High efficiency screen printed bifacial solar cells on monocrystalline CZ silicon

We present industrialized bifacial solar cells on large area (149 cm²) 2 cm CZ monocrystalline silicon wafers processed with industrially relevant techniques such as liquid source BBr₃ and POCl₃ open‐tube furnace diffusions, plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) SiN_x deposition, and screen printed contacts. The fundamental analysis of the paste using at boron‐diffused surface and the bifacial solar cell firing cycle has been investigated. The resulting solar cells have front and rear efficiencies of 16.6 and 12.8%, respectively. The ratio of the rear J_SC to front J_SC is 76.8%. It increases the bifacial power by 15.4% over a conventional solar cell at 20% of 1‐sun rear illumination, which equals to the power of a conventional solar cell with 19.2% efficiency. We also present a bifacial glass–glass photovoltaic (PV) module with 30 bifacial cells with the electrical characteristics. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Bifacial potential of single‐ and double‐sided collecting silicon solar cells

Bifacial applications are a promising way to increase the performance of photovoltaic systems. Two silicon solar cell concepts suitable for bifacial operation are the passivated emitter, rear totally diffused (PERT) and the both sides collecting and contacted (BOSCO) cell concepts. This work investigates the bifacial potential of these concepts by means of in‐depth numerical device simulation and experiment with a focus on the impact of varying material quality. It is shown that the PERT cell concept (representing a structure with front‐side emitter only) requires high‐minority‐carrier‐diffusion‐length substrates with L_bulk > 3 × W (with cell thickness W) to exploit its bifacial potential, while the BOSCO cell (representing a structure with double‐sided emitter) can already utilise its bifacial potential on substrates with significantly lower diffusion lengths down to L_bulk ≈ 0.5 × W. Experimentally, BOSCO cells with and without activated rear‐side emitter are compared. For rear‐side illumination, the activated rear‐side emitter is measured to increase internal quantum efficiency at wavelengths λ < 850 nm by up to 45%_abs (factor of 9) and 30%_abs (factor of 2) for cells processed on p‐type multicrystalline silicon substrates with L_bulk ≈ 0.3 × W and L_bulk ≈ 2.6 × W, respectively. For PERT cells processed on n‐type Czochralski‐grown silicon substrates, an according increase in internal quantum efficiency for rear‐side illumination of more than 20%_abs (factor of 1.3) is measured when changing from a substrate with L_bulk ≈ 3.0 to 10.0 × W. The performed simulations and experiments demonstrate that the BOSCO cell concept is a promising candidate to successfully exploit bifacial gain also on low‐ to medium‐diffusion‐length substrates such as p‐type multicrystalline silicon, while PERT cells require a high‐diffusion‐length substrate to utilise their bifacial potential. Furthermore, the BOSCO cell concept is shown to be a promising option to achieve highest output power densities, even when using lower quality and therefore possibly more cost‐effective silicon substrates. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Characteristics of bifacial solar cells under bifacial illumination with various intensity levels

The characteristics of bifacial solar cells with different rear structures were investigated under front, rear and bifacial illumination with an intensity of 0.4–4.2 suns. Five kinds of solar cells, rear flat local‐BSF cells, rear textured local‐BSF cells (textured RLB cells), rear total‐BSF cells, rear floating‐emitter cells, and triode cells with double‐sided junctions, were tested. The I–V characteristics of the cells under bifacial illumination were measured with a newly designed measurement system that simultaneously illuminated both surfaces of the cells. In the short‐circuit current (J_SC) and the saturation current evaluations, the bifacial illumination effect, which means that the power output of the cell is intrinsically improved by adding rear illumination, was not observed. Although the RLB cells showed a nonlinear increase in J_SC and enhanced V_OC, these increases did not make a practical contribution to extra output because of the low levels of these characteristics. When we evaluated the maximum output power, the bifacial illumination effect was only observed in the triode cell. A triode cell can decrease resistive loss by introducing light from both surfaces, compared with a conventional cell with one junction. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Novel applications of bifacial solar cells

