Multicrystalline silicon solar cells with porous silicon emitter

A review of the application of porous silicon (PS) in multicrystalline silicon solar cell processes is given. The different PS formation processes, structural and optical properties of PS are discussed from the viewpoint of photovoltaics. Special attention is given to the use of PS as an antireflection coating in simplified processing schemes and for simple selective emitter processes as well as to its light trapping and surface passivating capabilities. The optimization of a PS selective emitter formation results in a 14.1% efficiency mc-Si cell processed without texturization, surface passivation or additional ARC deposition. The implementation of a PS selective emitter into an industrially compatible screenprinted solar cell process is made by both the chemical and electrochemical method of PS formation. Different kinds of multicrystalline silicon materials and solar cell processes are used. An efficiency of 13.2% is achieved on a 25 cm² mc-Si solar cell using the electrochemical technique while the efficiencies in between 12% and 13% are reached for very large (100–164 cm²) commercial mc-Si cells with a PS emitter formed by chemical method.     

Potential cost reduction of buried-contact solar cells through the use of titanium dioxide thin films

This paper explores the potential of applying titanium dioxide (TiO₂) thin films to the buried-contact (BC) solar cell. The aim is to develop a lower-cost BC technology that can be applied to multicrystalline silicon (mc-Si) wafers, the predominant substrate of the photovoltaics (PV) industry. The original BC solar cell used a thick, thermally grown, silicon dioxide (SiO₂) layer as the front surface dielectric coating. Upon commercialisation of the BC technology, BP Solar replaced this layer with silicon nitride (Si₃N₄), which exhibits improved optical properties. It is anticipated that production costs can be further reduced by using a low temperature deposited front surface dielectric coating, such as TiO₂, thereby reducing the number of lengthy high temperature processing steps, and developing a process such that it can be applied to mc-Si wafers. TiO₂ is chosen because of its optimal optical properties for glass-encapsulated silicon solar cells and familiarity of PV manufacturers with this material. The results presented resolve the issue of surface passivation with TiO₂ and demonstrate that TiO₂/SiO₂ stacks, achieved during a brief high-temperature oxidation process after TiO₂ thin film deposition, are compatible with high-efficiency solar cells. However, TiO₂ cannot perform all the necessary functions of the thick SiO₂ or Si₃N₄ layer, due to its inability to act as a phosphorus diffusion barrier. In light of these results, three alternate BC solar cell fabrication sequences are presented, and an initial conversion efficiency of 11.5% has been achieved from the first batch of solar cells in a non-optimised processes.     

a-Si/mc-Si hybrid solar cell using silicon sheet substrate

A hybrid junction solar cell with amorphous silicon (a-Si) and multicrystalline silicon (mc-Si) was fabricated using a mc-Si sheet substrate, which is produced directly from molten silicon using a novel rotational solidification method. The efficiency of 11.6% was obtained for the hybrid junction cell, while 10.2% for the single junction cell made of a mc-Si sheet substrate, which confirmed that the hybrid structure is effective to improve the solar cell property made of a mc-Si substrate. With introducing light trapping structure, the efficiency was improved to be 12.0%. Moreover, the possibility of Jsc improvement was investigated using the advanced light trapping structure. Jsc of 15.6 mA/cm² was obtained and it was confirmed that the hybrid junction is a promising structure.     

Cost-effectiveness analysis of R&D on solar cells in Japan

The purpose of this paper is to validate plan of R&D on solar cells in the (New-) Sunshine Program of Japan by using cost-effectiveness analysis and to demonstrate usefulness of the analysis for R&D planning. Based on the analysis, R&D goals and/or allocation of R&D expenditure of multicrystalline silicon (mc-Si) might not be appropriate after FY1996. And R&D expenditure for solar cells might be decided without forecasting increase of the mc-Si solar cell production by the subsidization programs.     

多晶PERC太阳电池的背面与正面结构性能优化

多晶硅太阳电池以其价格低廉的优势成为低成本太阳电池的首选,但其光电转换效率提升空间有限。钝化发射极和背面电池（PERC）技术是当前晶硅太阳电池提效的主要途径。多晶PERC电池结合了多晶硅电池的低成本和PERC电池的高效,是当前多晶硅电池的研究热点。本文研究了多晶PERC电池的背面和正面结构优化与设计,提出了提高多晶PERC电池效率的产业化技术方法。通过在硅片背面用三层SiN_x:H薄膜来代替常规双层SiN_x:H薄膜,在保证优良的背面钝化的同时,使电池长波响应得到改善,电池光电转换效率由20.19% 提升至20.26%。优化多晶PERC电池的背面激光开窗工艺,使多晶电池效率较常规工艺提升0.11%。而在多晶PERC电池的正面叠加选择性发射极技术,可较常规工艺提升电池效率0.10%。综合运用多种提效手段有利于保持多晶PERC电池的竞争力。     

