High efficiency Si-heterojunction technology - it's ready for mass production

Legradic, B.; Strahm, B.; Lachenal, D.; Bätzner, D.L.; Frammelsberger, W.; Meixenberger, J.; Papet, P.; Wahli, G.; Zhao, Jun; Decker, D. K.; Vetter, E.

doi:10.1109/pvsc.2015.7355747

Cited by 8 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 1 publication

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“…This suggests close‐to‐ideal process control for the 72‐cell configuration. Similar performance characteristics were also observed in Meyer‐Burger modules . The framework discussed in this work can therefore be useful to several other SHJ manufacturers attempting to quantify such losses to optimize their process flow and reduce Δ to ~2%.…”

Section: Cell‐to‐module Transitionsupporting

confidence: 65%

Device physics underlying silicon heterojunction and passivating‐contact solar cells: A topical review

Chavali

Wolf

Alam

2018

Progress in Photovoltaics

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The device physics of commercially dominant diffused-junction silicon solar cells is well understood, allowing sophisticated optimization of this class of devices. Recently, so-called passivating-contact solar cell technologies have become prominent, with Kaneka setting the world's silicon solar cell efficiency record of 26.63% using silicon heterojunction contacts in an interdigitated configuration. Although passivating-contact solar cells are remarkably efficient, their underlying device physics is not yet completely understood, not in the least because they are constructed from diverse materials that may introduce electronic barriers in the current flow.To bridge this gap in understanding, we explore the device physics of passivating contact silicon heterojunction (SHJ) solar cells. Here, we identify the key properties of heterojunctions that affect cell efficiency, analyze the dependence of key heterojunction properties on carrier transport under light and dark conditions, provide a self-consistent multiprobe approach to extract heterojunction parameters using several characterization techniques (including dark J-V, light J-V, C-V, admittance spectroscopy, and Suns-Voc), propose design guidelines to address bottlenecks in energy production in SHJ cells, and develop a process-to-module modeling framework to establish the module's performance limits. We expect that our proposed guidelines resulting from this multiscale and self-consistent framework will improve the performance of future SHJ cells as well as other passivating contact-based solar cells.

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Section: Cell‐to‐module Transitionsupporting

confidence: 65%

Device physics underlying silicon heterojunction and passivating‐contact solar cells: A topical review

Chavali

Wolf

Alam

2018

Progress in Photovoltaics

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“…With the development of modern coating hardware [127,128], highly efficient and cost-effective metallization scheme, the industry should have now many cards at hands to launch high volume manufacturing of SHJ. Indeed, six inch SHJ solar cells made in a pilot line were certified at 24%, in the so-called busbar-less configuration (i.e.…”

Section: Industrial Aspectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Silicon heterojunction solar cells: Recent technological development and practical aspects - from lab to industry

Haschke

Dupré

Boccard

et al. 2018

Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells

191

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We review the recent progress of silicon heterojunction (SHJ) solar cells. Recently, a new efficiency world record for silicon solar cells of 26.7% has been set by Kaneka Corp. using this technology. This was mainly achieved by remarkably increasing the fill-factor (FF) to 84.9%-the highest FF published for a silicon solar cell to date. High FF have for long been a challenge for SHJ technology. We emphasize with the help of simulations the importance of minimised recombination, not only to reach high open-circuit voltages, but also high FF, and discuss the most important loss mechanisms. We review the different cell-to-module loss and gain mechanisms putting focus on those that impact FF. With respect to industrialization of SHJ technology, we discuss the current hindrances and possible solutions, of which many are already present in industry. With the intrinsic bifacial nature of SHJ technology as well as its low temperature coefficient record high energy production per rated power is achievable in many climate regions. 83.8%. This high FF was enabled by a series resistance of only 0.32 Ω cm 2 , demonstrating that very low-resistive contacts can be achieved also with SHJ contacts. Later in 2017, further progress in efficiency was reported, culminating at 26.7% [4]. This cell featured an

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“…Silicon heterojunction (SHJ) solar cells have been widely researched in both laboratory and industry levels for their high efficiency, simple fabrication procedure, and low production cost. − In SHJ solar cells, stacks with intrinsic amorphous silicon [a-Si:H(i)] and doped amorphous silicon [a-Si:H(n/p)] layers are used on both sides of the crystalline silicon wafer and provide an excellent passivation quality. ,− High open-circuit voltage ( V OC ) and thus high efficiency values have already been reported based on the SHJ structure. ,− However, there are still several efficiency-limiting issues for SHJ solar cells. The first one is that the doped a-Si:H layer, which is used in the front side as a window layer, causes parasitic absorption in the short wavelength range. , Many new materials and structures have been explored to reduce the parasitic absorption in the front, such as wide-band-gap materials − or transparent metal oxides − as a substitution for a-Si:H or back-contacted structure , designs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phosphorus Catalytic Doping on Intrinsic Silicon Thin Films for the Application in Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cells

Liu

Pomaska

Duan

et al. 2020

ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces

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Parasitic absorption and limited fill factor (FF) brought in by the use of amorphous silicon layers are efficiency-limiting challenges for the silicon heterojunction (SHJ) solar cells. In this work, postdeposition phosphorus (P) catalytic doping (Cat-doping) on intrinsic amorphous silicon (a-Si:H(i)) at a low substrate temperature was carried out and a P concentration of up to 6 × 1021 cm–3 was reached. The influences of filament temperature, substrate temperature, and processing pressure on the P profiles were systemically studied by secondary-ion mass spectrometry. By replacing the a-Si:H(n+er with P Cat-doping of an a-Si:H(i) layer, the passivation quality was improved, reaching an iV OC of 741 mV, while the parasitic absorption was reduced, leading to an increase in J SC by ∼1 mA/cm2. On the other hand, the open-circuit voltage and the FF of a conventional SHJ solar cell (with the a-Si:H(n) layer) can be improved by adding a Cat-doping process on the a-Si:H(i) layer, resulting in an increase in FF by 4.7%abs and in efficiency by 1.5%abs.

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High efficiency Si-heterojunction technology - it's ready for mass production

Cited by 8 publications

References 1 publication

Device physics underlying silicon heterojunction and passivating‐contact solar cells: A topical review

Device physics underlying silicon heterojunction and passivating‐contact solar cells: A topical review

Silicon heterojunction solar cells: Recent technological development and practical aspects - from lab to industry

Phosphorus Catalytic Doping on Intrinsic Silicon Thin Films for the Application in Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cells

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