Process modeling for doped regions formation on high efficiency crystalline silicon solar cells

Process modeling approaches derived from CMOS industry are successfully applied in the Photovoltaic industry, in order to provide guidance on the design of the doped regions. The accurate prediction of the dopant diffusion and activation kinetics, as well the oxide growth rate, are essential for the adequate profile engineering. The latter is vital for a cost effective optimization of the cell operation. In addition, in the case of ion implantation, TCAD modeling is also necessary for the monitoring of the damage evolution and its optimized reduction. Indeed, high levels of residual defects are found to deteriorate the electrical properties of the doped regions, as they act as recombination centers for Shockley-Read-Hall recombination and thus limit the minority carrier lifetimes. Designing optimum anneal strategies is an important objective of the TCAD modeling approach. In this paper we are presenting an overview of our developments to optimize TCAD simulations for doped regions formation used in high efficiency crystalline silicon solar cells. The modeling studies cover the two major dopant techniques (tube diffusion and ion implantation) for each dopant (Boron and Phosphorus).