Comparison of multicrystalline silicon surfaces after wet chemical etching and hydrogen plasma treatment: application to heterojunction solar cells

The modifications of the surface and subsurface properties of p-type multicrystalline silicon (mc-Si) after wet chemical etching and hydrogen plasma treatment were investigated. A simple heterojunction (HJ) solar cell structure consisting of front grids/ITO/(n)a-Si:H/(p)mc-Si/Al was used for investigating the conversion efficiency. It is found that the optimized wet chemical etching and cleaning processes as a last technological step before the deposition of the a-Si:H emitter are more favorable to HJ solar cells fabrication than the hydrogenation. Solar cells on p-type mc-Si were prepared without high-efficiency features (point contacts, back surface field). They exhibited efficiencies up to 13% for a cell area of 1 cm² and 12% for a cell area of 39 cm².     

Solar cells prepared on multicrystalline silicon subjected to new gettering and passivation treatments

New combined gettering and passivating procedures for solar cells prepared from multicrystalline silicon (mc-Si) have been considered. Passivation has been performed by (i) diamond-like carbon films deposition onto front or rear side of the wafers with following annealing, or (ii) hydrogen plasma treatments. Gettering region has been formed by deposition of Al film on specially prepared Si with developed surface. The advantages of such a gettering process in comparison with traditional gettering with Al are demonstrated. The improving influence of the treatments on diffusion length in mc-Si and efficiency of prepared solar cells have been found out. Physical mechanisms responsible for the observed effects of gettering and passivation are discussed.     

Overview of solar cell technologies and results on high efficiency multicrystalline silicon substrates

Fabrication technologies for multicrystalline silicon (mc-Si) solar cells have advanced in recent years with efficiencies of mc-Si cells exceeding 18%. Intense efforts have been made at laboratory level to improve process technology, growth methods, and material improvement techniques to deliver better devices at lower cost. Deeper understanding of the physics and optics of the device led to improved device design. This provided a fruitful feedback to the industrial sector. Both screenprinting and buried-contact technologies yield cells of high performance. An increasingly large amount of research activity is also focussed on the fabrication of thin solar cells on cheap substrates such as glass, ceramic, or low quality silicon. Success of these efforts is expected to lead to high efficiency devices at much lower costs. Efforts are also being put on low thermal budget processing of solar cells based on rapid thermal annealing.     

Impact of spectral irradiance distribution and temperature on the outdoor performance of amorphous Si photovoltaic modules

Performance of photovoltaic (PV) modules is evaluated under the standard test condition, which rarely meets actual outdoor conditions. Environmental conditions greatly affect the output energy of PV modules. The impact of environmental factors, especially solar spectrum distribution and module temperature, on the outdoor performance of amorphous Si (a-Si) and multicrystalline Si (mc-Si) PV modules is characterized. The results show that the output energy of a-Si modules mainly depends on spectrum distribution and is higher under blue-rich spectrum. In contrast, the output energy of mc-Si module is sensitive to module temperature but not to spectrum distribution.     

Enhancement of photovoltaic properties of multicrystalline silicon solar cells by combination of buried metallic contacts and thin porous silicon

Photovoltaic properties of buried metallic contacts (BMCs) with and without application of a front porous silicon (PS) layer on multicrystalline silicon (mc-Si) solar cells were investigated. A Chemical Vapor Etching (CVE) method was used to perform front PS layer and BMCs of mc-Si solar cells. Good electrical performance for the mc-Si solar cells was observed after combination of BMCs and thin PS films. As a result the current-voltage (I-V) characteristics and the internal quantum efficiency (IQE) were improved, and the effective minority carrier diffusion length (Ln) increases from 75 to 110 μm after BMCs achievement. The reflectivity was reduced to 8% in the 450-950 nm wavelength range. This simple and low cost technology induces a 12% conversion efficiency (surface area = 3.2 cm²). The obtained results indicate that the BMCs improve charge carrier collection while the PS layer passivates the front surface.     