Utilizing the light reflected by simple means onto the rear surface of solar cells is an effective way of lowering the cost of solar electricity, since more power is generated per cell. Innovative bifacial photovoltaic modules have been introduced, such as a multi‐functional bifacial PV sun‐shading element which is based on bifacially sensitive solar cells in combination with a white semitransparent reflector back sheet. Not only is sunlight collected by its front and rear surface efficiently converted into electricity, but also diffuse glare‐free daylight is provided. Other applications include relatively narrow bifacial modules installed at a certain distance in front of a reflecting background. In all cases power gains of more than 50% can be achieved with little extra cost compared with monofacial modules. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Bifacial silicon solar cells with 21·3% front efficiency and 19·8% rear efficiency

We introduced a triode structure with p–n junctions on both sides into single‐crystalline bifacial silicon solar cells in order to improve solar cell performance. These fabricated bifacial silicon solar cells have an energy conversion efficiency of 21·3% under front 1 sun illumination (the standard 1 kW/m² AM 1·5 global spectrum at 25°C) and 19·8% under rear 1 sun illumination tested at the Japan Quality Assurance Organization. The total of the front and rear conversion efficiencies is the highest ever reported for bifacial silicon solar cells. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Economic feasibility of bifacial silicon solar cells

Bifacial solar cells and modules are a promising approach to increase the energy output of photovoltaic systems, and therefore decrease levelized cost of electricity (LCOE). This work discusses the bifacial silicon solar cell concepts PERT (passivated emitter, rear totally diffused) and BOSCO (both sides collecting and contacted) in terms of expected module cost and LCOE based on in‐depth numerical device simulation and advanced cost modelling. As references, Al‐BSF (aluminium back‐surface field) and PERC (passivated emitter and rear) cells with local rear‐side contacts are considered. In order to exploit their bifacial potential, PERT structures (representing cells with single‐sided emitter) are shown to require bulk diffusion lengths of more than three times the cell thickness. For the BOSCO concept (representing cells with double‐sided emitter), diffusion lengths of half the cell thickness are sufficient to leverage its bifacial potential. In terms of nominal LCOE, BOSCO cells are shown to be cost‐competitive under monofacial operation compared with an 18% efficient (≙ p_MPP = 18 mW/cm²) multicrystalline silicon (mc‐Si) Al‐BSF cell and a 19% mc‐Si PERC cell for maximum output power densities of p_MPP ≥ 17.3 mW/cm² and p_MPP ≥ 18.1 mW/cm², respectively. These values assume the use of $10/kg silicon feedstock for the BOSCO and $20/kg for the Al‐BSF and PERC cells. For the PERT cell, corresponding values are p_MPP ≥ 21.7 mW/cm² and p_MPP ≥ 22.7 mW/cm², respectively, assuming the current price offset (≈50%, at the time of October 2014) of n‐type Czochralski‐grown silicon (Cz‐Si) compared with mc‐Si wafers. The material price offset of n‐type to p‐type Cz‐Si wafers (≈15%, October 2014) currently accounts for approximately 1 mW/cm², which correlates to a conversion efficiency difference of 1%_abs for monofacial illumination with 1 sun. From p‐type mc‐Si to p‐type Cz‐Si (≈30% wafer price offset, October 2014), this offset is approximately 2.5 mW/cm² for a PERT cell. When utilizing bifacial operation, these required maximum output power densities can be transformed into required minimum rear‐side illumination intensities for arbitrary front‐side efficiencies η_front by means of the performed numerical simulations. For a BOSCO cell with η_front = 18%, minimum rear‐side illumination intensities of ≤ 0.02 suns are required to match a 19% PERC cell in terms of nominal LCOE. For an n‐type Cz‐Si PERT cell with η_front = 21%, corresponding values are ≤ 0.11 suns with 0.05 suns being the n‐type to p‐type material price offset. This work strongly motivates the use of bifacial concepts to generate lowest LCOE. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Bifacial concentrator Ag‐free crystalline n‐type Si solar cell

