Screen‐Printed Front Junction n‐Type Silicon Solar Cells

Abstract

This chapter aims to provide students/engineers/scientists in the field of photovoltaics with the basic information needed to understand the operating principles of screenprinted front junction n-type silicon solar cells. The relevant device fabrication processing is described, from texturing, diffusion, passivation and antireflection coating, to screenprinted and fired-through metallization as well as the technologies that are currently used for most industrially produced solar cells. A brief description of the characterisation approaches is given and discussed for an understanding and analysis of the loss mechanisms in a finished cell, including resistance loss, recombination loss, and optical loss. The application of advanced cell concepts and the improved technologies for further increasing cell efficiency, such as selectively doping structure and tunnel oxide passivated contact, are addressed for screen-printed front junction n-type silicon solar cells.

Boron Doping of Metal-Doped Hematite for Reduced Surface Recombination in Water Splitting

“…To address the recombination issue of metal ion-doped hematite, introducing p-type dopants into n-doped hematite has been suggested to generate additional states above the valence band of hematite and to form a p–n junction at the surface. The p–n junction effectively reduces the charge recombination by providing a supplemental charge separation driving force due to the increased built-in potential. , Similarly, the n–n + homojunction, which occurs at the interfaces between slightly doped semiconductors and heavily doped semiconductors, has been used to reduce the contact resistance between the semiconductor and the metal by inducing a slight bending of energy bands. , In this system, lightly doped metal oxides provide a longer space charge region (SCR) with greater numbers of reactive electron–hole pairs (EHPs) for water splitting compared to highly doped metal oxides …”

“…9,22 Similarly, the n−n + homojunction, which occurs at the interfaces between slightly doped semiconductors and heavily doped semiconductors, has been used to reduce the contact resistance between the semiconductor and the metal by inducing a slight bending of energy bands. 32,33 In this system, lightly doped metal oxides provide a longer space charge region (SCR) with greater numbers of reactive electron−hole pairs (EHPs) for water splitting compared to highly doped metal oxides. 34 In addition, unlike many metal ion dopants with unavoidable recombination issues due to newly generated energy states, the recombination of nonmetal-doped hematite is lower.…”

An Efficient Non-Toxic and Non-Corrosive Perovskite Solar Cell

“…If the thickness of the cell is not optimized, it give rise to certain problems such as series resistance, defect in state densities, recombination loses and decline in diffusion duration [23,24]. Moreover, electrons cannot travel long distance because of the short life span [25,26]. Thus, to counter these problems there is a dire need to optimize the cell with improved PV parameters.…”