TY - JOUR

T1 - Transparent silicon carbide/tunnel SiO2 passivation for c-Si solar cell front side: Enabling Jsc > 42 mA/cm2 and iVoc of 742 mV

AU - Pomaska, Manuel

AU - Köhler, Malte

AU - Procel Moya, Paul

AU - Zamchiy, Alexandr

AU - Singh, Aryak

AU - Kim, Do Yun

AU - Isabella, Olindo

AU - Zeman, Miro

AU - Li, Shenghao

AU - Qiu, Kaifu

AU - Eberst, Alexander

AU - Smirnov, Vladimir

AU - Finger, Friedhelm

AU - Rau, Uwe

AU - Ding, Kaining

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2020 The Authors. Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Copyright: Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

PY - 2020/4/1

Y1 - 2020/4/1

N2 - N-type microcrystalline silicon carbide (μc-SiC:H(n)) is a wide bandgap material that is very promising for the use on the front side of crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cells. It offers a high optical transparency and a suitable refractive index that reduces parasitic absorption and reflection losses, respectively. In this work, we investigate the potential of hot wire chemical vapor deposition (HWCVD)–grown μc-SiC:H(n) for c-Si solar cells with interdigitated back contacts (IBC). We demonstrate outstanding passivation quality of μc-SiC:H(n) on tunnel oxide (SiO2)–passivated c-Si with an implied open-circuit voltage of 742 mV and a saturation current density of 3.6 fA/cm2. This excellent passivation quality is achieved directly after the HWCVD deposition of μc-SiC:H(n) at 250°C heater temperature without any further treatments like recrystallization or hydrogenation. Additionally, we developed magnesium fluoride (MgF2)/silicon nitride (SiNx:H)/silicon carbide antireflection coatings that reduce optical losses on the front side to only 0.47 mA/cm2 with MgF2/SiNx:H/μc-SiC:H(n) and 0.62 mA/cm2 with MgF2/μc-SiC:H(n). Finally, calculations with Sentaurus TCAD simulation using MgF2/μc-SiC:H(n)/SiO2/c-Si as front side layer stack in an IBC solar cell reveal a short-circuit current density of 42.2 mA/cm2, an open-circuit voltage of 738 mV, a fill factor of 85.2% and a maximum power conversion efficiency of 26.6%.

AB - N-type microcrystalline silicon carbide (μc-SiC:H(n)) is a wide bandgap material that is very promising for the use on the front side of crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cells. It offers a high optical transparency and a suitable refractive index that reduces parasitic absorption and reflection losses, respectively. In this work, we investigate the potential of hot wire chemical vapor deposition (HWCVD)–grown μc-SiC:H(n) for c-Si solar cells with interdigitated back contacts (IBC). We demonstrate outstanding passivation quality of μc-SiC:H(n) on tunnel oxide (SiO2)–passivated c-Si with an implied open-circuit voltage of 742 mV and a saturation current density of 3.6 fA/cm2. This excellent passivation quality is achieved directly after the HWCVD deposition of μc-SiC:H(n) at 250°C heater temperature without any further treatments like recrystallization or hydrogenation. Additionally, we developed magnesium fluoride (MgF2)/silicon nitride (SiNx:H)/silicon carbide antireflection coatings that reduce optical losses on the front side to only 0.47 mA/cm2 with MgF2/SiNx:H/μc-SiC:H(n) and 0.62 mA/cm2 with MgF2/μc-SiC:H(n). Finally, calculations with Sentaurus TCAD simulation using MgF2/μc-SiC:H(n)/SiO2/c-Si as front side layer stack in an IBC solar cell reveal a short-circuit current density of 42.2 mA/cm2, an open-circuit voltage of 738 mV, a fill factor of 85.2% and a maximum power conversion efficiency of 26.6%.

KW - antireflecting coating

KW - excellent passivation

KW - heterojunction

KW - hot wire CVD

KW - lean process

KW - refractive index

KW - silicon carbide

KW - tunnel oxide

KW - CONTACT

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85077990859&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1002/pip.3244

DO - 10.1002/pip.3244

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85077990859

VL - 28

SP - 321

EP - 327

JO - Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications

JF - Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications

SN - 1062-7995

IS - 4

ER -