We report results obtained using an innovative approach for the fabrication of bifacial low‐concentrator thin Ag‐free n‐type Cz‐Si (Czochralski silicon) solar cells based on an indium tin oxide/(p⁺nn⁺)Cz‐Si/indium fluorine oxide structure. The (p⁺nn⁺)Cz‐Si structure was produced by boron and phosphorus diffusion from B‐ and P‐containing glasses deposited on the opposite sides of n‐type Cz‐Si wafers, followed by an etch‐back step. Transparent conducting oxide (TCO) films, acting as antireflection electrodes, were deposited by ultrasonic spray pyrolysis on both sides. A copper wire contact pattern was attached by low‐temperature (160°C) lamination simultaneously to the front and rear transparent conducting oxide layers as well as to the interconnecting ribbons located outside the structure. The shadowing from the contacts was ~4%. The resulting solar cells, 25 × 25 mm² in dimensions, showed front/rear efficiencies of 17.6–17.9%/16.7–17.0%, respectively, at one to three suns (bifaciality of ~95%). Even at one‐sun front illumination and 20–50% one‐sun rear illumination, such a cell will generate energy approaching that produced by a monofacial solar cell of 21–26% efficiency. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Thin Al2O3 passivated boron emitter of n‐type bifacial c‐Si solar cells with industrial process

We have presented thin Al₂O₃ (~4 nm) with SiN_x:H capped (~75 nm) films to effectively passivate the boron‐doped p⁺ emitter surfaces of the n‐type bifacial c‐Si solar cells with BBr₃ diffusion emitter and phosphorus ion‐implanted back surface field. The thin Al₂O₃ capped with SiN_x:H structure not only possesses the excellent field effect and chemical passivation, but also establishes a simple cell structure fully compatible with the existing production lines and processes for the low‐cost n‐type bifacial c‐Si solar cell industrialization. We have successfully achieved the large area (238.95 cm²) high efficiency of 20.89% (front) and 18.45% (rear) n‐type bifacial c‐Si solar cells by optimizing the peak sintering temperature and fine finger double printing technology. We have further shown that the conversion efficiency of the n‐type bifacial c‐Si solar cells can be improved to be over 21.3% by taking a reasonable high emitter sheet resistance. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

高效率n型硅离子注入双面太阳电池

为进一步提升n型硅双面太阳电池的转化效率,采用了磷离子注入技术制备n型硅双面太阳电池的背场.基于离子注入技术准直性和均匀性好的特点,掺杂后硅片的表面复合电流密度降低到了1.4×10-13 A/cm2,隐性开路电压可达670 mV,且分布区间更紧凑.在电阻率为1～3 Ω·cm的n型硅片基底上,采用磷离子注入技术工业化生产的n型硅双面太阳电池的正面平均转化效率达到了20.64％,背面平均转化效率达到了19.52％.内量子效率的分析结果显示,离子注入太阳电池效率的增益主要来自长波段光谱响应的提升.     

Optimizing annealing steps for crystalline silicon solar cells with screen printed front side metallization and an oxide‐passivated rear surface with local contacts

Silicon solar cells that feature screen printed front contacts and a passivated rear surface with local contacts allow higher efficiencies compared to present industrial solar cells that exhibit a full area rear side metallization. If thermal oxidation is used for the rear surface passivation, the final annealing step in the processing sequence is crucial. On the one hand, this post‐metallization annealing (PMA) step is required for decreasing the surface recombination velocity (SRV) at the aluminum‐coated oxide‐passivated rear surface. On the other hand, PMA can negatively affect the screen printed front side metallization leading to a lower fill factor. This work separately analyzes the impact of PMA on both, the screen printed front metallization and the oxide‐passivated rear surface. Measuring dark and illuminated IV‐curves of standard industrial aluminum back surface field (Al‐BSF) silicon solar cells reveals the impact of PMA on the front metallization, while measuring the effective minority carrier lifetime of symmetric lifetime samples provides information about the rear side SRV. One‐dimensional simulations are used for predicting the cell performance according to the contributions from both, the front metallization and the rear oxide‐passivation for different PMA temperatures and durations. The simulation also includes recombination at the local rear contacts. An optimized PMA process is presented according to the simulations and is experimentally verified. The optimized process is applied to silicon solar cells with a screen printed front side metallization and an oxide‐passivated rear surface. Efficiencies up to 18.1% are achieved on 148.8 cm² Czochralski (Cz) silicon wafers. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Fine line printed silicon solar cells exceeding 20% efficiency

