Potential of interdigitated back-contact silicon heterojunction solar cells for liquid phase crystallized silicon on glass with efficiency above 14

• Published in: Solar energy materials and solar cells Vol. 174; pp. 187 - 195
• Main Authors: Thi Trinh, Cham, Preissler, Natalie, Sonntag, Paul, Muske, Martin, Jäger, Klaus, Trahms, Martina, Schlatmann, Rutger, Rech, Bernd, Amkreutz, Daniel
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 01.01.2018; Elsevier BV
• Subjects: Absorbers; Computer simulation; Contact potentials; Crystallization; Diffusion length; Electric contacts; Energy efficiency; Heterojunctions; Minority carriers; Photovoltaic cells; Silicon; Silicon films; Solar cells; Studies
• ISSN: 0927-0248; 1879-3398
• DOI: 10.1016/j.solmat.2017.08.042

Liquid phase crystallization of silicon (LPC-Si) on glass is a promising method to produce high quality multi-crystalline Si films with macroscopic grains. In this study, we report on recent improvements of our interdigitated back-contact silicon heterojunction contact system (IBC-SHJ), which enabled open circuit voltages as high as 661mV and efficiencies up to 14.2% using a 13µm thin n-type LPC-Si absorbers on glass. The influence of the BSF width on the cell performance is investigated both experimentally and numerically. We combine 1D optical simulations using GenPro4 and 2D electrical simulations using Sentaurus™ TCAD to determine the optical and electrical loss mechanisms in order to estimate the potential of our current LPC-Si absorbers. The simulations reveal an effective minority carrier diffusion length of 26µm and further demonstrate that a doping concentration of 4 × 1016cm−3 and a back surface field width of 60µm are optimum values to further increase cell efficiencies. •We present interdigitate back contact heterojunction cells of liquid phase crystallized Si on glass.•Cell efficiency of 14.2% and open circuit voltage up to 661mV were achieved.•2-dimensional simulation suggests an effective diffusion length of 26µm.•The results are due to advantage of plasma oxidized SiOx/SiNx intermediate layer.•A potential efficiency of 16% is estimated for the cell.