Investigation of H₂ Plasma Incorporated ALD-TiO_x Films as Hole-Selective Passivating Contacts in Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells

Abstract

In this work, we present an integrated method for the deposition of TiO x through introducing H 2 plasma pulses into the atomic layer deposition process. The potential of TiO x films deposited through this process as a hole-selective passivating contact in crystalline silicon solar cells was evaluated in terms of passivation quality, carrier selectivity, electrical properties, and optical performance. The combination of the growth process with post-H 2 plasma treatment yields TiO x films with superior passivation quality, carrier selectivity, and electrical properties. Simulations demonstrate the potential of our TiO x -based heterojunction as opposed to hydrogenated amorphous and polycrystalline silicon-based heterojunctions. Finally, we report that the performance of n-type tunnel oxide passivated contact cells can be further improved through replacing the front homojunction with our TiO x -based heterojunction, referred to as transition metal oxide-integrated polycrystalline silicon on oxide solar cells in our work.