Silicon solar cells with passivated rear side and laser‐fired contacts were produced on float zone material. The front side contacts are built up in two steps, seed and plate. The seed layer is printed using an aerosol jet printer and a silver ink. After firing this seed layer through the silicon nitride layer, the conductive layer is grown by light induced plating. The contact formation is studied on different emitter sheet resistances, 55 Ω/sq, 70 Ω/sq, and on 110 Ω/sq. These emitters are passivated with a PECVD silicon nitride layer which also acts as an anti‐reflection coating. Even on the 110 Ω/sq emitters it was possible to reach a fill factor of 80·1%. The electrical properties i.e., the contact resistance of the front side contacts are studied by transfer length model (TLM) measurements. On a cell area of 4 cm² and emitter sheet resistance of 110 Ω/sq, a record efficiency of 20·3% was achieved. Excellent open‐circuit voltage (V_oc) and short‐circuit current (j_sc) values of 661 mV and 38·4 mA/cm² were obtained due to the low recombination in the 110 Ω/sq emitter and at the passivated rear surface. These results show impressively that it is possible to contact emitter profiles with a very high efficiency potential using optimized printing technologies. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Flexible and Semi‐Transparent Ultra‐Thin CIGSe Solar Cells Prepared on Ultra‐Thin Glass Substrate: A Key to Flexible Bifacial Photovoltaic Applications

For applications to semi‐transparent and/or bifacial solar cells in building‐integrated photovoltaics and building‐applied photovoltaics, studies are underway to reduce the processing cost and time by decreasing the thickness of Cu(In_1?x,Ga_x)Se₂ (CIGSe) absorber to the ultra‐thin scale (≤500 nm). To dynamically and affordably meet the growing demand for electric power, daylighting, and architectural aesthetics of buildings in urban area, flexible semi‐transparent ultra‐thin (F‐STUT) CIGSe solar cells are proposed on flexible ultra‐thin glass (UTG) and compared with rigid semi‐transparent ultra‐thin (STUT) CIGSe solar cells fabricated on soda‐lime glass (SLG). At all the tested deposition temperatures of CIGSe, the F‐STUT CIGSe solar cells exhibit superior performance compared to the rigid STUT CIGSe solar cells. Furthermore, through realistic measurement under ≈1.3‐sun illumination, maximum bifacial power conversion efficiency of 11.90% and 13.23% are obtained for SLG and UTG, respectively. The major advantages of using UTG instead of SLG are not only the intrinsic characteristics of UTG, such as flexibility and high transmittance, but also collateral benefits such as the larger CIGSe grain size at the deposition temperature, better CIGSe crystalline quality, more precise controllability of the alkali element, and reduced thickness of the interfacial GaO_x layer, which enhance the photovoltaic parameters.     

