Underdense a-Si:H film capped by a dense film as the passivation layer of a silicon heterojunction solar cell

Liu, Wenzhu; Zhang, Liping; Chen, Renfang; Meng, Fanying; Guo, Wanwu; Bao, Jian; Liu, Zhengxin

doi:10.1063/1.4966941

Cited by 58 publications

(47 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…The sample corresponding to the maximum (C H SiH2 + C H SiH3 )/C H exhibits the highest passivation quality among the samples prepared with different T mesh and/or T sub . This suggests that using SiHx (x=2,3) -rich a-Si:H grown at low T sub as a passivation layer is advantageous to inhibit an undesirable epitaxial growth at the a-Si:H/c-Si interface, consistently with the previous studies [17,18].…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 87%

“…This T mesh coincides with the T mesh corresponding to the maximum (C H SiH2 + C H SiH3 )/C H in Figure 2. This is consistent with the previous studies [17,18] which argue that use of underdense i a-Si:H with high C H SiH2 /C H SiH ratio as a passivation layer is advantageous, because a highly disordered microstructure of the material inhibits an Fig. 3.…”

Section: Passivation Quality and Structural Properties Of The A-si:h supporting

confidence: 92%

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Si surface passivation by using triode-type plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition with thermally energized film-precursors

Niikura

Shiratori

Miyajima

2020

Eur. Phys. J. Appl. Phys.

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We fabricated hydrogenated amorphous Si (a-Si:H) passivation layers on the surfaces of Si wafers by using triode-type plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition with gas-heating, and discussed high-quality surface passivation for Si heterojunction solar cells. The sample with the a-Si:H layers corresponding to the highest proportion of SiHx(x=2,3) content in SiHx(x=1–3) content exhibited the minimum surface recombination velocity (S) after annealing. This suggests that using SiHx(x=2,3)-rich a-Si:H grown at low-temperature as a passivation layer is advantageous to inhibit an epitaxial growth at the a-Si:H/crystalline Si interface, and that a structural relaxation of the a-Si:H takes place during post-deposition annealing, drastically improving passivation quality. Also, the importance to use a low Tsub and to optimize gas-heating and the triode technique, for obtaining simultaneously higher film quality and abrupt interface, is suggested. Low S obtained for our unoptimized samples implies the potency of this deposition technique. Nevertheless, further studies are needed to elucidate the impact of gas-heating and the triode technique on Si surface passivation. Temperature-dependent effective carrier lifetime for our samples might suggest relatively large electron affinity for an a-Si:H, which might be one possible reason for high-quality surface passivation.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 87%

Section: Passivation Quality and Structural Properties Of The A-si:h supporting

confidence: 92%

Si surface passivation by using triode-type plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition with thermally energized film-precursors

Niikura

Shiratori

Miyajima

2020

Eur. Phys. J. Appl. Phys.

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“…Furthermore, surface passivation at the a‐Si:H/c‐Si interface is strongly affected also by overlying doped (p‐ or n‐type) layers, which are necessary for collection of either electrons or holes. [ 19,29,30 ]…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intrinsic Amorphous Silicon Bilayers for Effective Surface Passivation in Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cells: A Comparative Study of Interfacial Layers

Sai

Hsu

Chen

et al. 2021

Physica Status Solidi (a)

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The impact of intrinsic amorphous silicon bilayers in amorphous silicon/crystalline silicon (a‐Si:H/c‐Si) heterojunction solar cells is investigated. Intrinsic a‐Si:H films with a wide range of film densities and hydrogen contents are prepared via a plasma‐enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) technique by modifying various process parameters. For silicon heterojunction (SHJ) solar cells with a‐Si:H films applied as single i‐layers, the resulting surface passivation at the a‐Si:H/c‐Si interface is poor. However, surface passivation is significantly improved by applying intrinsic bilayers, which are composed of a porous interfacial layer (≈2 nm) and an overlying dense layer (≈8 nm). The microstructure factor R* of the interfacial a‐Si:H layer, which is related to the SiH bond microstructure and determined by infrared absorption spectroscopy, closely correlates to the surface passivation capability of the bilayers. A variety of PECVD process parameters (temperature, pressure, or precursor gas species) can be utilized to grow an interfacial layer for good surface passivation, provided that its R* is controlled within a suitable range. This indicates that R* is a key universal parameter for optimizing i‐bilayers and realizing high‐efficiency SHJ solar cells.

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“…Such porous a-Si:H layers especially yield a superior passivation quality with ultrathin $5 nm thick layers, which is in stark contrast to dense a-Si:H for which it is commonly observed that thicker films yield a better passivation quality. 33 Thirdly, an atomically smooth a-Si:H/c-Si interface is desired, i.e., epitaxial growth should be avoided. The presence of epitaxy results in reduced levels of interface passivation, especially upon post-deposition annealing.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Correlating the silicon surface passivation to the nanostructure of low-temperature a-Si:H after rapid thermal annealing

Macco

Melskens

Podraza³

et al. 2017

Journal of Applied Physics

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Using an inductively coupled plasma, hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) films have been prepared at very low temperatures (<50 °C) to provide crystalline silicon (c-Si) surface passivation. Despite the limited nanostructural quality of the a-Si:H bulk, a surprisingly high minority carrier lifetime of ∼4 ms is demonstrated after a rapid thermal annealing treatment. Besides the excellent level of surface passivation, the main advantage of the low-temperature approach is the facile suppression of undesired epitaxial growth. The correlation between the a-Si:H nanostructure and the activation of a-Si:H/c-Si interface passivation, upon annealing, has been studied in detail. This yields a structural model that qualitatively describes the different processes that take place in the a-Si:H films during annealing. The presented experimental findings and insights can prove to be useful in the further development of very thin a-Si:H passivation layers for use in silicon heterojunction solar cells.

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Underdense a-Si:H film capped by a dense film as the passivation layer of a silicon heterojunction solar cell

Cited by 58 publications

References 32 publications

Si surface passivation by using triode-type plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition with thermally energized film-precursors

Si surface passivation by using triode-type plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition with thermally energized film-precursors

Intrinsic Amorphous Silicon Bilayers for Effective Surface Passivation in Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cells: A Comparative Study of Interfacial Layers

Correlating the silicon surface passivation to the nanostructure of low-temperature a-Si:H after rapid thermal annealing

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