Effect of heat treatment on carbon in multicrystalline silicon

Effect of heat treatment on carbon in cast multicrystalline silicon (mc-Si) has been studied by means of Fourier Transmission Infrared Spectroscopy. Carbon is found to be involved in the formation of as-grown precipitates in mc-Si with higher oxygen content. The experimental results reveal that carbon is difficult to precipitate in mc-Si with lower oxygen or higher nitrogen concentration during annealing in the temperature range from 450°C to 1150°C. Carbon can enhance the nucleation of oxygen precipitates at lower temperature (<850°C). Although carbon does not affect the amount of oxygen precipitates at higher temperature (>950°C), it is suggested that carbon diffuses into oxygen precipitates by the enhancement of silicon self-interstitials. The experiments point out that preannealing at 750°C enhances the decrease of substitute carbon concentration during subsequent annealing at 1050°C. Dislocations and grain boundaries in mc-Si do not affect carbon thermal treatment properties.     

Photovoltaic manufacturing, system design and application trend in Iran

The application of PV systems in Iran has started since 1982, when a 1710 Watt power generator was installed in Fars (south east of Iran) to supply a telecommunication site by AEG. Till 1993 more than one hundred PV systems with various capacity and purpose of use have been installed over the country. In 1993 a production line for multicrystalline silicon solar cells and modules was installed in Tehran by the ministry of Post, Telegraph and Telephone (PTT). Since then the application of photovoltaic energy is spreading in various fields in Iran. In this paper the present and future state of photovoltaic plants, solar cell fabrication technology and optimization in system design and power conditioning are reported.     

On-wafer investigation of SiC and Si3N4 inclusions in multicrystalline Si grown by directional solidification

Commercial multicrystalline Si (mc-Si) wafers containing SiC and Si₃N₄ inclusions and wire-sawing defects on their surfaces were collected from an mc-Si wafer manufacturer. The mc-Si, used for solar cells, was grown using industrial directional solidification systems. The technique of controlled etching was applied to these mc-Si wafers to dissolve a certain amount of silicon from the surface of each wafer and to partially expose SiC and Si₃N₄ inclusions inside these wafers to allow for direct observation. The physical presence and morphologies of the SiC and Si₃N₄ inclusions within the mc-Si wafers were investigated using scanning electron microscopy. SiC inclusions were composed of SiC particles of different sizes, and they were usually present as clusters embedded within the mc-Si wafers. Si₃N₄ inclusions were present as rods distributed within the mc-Si wafers. It has been shown that the presence of SiC particles is responsible for the formation of the wire-sawing defects, while Si₃N₄ particles are readily sawed across without introducing wire-sawing defects during the wire-sawing process. This work will provide an important base-line for further investigation on how these inclusions affect the photovoltaic performance of mc-Si solar cells.     

Two-dimensional LBIC and internal quantum efficiency investigations of porous silicon-based gettering procedure in multicrystalline silicon

In this work, a porous silicon-based gettering technique was applied to multicrystalline silicon (mc-Si) wafers. Porous silicon (PS) was formed by the stain-etching technique and was used as a sacrificial layer for efficient external purification technique. The gettering procedure consists of achieving a PS/mc-Si/PS structure that undergoes a heat treatment at 900 °C for 90 min in an infrared furnace under a N₂ ambient. After removing the PS layers, mc-Si solar cells were realized. The effect of the gettering procedure was evaluated by means of the laser beam-induced current (LBIC) mapping, the internal quantum efficiency (IQE) mapping and the dark current-voltage (I-V) characteristic. Consequently, LBIC and IQE images show an enhancement of the gettered sample as compared to a reference untreated one. The serial resistance and the shunt resistance carried out from the dark I-V curves confirm this gettering-related solar cell improvement.     

Effect of porous silicon on the performances of silicon solar cells during the porous silicon-based gettering procedure

In this work we analyse the effect of porous silicon on the performances of multicrystalline silicon (mc-Si) solar cells during the porous silicon-based gettering procedure. This procedure consists of forming PS layers on both front and back sides of the mc-Si wafers followed by an annealing in an infrared furnace under a controlled atmosphere at different temperatures. Three sets of samples (A, B and C) have been prepared; for samples A and B, the PS films were removed before and after annealing, respectively. In order to optimize the annealing temperature, we measure the defect density at a selected grain boundary (GB) using the dark current–voltage (I–V) characteristics across the GB itself. The annealing temperature was optimized to 1000 °C. The effect of these treatments on the performances of mc-Si solar cells was studied by means of the current–voltage characteristic (at AM 1.5) and the internal quantum efficiency (IQE). The results obtained for cell A and cell B were compared to those obtained on a reference cell (C).     