Characterization of novel mono- and bifacially activesemi-transparent crystalline silicon solar cells

This paper presents the latest cell results for semi-transparent mono- as well as bifacially active POWER (Polycrystalline Wafer Engineering Result) solar cells of different cell sizes on Cz and multicrystalline silicon substrates. Top efficiencies of 10.4% for monofacial and 12.9% for bifacial cells are reported. Attention has been paid to apply a fully industrially compatible production process. It uses dicing saw based mechanical texturization of the front and rear side of the silicon wafer and screen printing metallization. In the POWER solar cell concept, perpendicular grooves on the front and rear side create holes with a variable diameter at their crossing points. This results in a partial optical transparency of the solar cell. In this study, holes of 200 μm diameter lead to a transparency of 16-18% on average for the total cell area. The cell characteristics for the different cell types are compared by means of illuminated and dark current-voltage (I-V), spectral response, and Laser Beam Induced Current (LBIC) measurements. While bifacial POWER cells need a more elaborate production process, they reveal better I-V characteristics and a higher efficiency as compared to monofacial cells. This is mainly explained by a better surface passivation due to an active emitter and a passivating silicon nitride ARC both on the front and rear surface     

Heterojunction solar cells with 23% efficiency on n‐type epitaxial kerfless silicon wafers

We present a heterojunction (HJ) solar cell on n‐type epitaxially grown kerfless crystalline‐silicon with an in‐house‐measured conversion efficiency of 23%. The total cell area is 243.4 cm². The cell has a short‐circuit current density of 39.6 mA cm⁻², an open‐circuit voltage of 725 mV, and a fill factor of 0.799. The effect of stacking faults (SFs) is examined by current density (J) mapping measurements as well as by spectral response mapping. The J mapping images show that the localized lower J regions of the HJ solar cells are associated with recombination sites originating from SFs, independent of whether SFs are formed on the emitter or absorber side. The solar cell results and our analysis suggest that epitaxially grown wafers based on kerfless technology could be an alternative for low‐cost industrial production of Si HJ solar cells. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

背面刻蚀对单晶硅太阳电池性能影响的研究

为了减少太阳电池载流子的背面复合,采用离子束对沉积完SiNx减反射膜后的单面扩散和双面扩散的单晶硅片背面进行刻蚀,研究了刻蚀时间对太阳电池性能的影响.采用标准的太阳电池单片测试仪测试电池性能.发现背面经离子束刻蚀后,单面扩散和双面扩散电池片的并联电阻、开路电压、填充因子和转换效率都有所提高,而串联电阻和短路电流的变化则...     

Evaluation of advanced p‐PERL and n‐PERT large area silicon solar cells with 20.5% energy conversion efficiencies

In this paper, we evaluate p‐type passivated emitter and rear locally diffused (p‐PERL) and n‐type passivated emitter and rear totally diffused (n‐PERT) large area silicon solar cells featuring nickel/copper/silver (Ni/Cu/Ag) plated front side contacts. By using front emitter p‐PERL and rear emitter n‐PERT, both cell structures can be produced with only a few adaptations in the entire process sequence because both feature the same front side design: homogeneous n⁺ diffused region with low surface concentration, SiO₂/SiN_x:H passivation, Ni/Cu/Ag plated contacts. Energy conversion efficiencies up to 20.5% (externally confirmed at FhG‐ISE Callab) are presented for both cell structures on large area cells together with power‐loss analysis and potential efficiency improvements based on PC1D simulations. We demonstrate that the use of a rear emitter n‐PERT cell design with Ni/Cu/Ag plated front side contacts enables to reach open‐circuit voltage values up to 676 mV on 1–2 Ω cm n‐type CZ Si. We show that rear emitter n‐PERT cells present the potential for energy conversion efficiencies above 21.5% together with a strong tolerance to wafer thickness and bulk resistivity. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

19% efficient n‐type Czochralski silicon solar cells with screen‐printed aluminium‐alloyed rear emitter

High and stable lifetimes recently reported for n‐type silicon materials are an important and promising prerequisite for innovative solar cells. To exploit the advantages of the excellent electrical properties of n‐type Si wafers for manufacturing simple and industrially feasible high‐efficiency solar cells, we focus on back junction n⁺np⁺ solar cells featuring an easy‐to‐fabricate full‐area screen‐printed aluminium‐alloyed rear p⁺ emitter. Independently confirmed record‐high efficiencies have been achieved on n‐type phosphorus‐doped Czochralski‐grown silicon material: 18·9% for laboratory‐type n⁺np⁺ solar cells (4 cm²) with shadow‐mask evaporated front contact grid and 17·0% for front and rear screen‐printed industrial‐type cells (100 cm²). The electrical cell parameters were found to be perfectly stable under illumination. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

