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Item2D-Modeling and Development of Interdigitated Back Contact Solar Cells on Low-Cost Substrates(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2006-05) Kim, Dong Seop ; Meemongkolkiat, Vichai ; Ebong, Abasifreke ; Rounsaville, Brian ; Upadhyaya, V. ; Das, A. ; Rohatgi, AjeetTwo-dimensional numerical simulations were performed to derive design rules for low-cost, high-efficiency interdigitated back contact (IBC) solar cells on a low-cost substrate. The IBC solar cells were designed to be fabricated using either the conventional screen printing or photolithography metallization processes. Bulk lifetime, bulk resistivity, contact spacing (pitch), contact opening width, recombination in the gap between the p(+) BSF and n(+) emitter, and the ratio of emitter width to pitch have been used as key variables in the simulations. It is found that short circuit current density (J(sc)) is not only a strong function of the bulk lifetime but also the emitter coverage of the rear surface. Fill factor (FF) decreases as the emitter coverage increases because the majority carriers need to travel a longer distance through the substrate for longer emitter width. The simulated IBC results were compared with those for conventional screen printed solar cells. It was found that the IBC solar cell outperforms the screen printed (SP) solar cell when the bulk lifetime is above 50 μs due to higher V(oc) and J(sc), which suggests that higher performance can be realized on low-cost substrates with the IBC structure.
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ItemInvestigation of Modified Screen-Printing Al Pastes For Local Back Surface Field Formation(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2006-05) Meemongkolkiat, Vichai ; Nakayashiki, Kenta ; Kim, Dong Seop ; Kim, Steve ; Shaikh, Aziz ; Kuebelbeck, Armin ; Stockum, Werner ; Rohatgi, AjeetThis paper reports on a low-cost screen-printing process to form a self-aligned local back surface field (LBSF) through dielectric rear surface passivation. The process involved formation of local openings through a dielectric (SiNx or stacked SiO(2)/SiN(x)) prior to full area Al screenprinting and a rapid firing. Conventional Al paste with glass frit degraded the SiN(x) surface passivation quality because of glass frit induced pinholes and etching of SiN(x) layer, and led to very thin LBSF regions. The same process with a fritless Al paste maintained the passivation quality of the SiN(x), but did not provide an acceptably thick and uniform LBSF. Al pastes containing appropriate additives gave better LBSF because of the formation of a thicker and more uniform Al-BSF region. However, they exhibited somewhat lower internal back surface reflectance (<90%) compared to conventional Al paste on SiN(x). More insight on these competing effects is provided by fabrication and analysis of complete solar cells.
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ItemHigh Efficiency Screen-Printed Solar Cells on Textured Mono-Crystalline Silicon(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2005-10) Rohatgi, Ajeet ; Ebong, Abasifreke ; Hilali, Mohamed M. ; Meemongkolkiat, Vichai ; Rounsaville, Brian ; Ristow, AlanIn this paper we report on high efficiency screen-printed 4 cm(2) solar cells fabricated on randomly textured float zone, magnetic Czochralski (MCz) and Ga-doped Cz silicon. A simple process involving POCl(3) emitters, low frequency PECVD silicon nitride deposition, Al back contact print, Ag front grid print followed by co-firing of the contacts produced efficiencies of 19.0% on textured float zone, 18.2% on MCz and 17.7% on Ga-doped Cz. A combination of high sheet resistance emitter (~100 Ω-/sq.) and the surface texturing resulted in short circuit current density of 37.3 mA/cm(2) for 0.6 Ω-cm float zone cell, 38.2 mA/cm(2) for 4.8 Ω-cm MCz cell and 37.4 mA/cm(2) for 1.5 Ω-cm Ga-doped Cz cell. Open circuit voltages were consistent with the base resistivity of the three materials. However, FF was highest for float zone (0.784) followed by MCz (0.759) and Ga-doped Cz (0.754). Model calculations performed using PC1D showed that, once the lifetime exceeds 200 μs for this cell design, the efficiency no longer has a strong dependence on the bulk lifetime. Instead, the performance is limited by the cell design including contacts, base resistivity, doping profiles, and front and back surface recombination velocities. Detailed analysis is performed to explain the high performance of these screen-printed cells and guidelines are provided for ≥20% efficient screen-printed cells.
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ItemThe Effect of the Variation in Resistivity and Lifetime on the Solar Cells Performance along the Commercially Grown Ga- and B-Doped Czochralski Ingots(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2005-01) Meemongkolkiat, Vichai ; Nakayashiki, Kenta ; Rohatgi, Ajeet ; Crabtree, Geoffrey ; Nickerson, Jeff ; Jester, Theresa L.A systematic study of the variation in resistivity and lifetime on cell performance, before and after light-induced degradation (LID), was performed along the B- and Ga-doped Czochralski (Cz) ingots. Screen-printed solar cells with Al-back surface field were fabricated and analyzed from different locations on the ingots. Despite the large variation in resistivity (0.57 Ω-cm to 2.5 Ω-cm) and lifetime (100-1000 μs) in the Ga-doped Cz ingot, the efficiency variation was found to be ≤ 0.5%. No LID was observed in the cells fabricated from the Ga-doped ingot. In contrast with the Ga-doped ingot, the B-doped ingot showed a very tight resistivity range (0.87 Ω-cm to 1.22 Ω-cm), resulting in very tight lifetime and efficiency distributions. However, the LID effect reduced the efficiency of these B-doped cells by about 1.1% absolute. Additionally, the use of thinner substrate and higher resistivity B-doped Cz is shown to effectively reduce the LID effect.
