and Rohatgi, Ajeet},
abstractNote = {The efficiency potential of double-side tunnel oxide passivated contact (DS-TOPCon) solar cells is limited by parasitic absorption in the front poly-Si layer, despite excellent passivation and high VOC. The use of patterned poly-Si only under the front metal grid lines can significantly reduce the parasitic absorption loss without sacrificing voltage. In this work, we demonstrate a simple, manufacturing-friendly method of patterning the front poly-Si using a nanosecond UV (355 nm) laser. We found that with laser powers ≥3 W at a 400 mm/s scan speed, an estimated 1–4 nm thick stoichiometric SiO2 layer was grown on TOPCon. This served as a mask for KOH-etching of 200 nm poly-Si, allowing for patterning of poly-Si fingers required for selective TOPCon. While laser powers above 3 W caused substantial deterioration in passivation quality, the resulting damage in J0 was largely recovered by subsequent PECVD SiNx deposition. At 3 W, the full area J0 was found to be 36.8 fA·cm–2. Furthermore, this translates to 1.68 fA·cm–2 for 4.48% coverage from the wing area of the polyfinger lines (100 lines–100 μm wide and 30 μm metal) contributing to a total front J0 of ~10 fA·cm–2, well suited for 25% efficient solar cells},
doi = {10.1109/jphotov.2022.3196822},
journal = {IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics},
number = 6,
volume = 12,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Aug 29 00:00:00 EDT 2022},
month = {Mon Aug 29 00:00:00 EDT 2022}
}
Works referenced in this record:
Laser-induced modification of doped poly-Si surface for Si solar cells with structured passivated contacts
text, January 2020
- Schäfer, S.; Mercker, A.; Mertens, V.
- WIP
Quantitative Understanding and Implementation of Screen Printed p+ Poly-Si/Oxide Passivated Contact to Enhance the Efficiency of p-PERC Cells
conference, June 2020
- Choi, Wook-Jin; Jain, Aditi; Huang, Ying-Yuan
- 2020 47th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC)
Industrial TOPCon Solar Cells Realized by a PECVD Tube Process
text, January 2020
- Feldmann, F.; Steinhauser, B.; Pernau, T.
- WIP
Tunnel oxide passivated contacts as an alternative to partial rear contacts
journal, December 2014
- Feldmann, Frank; Bivour, Martin; Reichel, Christian
- Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, Vol. 131
Modeling and Understanding of Rear Junction Double-Side Passivated Contact Solar Cells with Selective Area TOPCon on Front
conference, June 2021
- Huang, Ying-Yuan; Jain, Aditi; Choi, Wook-Jin
- 2021 IEEE 48th Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC)
GridTOUCH: Innovative Solution for Accurate IV Measurement of Busbarless Cells in Production and Laboratory Environments
text, January 2014
- Bassi, N.; Clerc, C.; Pelet, Y.
- WIP
Self-Aligned Selective Area Front Contacts on Poly-Si/SiO
x
Passivating Contact c-Si Solar Cells
journal, May 2022
- Chen, Kejun; Hartweg, Barry; Woodhouse, Michael
- IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, Vol. 12, Issue 3
Application of IR variable angle spectroscopic ellipsometry to the determination of free carrier concentration depth profiles
journal, February 1998
- Tiwald, Thomas E.; Thompson, Daniel W.; Woollam, John A.
- Thin Solid Films, Vol. 313-314
Comparison of passivation properties of plasma-assisted ALD and APCVD deposited Al2O3 with SiNx capping
journal, December 2020
- Madani, Keeya; Rohatgi, Ajeet; Min, Kwan Hong
- Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, Vol. 218
Role of oxygen in the UV-ps laser triggered amorphization of poly-Si for Si solar cells with local passivated contacts
journal, April 2021
- Schäfer, Sören; Mercker, Anja; Köhler, Adrian
- Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 129, Issue 13
Ultra-Low Power Poly-Si TFTs with 10 nm Stacked Gate Oxide Fabricated by Nitric Acid Oxidation of Silicon (NAOS) Method
journal, January 2015
- Matsumoto, Taketoshi; Tsuji, Hiroshi; Terakawa, Sumio
- ECS Journal of Solid State Science and Technology, Vol. 4, Issue 5
Optoelectrical properties of high-performance low-pressure chemical vapor deposited phosphorus-doped polysilicon layers for passivating contact solar cells
journal, April 2020
- Padhamnath, Pradeep; Nampalli, Nitin; Nandakumar, Naomi
- Thin Solid Films, Vol. 699
Study on hydrogenated silicon nitride for application of high efficiency crystalline silicon solar cells
journal, January 2011
- Yoo, Jinsu; So, Junghun; Yu, Gwonjong
- Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, Vol. 95, Issue 1
Design, Optimization, and In-Depth Understanding of Front and Rear Junction Double-Side Passivated Contacts Solar Cells
journal, September 2021
- Jain, Aditi; Choi, Wook-Jin; Huang, Ying-Yuan
- IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, Vol. 11, Issue 5
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, August 2020
- Huang, Ying-Yuan; Ok, Young-Woo; Madani, Keeya
- Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, Vol. 214
Silicon (100)/SiO2 by XPS
journal, September 2013
- Jensen, David S.; Kanyal, Supriya S.; Madaan, Nitesh
- Surface Science Spectra, Vol. 20, Issue 1
Parameterization of the optical functions of amorphous materials in the interband region
journal, July 1996
- Jellison, G. E.; Modine, F. A.
- Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 69, Issue 3
OPAL 2: Rapid optical simulation of silicon solar cells
conference, June 2012
- McIntosh, Keith R.; Baker-Finch, Simeon C.
- 2012 IEEE 38th Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC), 2012 38th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference
Ultra‐Thin Poly‐Si Layers: Passivation Quality, Utilization of Charge Carriers Generated in the Poly‐Si and Application on Screen‐Printed Double‐Side Contacted Polycrystalline Si on Oxide Cells
journal, August 2020
- Larionova, Yevgeniya; Schulte-Huxel, Henning; Min, Byungsul
- Solar RRL, Vol. 4, Issue 10
A freeware program for precise optical analysis of the front surface of a solar cell
conference, June 2010
- Baker-Finch, Simeon C.; McIntosh, Keith R.
- 2010 35th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC)
Silicon Solar Cell Architecture with Front Selective and Rear Full Area Ion-Implanted Passivating Contacts
journal, June 2017
- Ingenito, Andrea; Limodio, Gianluca; Procel, Paul
- Solar RRL, Vol. 1, Issue 7
Systematic Study of the SiOx Film with Different Stoichiometry by Plasma-Enhanced Atomic Layer Deposition and Its Application in SiOx/SiO2 Super-Lattice
journal, January 2019
- Ma, Hong-Ping; Yang, Jia-He; Yang, Jian-Guo
- Nanomaterials, Vol. 9, Issue 1
~23% rear side poly-Si/SiO2 passivated silicon solar cell with optimized ion-implanted boron emitter and screen-printed contacts
journal, September 2021
- Huang, Ying-Yuan; Ok, Young-Woo; Madani, Keeya
- Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, Vol. 230
Ultraviolet laser‐induced oxidation of silicon: The effect of oxygen photodissociation upon oxide growth kinetics
journal, November 1988
- Orlowski, T. E.; Mantell, D. A.
- Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 64, Issue 9