20.7% efficient ion‐implanted large area n‐type front junction silicon solar cells with rear point contacts formed by laser opening and physical vapor deposition

In this work, we report on ion‐implanted, high‐efficiency n‐type silicon solar cells fabricated on large area pseudosquare Czochralski wafers. The sputtering of aluminum (Al) via physical vapor deposition (PVD) in combination with a laser‐patterned dielectric stack was used on the rear side to produce front junction cells with an implanted boron emitter and a phosphorus back surface field. Front and back surface passivation was achieved by thin thermally grown oxide during the implant anneal. Both front and back oxides were capped with SiN_x, followed by screen‐printed metal grid formation on the front side. An ultraviolet laser was used to selectively ablate the SiO₂/SiN_x passivation stack on the back to form the pattern for metal–Si contact. The laser pulse energy had to be optimized to fully open the SiO₂/SiN_x passivation layers, without inducing appreciable damage or defects on the surface of the n⁺ back surface field layer. It was also found that a low temperature annealing for less than 3 min after PVD Al provided an excellent charge collecting contact on the back. In order to obtain high fill factor of ~80%, an in situ plasma etching in an inert ambient prior to PVD was found to be essential for etching the native oxide formed in the rear vias during the front contact firing. Finally, through optimization of the size and pitch of the rear point contacts, an efficiency of 20.7% was achieved for the large area n‐type passivated emitter, rear totally diffused cell. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Large area tunnel oxide passivated rear contact n‐type Si solar cells with 21.2% efficiency

This paper reports on the implementation of carrier‐selective tunnel oxide passivated rear contact for high‐efficiency screen‐printed large area n‐type front junction crystalline Si solar cells. It is shown that the tunnel oxide grown in nitric acid at room temperature (25°C) and capped with n⁺ polysilicon layer provides excellent rear contact passivation with implied open‐circuit voltage iV_oc of 714 mV and saturation current density J_0b′ of 10.3 fA/cm² for the back surface field region. The durability of this passivation scheme is also investigated for a back‐end high temperature process. In combination with an ion‐implanted Al₂O₃‐passivated boron emitter and screen‐printed front metal grids, this passivated rear contact enabled 21.2% efficient front junction Si solar cells on 239 cm² commercial grade n‐type Czochralski wafers. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Enhanced lateral current transport via the front N+ diffused layer of n‐type high‐efficiency back‐junction back‐contact silicon solar cells

N‐type back‐contact back‐junction solar cells were processed with the use of industrially relevant structuring technologies such as screen‐printing and laser processing. Application of the low‐cost structuring technologies in the processing of the high‐efficiency back‐contact back‐junction silicon solar cells results in a drastic increase of the pitch on the rear cell side. The pitch in the range of millimetres leads to a significant increase of the lateral base resistance. The application of a phosphorus doped front surface field (FSF) significantly reduces the lateral base resistance losses. This additional function of the phosphorus doped FSF in reducing the lateral resistance losses was investigated experimentally and by two‐dimensional device simulations. Enhanced lateral majority carrier's current transport in the front n⁺ diffused layer is a function of the pitch and the base resistivity. Experimental data show that the application of a FSF reduces the total series resistance of the measured cells with 3.5 mm pitch by 0.1 Ω cm² for the 1 Ω cm base resistivity and 1.3 Ω cm² for the 8 Ω cm base resistivity. Two‐dimensional simulations of the electron current transport show that the electron current density in the front n⁺ diffused layer is around two orders of magnitude higher than in the base of the solar cell. The best efficiency of 21.3% was obtained for the solar cell with a 1 Ω cm specific base resistivity and a front surface field with sheet resistance of 148 Ω/sq. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.