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  4. Development and characterization of N2O-plasma oxide layers for high-temperature p-type passivating contacts in silicon solar cells
 
research article

Development and characterization of N2O-plasma oxide layers for high-temperature p-type passivating contacts in silicon solar cells

Libraro, Sofia  
•
Bannenberg, Lars
•
Famprikis, Theodosios
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September 2, 2024
ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces

Full-area passivating contacts based on SiOx/poly-Si stacks are key for the new generation of industrial silicon solar cells substituting the passivated emitter and rear cell (PERC) technology. Demonstrating a potential efficiency increase of 1 to 2% compared to PERC, the utilization of n-type wafers with an n-type contact at the back and a p-type diffused boron emitter has become the industry standard in 2024. In this work, variations of this technology are explored, considering p-type passivating contacts on p-type Si wafers formed via a rapid thermal processing (RTP) step. These contacts could be useful in conjunction with n-type contacts for realizing solar cells with passivating contacts on both sides. Here, a particular focus is set on investigating the influence of the applied thermal treatment on the interfacial silicon oxide (SiOx) layer. Thin SiOx layers formed via UV-O3 exposure are compared with layers obtained through a plasma treatment with nitrous oxide (N2O). This process is performed in the same plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition (PECVD) chamber used to grow the Si-based passivating layer, resulting in a streamlined process flow. For both oxide types, the influence of the RTP thermal budget on passivation quality and contact resistivity is investigated. Whereas the UV-O3 oxide shows a pronounced degradation when using high thermal budget annealing (T > 860 °C), the N2O-plasma

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Type
research article
DOI
10.1021/acsami.4c10612
Author(s)
Libraro, Sofia  
Bannenberg, Lars

Delft University of Technology

Famprikis, Theodosios

Delft University of Technology

Reyes, David  

EPFL

Hurni, Julien  

EPFL

Genç, Ezgi  

EPFL

Ballif, Christophe  

EPFL

Hessler-Wyser, Aïcha  

EPFL

Haug, Franz-Josef  

EPFL

Morisset, Audrey Marie Isabelle  

EPFL

Date Issued

2024-09-02

Publisher

American Chemical Society (ACS)

Published in
ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
Volume

16

Issue

36

Start page

47931

End page

47943

Subjects

silicon solar cells

•

surface passivation

•

poly-Si

•

SiOx

•

PECVD

•

microscopy

•

reflectometry

•

photoelectron spectroscopy

Editorial or Peer reviewed

REVIEWED

Written at

EPFL

EPFL units
PV-LAB  
FunderFunding(s)Grant NumberGrant URL

Swiss National Science Foundation

IMPACT (No. 200021_185064)

Horizon 2020 Framework Programme

MSCA-PF, SLICE (No. 101028491)

HORIZON EUROPE Climate, Energy and Mobility

MSCA-PF, No. 101066486

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Available on Infoscience
September 12, 2024
Use this identifier to reference this record
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/241096
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