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ItemProduction Viability of Gallium Doped Mono-Crystalline Solar Cells(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2005-01) Crabtree, Geoffrey ; Jester, Theresa L. ; Fredric, Christian ; Nickerson, Jeff ; Meemongkolkiat, Vichai ; Rohatgi, AjeetResults of efforts at Shell Solar to implement the use of gallium dopant as a commercial solar cell production process are presented. Both small area cell results and production related activities and results are discussed. Many researchers have demonstrated that gallium effectively eliminates light induced degradation (LID) of the bulk lifetime, but less effort has been dedicated to implement gallium dopant into a commercial production process. Shell Solar has worked in this direction and expanded past research activities to demonstrate that the full range of resistivity values produced from a gallium-doped crystal can be used to successfully fabricate high efficiency cells. In addition, Shell has produced significant numbers of gallium-doped cells in their production facility and characterized process results from crystal growth to module build. This paper discusses additional subjects essential to production viability, such as gallium metal availability, silicon feedstock availability and management specific to a gallium process and overall cost effectiveness.
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ItemRecord-High-Efficiency Solar Cells on Multicrystalline Materials Through Understanding and Implementation of RTP-Enhanced SiNx-induced Defect Hydrogenation(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2004-01) Rohatgi, Ajeet ; Kim, Dong Seop ; Yelundur, Vijay ; Nakayashiki, Kenta ; Upadhyaya, A. D. ; Hilali, Mohamed M. ; Meemongkolkiat, VichaiThis paper presents results on five record-high-efficiency 4 cm(2) solar cells on three different multicrystalline silicon materials through effective hydrogen passivation of bulk defects during cell processing. Silicon ribbon solar cell efficiencies of 18.2% and 17.9% were achieved on EFG and String Ribbon Si cells fabricated with photolithography front contacts, screen-printed Al-doped back surface field, and double layer anti-reflection coating. In addition, high-efficiency, screen-printed, manufacturable cells were achieved on HEM (16.9%), EFG (16.1%), and String Ribbon (15.9%) Si. It is found that proper implementation of a fast co-firing of front and back screen-printed contacts in a belt furnace can significantly enhance the bulk lifetime to ~100 μs and simultaneously produce high quality contacts with fill factors approaching 0.78. The firing process involves fast ramp-up and cooling rates to enhance PECVD SiN(x)-induced hydrogen passivation of defects and the quality of Al back surface field.
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ItemString Ribbon Silicon Solar Cells with 17.8% Efficiency(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2003-05) Kim, Dong Seop ; Gabor, A. M. ; Yelundur, Vijay ; Upadhyaya, A. D. ; Meemongkolkiat, Vichai ; Rohatgi, AjeetWe have fabricated 4 cm(2) cells on String Ribbon Si wafers with efficiencies of 17.8% using a combination of laboratory and industrial processes. These are the most efficient String Ribbon devices made to date, demonstrating the high quality of the processed silicon and the future potential for industrial String Ribbon cells. Cofiring PECVD (Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition) silicon nitride (SiN(x)) and Al was used to boost the minority carrier lifetime of bulk Si. Photolithography front contacts were used to achieve low shading losses and low contact resistance with a good blue response. The firing temperature and time were studied with respect to the trade-off between hydrogen retention and aluminum back surface field (Al-BSF) formation. Bulk defect hydrogenation and deep Al-BSF formation took place in a very short time (~1 sec) at temperatures higher than 740 degrees C.
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ItemInvestigation of RTP and Belt Fired Screen Printed AL-BSF on Textured and Planar Back Surfaces of Silicon Solar Cells(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2003-05) Meemongkolkiat, Vichai ; Hilali, Mohamed M. ; Rohatgi, AjeetQuality of screen printed (SP) Al-BSF on textured and planar back surfaces was assessed by fabricating and analyzing Si solar cells. BSF was formed by firing SP-Al in a conventional belt furnace as well as in an RTP system. I-V and IQE measurements revealed that the BSF formed on a textured surface by belt firing had the poorest quality. Belt BSF on the planar back resulted in 15 mV higher V(oc). In contrast to the belt BSF, RTP BSF was superior and showed very small difference (≤ 5 mV) between the flat and textured back cells. The positive effect of RTP is attributed to much higher temperature ramp-up rate which produces uniform Al melting and reduces the influence of surface condition. In contrast, slow ramp-up in belt produces non-uniform BSF even on a planar surface. This effect gets worse on textured surfaces.