Life cycle assessment and evaluation of energy payback time on high-concentration photovoltaic power generation system

In this study, the environmental load of photovoltaic power generation system (PV) during its life cycle and energy payback time (EPT) are evaluated by LCA scheme. Two hypothetical case studies in Toyohashi, Japan and Gobi dessert in China have been carried out to investigate the influence of installation location and PV type on environmental load and EPT. The environmental load and EPT of a high-concentration photovoltaic power generation system (hcpV) and a multi-crystalline silicon photovoltaic power generation system (mc-Si PV) are studied. The study shows for a PV of 100 MW size, the total impacts of the hcpV installed in Toyohashi is larger than that of the hcpV installed in Gobi desert by 5% without consideration of recycling stage. The EPT of the hcpV assumed to be installed in Gobi desert is shorter than EPT of the hcpV assumed to be installed in Toyohashi by 0.64 year. From these results, the superiority to install PV in Gobi desert is certificated. Comparing with hcpV and mc-Si PV, the ratio of the total impacts of mc-Si PV to that of hcpV is 0.34 without consideration of recycling stage. The EPT of hcpV is longer than EPT of mc-Si PV by 0.27 year. The amount of global solar radiation contributing to the amount of power generation of mc-Si PV is larger than the amount of direct solar radiation contributing to the amount of power generation of hcpV by about 188 kW h/(m² year) in Gobi desert. Consequently, it appears that using mc-Si PV in Gobi desert is the best option.     

p型铸造单晶硅光注入再生后LID与LeTID的机制分析

光致衰减（LID）与热辅助光诱导衰减（LeTID）是晶硅太阳电池的2种主要衰减,其典型光注入条件分别为25 ℃、1 sun（LID环境）和75 ℃、1 sun（LeTID环境）。从有效少子寿命的角度研究p型铸造单晶硅的衰减机制。200 ℃、7 suns光注入处理过程中样品少子寿命先下降后恢复,这一过程称为光注入再生处理。在LID环境下,无光注入再生处理的样品具有快速与慢速2个衰减阶段,光注入再生处理的样品只有快速衰减阶段。计算两组样品带隙中央附近的缺陷电子/空穴俘获截面比k约为7,表明其中缺陷与直拉单晶硅（Cz-Si）中的BO缺陷相同。对光注入再生处理的样品,在LeTID环境下的衰减阶段计算出k约为35,此数值与多晶硅（mc-Si）中LeTID缺陷的一致。     

Large-area multicrystalline silicon solar cell fabrication using reactive ion etching (RIE)

Surface texturing of crystalline silicon wafer improves the conversion efficiency of solar cells by the enhancement in antireflection property and light trapping. Compared to antireflection coating, it is a more permanent and effective scheme. Wet texturing with the chemicals such as alkali (NaOH, KOH) or acid (HF, HNO₃, CH₃COOH) is too difficult for thinner wafer to apply due to a large amount of silicon loss. However, Plasma surface texturing using Reactive Ion Etching (RIE) can be effective in reducing the surface reflectance with low silicon loss. In this study, we have fabricated a large-area (156×156 mm) multicrystalline silicon (mc-Si) solar cell by mask less surface texturing using a SF₆/O₂ reactive ion etching. We have accomplished texturing with RIE by reducing silicon loss by almost half of that in wet texturing process. By optimizing the processing steps, we achieved conversion efficiency, open circuit voltage, short circuit current density, and fill factor as high as 16.1%, 619 mV, 33.5 mA/cm², and 77.7%, respectively. This study establishes that it is possible to fabricate the thin multicrystalline silicon solar cells of low cost and high efficiency using surface texturing by RIE.     

Reduced light reflection of textured multicrystalline silicon via NPD for solar cells applications

Texturing by negative potential dissolution (NPD) process of p-type multicrystalline silicon for solar cells application is reported. The effect of the negative potential, KOH concentration, and texturing time of cast multicrystalline silicon was studied. Rapid texturing of multicrystalline silicon was achieved in a time-frame of 2 min with the application of negative potential of −30 V and the use of optimal alkaline concentration of 32 wt%. While texturing process in these optimal NPD conditions results in a step-free morphology, necessary in solar cells contacts printing, light reflection was reduced to minimal values, as well.     

Trends in industrial silicon solar cell processes

The performance and technology of industrial silicon solar cells have improved considerably in recent years. Conversion efficiencies exceeding 18% are reproducibly obtained by cost-effective technologies on large area Cz-silicon. The performance of multicrystalline silicon cells is closing-in at 17.2%. Improved material casting techniques, a refined technology, and efficient in-process material improvement techniques are found to be the major causes behind such advancement. The trend to towards thinner substrates leads to considerable material cost reduction while yielding better performance. The major processing technologies and steps are critically discussed in this article, keeping in mind the priorities of today's PV industry: cost, and environmental issues. The future trends of the technology are outlined.