Optical Optimization Potential of Transparent‐Passivated Contacts in Silicon Solar Cells

Abstract

Herein, an optical loss analysis of the recently introduced silicon carbide–based transparent passivating contact (TPC) for silicon heterojunction solar cells is presented, the most dominant losses are identified, and the potential for reducing these losses is discussed. Magnesium fluoride is applied as an antireflective coating to reduce the reflective losses by up to 0.8 mA cm−2. When applying the magnesium fluoride, the passivation quality of the layer stack degrades, but is restored after annealing on a hot plate in ambient air. Afterwards, a road map for TPC solar cells toward an efficiency of 25% is presented and discussed. The largest part in efficiency gain is achieved by reducing the finger width and by increasing the passivation quality. Furthermore, it is shown that TPC solar cells have the potential to achieve short‐circuit current densities above 42 mA cm−2 if the finger width is reduced and the front‐side indium tin oxide (ITO) layer can be replaced by an ITO silicon nitride double layer.

Recent advancements in poly-Si/SiOxpassivating contacts for high-efficiency silicon solar cells: technology review and perspectives

“…109 This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2022 and equipment manufacturers are still compelled to incorporate PECVD into massive production lines because of its ability to deposit selectively on one side. 125 Atmospheric-pressure CVD (APCVD) and hot-wire CVD (HWCVD) are two additional singleside CVD procedures which are employed to generate TOPCon structures, however, they are not as widely used. [126][127][128] PVD methods like sputtering and electron beam evaporation show great promise as single-side deposition alternatives.…”

Comparing single-, double- and triple-layer anti-reflection coatings for ultra-low reflectance in silicon heterojunction solar cells

“…19) Previous reports have indicated that adding a SiN x layer as the third ARC, while reducing ITO use, has the potential to optimize short-circuit current of SHJ SCs. 20) A cost-effective approach using plasma enhanced CVD (PECVD) to fabricate SiO 2 is applied in the photovoltaic field. 12) With the same processing method, SiO 2 and SiN x realize continuous and efficient deposition of ARCs.…”