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  4. Boron-emitter development for TOPCon c-Si solar cells based on plasma-deposited boron diffusion source and poly-Si(n) passivating contact
 
research article

Boron-emitter development for TOPCon c-Si solar cells based on plasma-deposited boron diffusion source and poly-Si(n) passivating contact

Schaller, Thibault  
•
Genç, Ezgi  
•
Hurni, Julien  
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December 1, 2025
Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells

The n-type TOPCon technology is currently the leading approach in the industry. Generally, it involves two high-temperature steps that can result in long cycle times and expensive processes. In this context, we propose a lean manufacturing process based on the successive PECVD-deposition of the front and rear doped layers, followed by a co-annealing step in which front emitter formation and rear passivating contact activation are performed simultaneously. We first investigated the influence of the PECVD process parameters and the thermal budget of the co-annealing step on the active boron concentration profile, the passivation quality, and contact resistivity. Then, we investigated the effect of a drive-in step under O2 environment to reduce the surface concentration and increase the depth of the emitter. Finally, we investigated the compatibility of the rear passivating contact with the drive-in step. The introduction of the drive-in step made it possible to obtain active boron concentration profiles with the desired surface concentration and depth. However, even though we obtained promising results regarding the compatibility of the rear passivating contact with the drive-in step, we observed that further optimization is necessary to avoid blistering of the n-type poly-Si layer and improve the uniformity of the rear passivation.

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Type
research article
DOI
10.1016/j.solmat.2025.113808
Scopus ID

2-s2.0-105010557526

Author(s)
Schaller, Thibault  

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Genç, Ezgi  

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Hurni, Julien  

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Lunghi, Ludovica  

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Ballif, Christophe  

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Morisset, Audrey

Centre Suisse d'Electronique et de Microtechnique SA

Haug, Franz Josef  

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Date Issued

2025-12-01

Published in
Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells
Volume

293

Article Number

113808

Subjects

Boron emitter

•

c-Si solar cells

•

Co-annealing

•

Drive-in

•

Passivating contacts

•

PECVD

•

TOPCon

Editorial or Peer reviewed

REVIEWED

Written at

EPFL

EPFL units
PV-LAB  
LMSC1  
FunderFunding(s)Grant NumberGrant URL

Swiss National Science Foundation

200021 185064

OFEN

SI/502791-01

Available on Infoscience
July 25, 2025
Use this identifier to reference this record
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/252486
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