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Hydrogen Sulfide Passivation for p-Type Passivated Emitter and Rear Contact Solar Cells

This work reports on the application of sulfur (S)-passivation to passivated emitter and rear contact (PERC) solar cells. The emitter surface was passivated by hydrogen sulfide (H2S) gas phase reaction and capped by a hydrogenated amorphous silicon nitride (a-SiNx:H) layer. The sulfur passivation on...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE journal of photovoltaics 2023-12, Vol.14 (2)
Main Authors: Mouri, Tasnim Kamal, Upadhyaya, Ajay, Rohatgi, Ajeet, Ok, Young-Woo, Upadhyaya, Vijaykumar, Rounsaville, Brian, Hua, Amandee, Hauschild, Dirk, Weinhardt, Lothar, Heske, Clemens, Das, Ujjwal K.
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Language:English
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Summary:This work reports on the application of sulfur (S)-passivation to passivated emitter and rear contact (PERC) solar cells. The emitter surface was passivated by hydrogen sulfide (H2S) gas phase reaction and capped by a hydrogenated amorphous silicon nitride (a-SiNx:H) layer. The sulfur passivation on a symmetrically n+ diffused emitter is shown to lead to an emitter saturation current density (J0n+) of 30 fA/cm2 at Rsheet,n+ ≈ 100 Ω/sq. The application of S-passivation to the emitter surface in the PERC cell structure, with the rear surface passivated by an aluminum oxide (Al2O3)/a-SiNx:H stack, showed a promising implied open-circuit voltage (iVOC) of 686 mV before metallization. This iVOC was higher than that for the a-SiNx:H or SiO2/a-SiNx:H passivated emitter surfaces (675 and 674 mV, respectively) on PERC cells processed in the same run. However, a significant drop in cell VOC is observed for the S-passivated PERC cell after the completion of device fabrication with laser patterning, screen-printed metal contact deposition, and firing. Nonetheless, an efficiency of ~20% and a VOC of ~650 mV was achieved with an emitter surface passivated by sulfur. We identified that the 760°C contact firing process degrades the S-passivation quality. Furthermore, the surface morphology was studied, and a detailed surface analysis was performed to study the causes of the S-passivated surface degradation.
ISSN:2156-3381