Silicon Surface Passivation by Thin Thermal Oxide/PECVD Layer Stack Systems

Mack, Sebastian; Aßmus, W.; Brosinsky, C.; Schmeisser, S.; Kimmerle, Achim; Saint‐Cast, Pierre; Hofmann, M.; Biro, Daniel

doi:10.1109/jphotov.2011.2173299

Cited by 75 publications

(56 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…A common approach used to passivate standard textured n-type surfaces in solar cells is the use of thermally grown SiO2 and plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition (PECVD) of SiNX [19]. This proves difficult with nanowire textures due to loss of material in the thermal oxide case, and poor conformity in the PECVD nitride case.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Passivation of all-angle black surfaces for silicon solar cells

Rahman

Bonilla

Nawabjan

et al. 2017

Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells

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Abstract-Optical losses at the front surface of a silicon solar cell have a significant impact on efficiency, and as such, efforts to reduce reflection are necessary. In this work, a method to fabricate and passivate nanowire-pyramid hybrid structures formed on a silicon surface via wet chemical processing is presented. These high surface area structures can be utilised on the front surface of back contact silicon solar cells to maximise light absorption therein. Hemispherical reflectivity under varying incident angles is measured to study the optical enhancement conferred by these structures. The significant reduction in reflectivity (<2%) under low incident angles is maintained at high angles by the hybrid textured surface compared to surfaces textured with nanowires or pyramids alone. Finite Difference Time Domain simulations of these dual micro-nanoscale surfaces under varying angles supports the experimental results. In order to translate the optical benefit of these high surface area structures into improvements in device efficiency, they must also be well passivated. To this end, atomic layer deposition of alumina is used to reduce surface recombination velocities of these ultra-black silicon surfaces to below 30 cm/s. A decomposition of the passivation components is performed using capacitance-voltage and Kelvin Probe measurements. Finally, device simulations show power conversion efficiencies exceeding 21% are possible when using these ultra-black Si surfaces for the front surface of back contact silicon solar cells.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Passivation of all-angle black surfaces for silicon solar cells

Rahman

Bonilla

Nawabjan

et al. 2017

Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells

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“…This includes SiO 2 layers prepared by ALD [13,28] and by plasmaenhanced chemical vapor deposition (PE-CVD) [20], thermallygrown SiO 2 [29], but also other materials such as HfO 2 [30]. Moreover, when SiO 2 is combined with other capping layers, such as in SiO 2 /SiN x or SiO 2 /Al 2 O 3 /SiN x stacks, very low charge densities can be obtained [7,29,31], although this strongly depends on the SiO 2 thickness and process conditions [7,29]. To achieve passivation of n þ and p þ Si surfaces, for example wet-chemical or PE-CVD SiO 2 films in combination with PE-CVD SiN x capping layers [19,22], and PE-CVD SiO 2 /Al 2 O 3 stacks with varying SiO 2 film thicknesses have been studied [20].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“Zero-charge” SiO2/Al2O3 stacks for the simultaneous passivation of n+ and p+ doped silicon surfaces by atomic layer deposition

Loo

Knoops

Dingemans

et al. 2015

Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells

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“…This significant positive-charge density leads to a strong inversion layer on the p-type c-Si surfaces, known as the "parasitic" or "inversion-layer shunting effect," leading to a reduction of the short-circuit current and cell efficiency [45]. SiO 2 /SiN x stacks are expected to reduce or nullify this detrimental effect [46,47].…”

Section: A-sin X :Hmentioning

confidence: 99%

Surface Passivation Schemes for High-Efficiency c-Si Solar Cells - A Review

Balaji¹,

Hussain²,

Park³

et al. 2015

Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials

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To reduce the cost of solar electricity, the crystalline-silicon (c-Si) photovoltaic industry is moving toward the use of thinner wafers (100 μm to 200 μm) to achieve a high efficiency. In this field, it is imperative to achieve an effective passivation method to reduce the electronic losses at the c-Si interface. In this article, we review the most promising surface passivation schemes that are available for high-efficiency solar cells.

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Silicon Surface Passivation by Thin Thermal Oxide/PECVD Layer Stack Systems

Cited by 75 publications

References 53 publications

Passivation of all-angle black surfaces for silicon solar cells

Passivation of all-angle black surfaces for silicon solar cells

“Zero-charge” SiO2/Al2O3 stacks for the simultaneous passivation of n+ and p+ doped silicon surfaces by atomic layer deposition

Surface Passivation Schemes for High-Efficiency c-Si Solar Cells - A Review

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