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University Center of Excellence for Photovoltaics

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Understanding the Role of Forming Gas on the Screen-Printed Crystalline Silicon Solar Cell Front Grid

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2006-09) Ebong, Abasifreke ; Kim, Dong Seop ; Yelundur, Vijay ; Upadhyaya, V. ; Rounsaville, Brian ; Upadhyaya, A. D. ; Tate, K. ; Rohatgi, Ajeet

In this paper we report on the role of forming gas anneal on the fill factor of a small area cell and efficiency loss due to scaling the cell area. Solar cells that are under-fired and those fired at the optimum peak firing cycle showed very marginal response to forming gas anneal. Forming gas anneal is most effective for over-fired cells. The high temperature for the over-fired cells is believed to enhance Ag crystallites growth and the formation of a thick glass layer between the Ag front grid and silicon material. The forming gas anneal aids in reducing the glass to its metal, increase the conductivity of the glass and decrease the contact resistance. Solar cells with four different areas (4-cm(2), 49-cm(2), 100-cm(2) and 156-cm(2)) that were fired at the optimized peak firing temperature showed excellent fill factors without the forming gas anneal treatment. The fill factor was not a strong function of the area even though individually the n-factor and series resistance varied due to edge recombination. The efficiency and short circuit current density showed a quadratic relation with the cell area. The short circuit current density showed a difference of 3.2 mA/cm2 between the 4-cm2 and 156-cm2 cells. The short circuit current density decreased with area due to shading, diffusion length and back surface recombination velocity or Leff, front surface recombination velocity, and area loss due to edge isolation. Improved understanding of these effects coupled with grid design and process optimization can bridge the gap between the small and large area cells.
High Efficiency Mono-Crystalline Solar Cells with Simple Manufacturable Technology

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2006-09) Upadhyaya, A. D. ; Yelundur, Vijay ; Rohatgi, Ajeet

This paper describes the analysis and optimization of phosphorus-doped n(+) emitters for Si solar cells with screen-printed contacts to improve the uniformity of contact formation. Analysis of the simulated emitters showed that J(oe) increases with the increase in phosphorus surface concentration. Cells fabricated on emitter having a higher surface concentration and shallower junction depth, were on an average 0.3% (absolute) higher in efficiency and 0.5 mA/cm (2) higher in J(sc) values. Internal quantum efficiency analysis showed that the J(sc) enhancement was due to better short wavelength response in these cells. In addition the fill factors were also slightly higher in the cells with higher surface concentration and shallower junction depth. SEM analysis showed larger (~1.5μm) and more uniformly distributed Ag crystallites on the surface of cells with emitter that had higher surface concentration. This may lead to a more tolerant contact firing process and result in a higher yield of high-efficiency cells. Furthermore, use of emitters with higher phosphorus surface concentration and shallower junction depth reduces the cell processing time appreciably leading to high throughput and cost savings in cell manufacturing. We were able to tailor the emitter profile and the firing conditions of a commercially available front silver paste to obtain good average FF’s of 77.7% in conjunction with short circuit current (J(sc)) of 34.8 mA/cm (2) and an open circuit (V(oc)) of 619 mV and efficiency of ~17% on 149 cm (2) Czochralski silicon wafers.
Investigation of the Effect of Resistivity and Thickness on the Performance of Cast Multicrystalline Silicon Solar Cells

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2006-05) Sheoran, Manav ; Upadhyaya, A. D. ; Rounsaville, Brian ; Kim, Dong Seop ; Rohatgi, Ajeet ; Narayanan, S.

A low resistivity of 0.2-0.3 Ω.cm has been shown to be optimum for high quality single crystal silicon for solar cells. However, for lower quality cast mc-Si, this optimum resistivity increases owing to a dopant-defect interaction, which reduces the bulk lifetime at lower resistivities. In this study, solar cells fabricated on 225 μm thick cast multicrystalline silicon wafers showed very little or no enhancement in efficiency with the decrease in resistivity. However, Voc enhancement was observed for the lower resistivity cells despite significantly lower bulk lifetimes compared to higher resistivity cells. After gettering (during P diffusion) and hydrogenation (from SiNx) steps used in cell fabrication, the bulk lifetime in 225 μm thick wafers from the middle of the ingot decreased from 253 μs to 135 μs when the resistivity was lowered from 1.5 Ω.cm to 0.6 Ω.cm. This paper shows that solar cells fabricated on 175 μm thick, 1.5 Ω.cm, wafers showed no appreciable loss in the cell performance when compared to the 225 μm thick cells, consistent with PC1D modeling.
Greater than 16% Efficient Screen Printed Solar Cells on 115-170 μm Thick Cast Multicrystalline Silicon

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2006-05) Upadhyaya, A. D. ; Sheoran, Manav ; Ristow, Alan ; Rohatgi, Ajeet ; Narayanan, S. ; Roncin, Steve

In this paper we report on the impact of mc-Si wafer thickness on efficiency. We have obtained 16.8%, 16.4%, 16.2% and 15.7% efficient screen printed 4 cm(2) solar cells on 280 μm, 170 μm, 140 μm and 115 μm thick cast mc-Si respectively. Analysis of these cells showed that the efficiency of the 115 μm thick cell is limited by a BSRV of 750 cm/s, FSRV of 120,000 cm/s and a BSR of 67%. A module manufacturing cost model for a 25 MW plant was used to demonstrate that 15.7% efficient cells on 115 μm thick wafers are more cost effective than 16.8% cells on 280 μm wafers. The module manufacturing cost reduced from $1.82/W to $1.63/W when the wafer thickness was reduced from 280 μm (efficiency 16.8%) to 115 μm (efficiency 15.7%). A roadmap is developed for 115 μm thick wafers to demonstrate how cell efficiency can be increased to greater than 18% resulting in a module cost of less than $1.40/W.
A Comprehensive Study of the Performance of Silicon Screen-Printed Solar Cells Fabricated with Belt Furnace Emitters

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2005-06) Ebong, Abasifreke ; Yelundur, Vijay ; Upadhyaya, V. ; Rounsaville, Brian ; Upadhyaya, A. D. ; Tate, K. ; Rohatgi, Ajeet ; Kalejs, Juris P.

ABSTRACT: In this paper we report on the screen-printed solar cells fabricated on three types of silicon materials; float zone (FZ), HEM multicrystalline and EFG ribbon with POCl3 and belt furnace diffused emitters. The belt furnace diffused emitters involved one- and two-side phosphorus spin-on to assess the contaminating effect of the IR belt. The solar cells with POCl3 emitters and co-firing of screen-printed contacts produced efficiencies of 17.3% on FZ, 16.4% on HEM and 15.5% on EFG ribbon silicon. Solar cells with two-side phosphorus emitters diffused on the belt furnace, produced efficiencies of 17.2%, 16.0%, and 15.1%, respectively, on FZ, HEM and EFG ribbon silicon. However, appreciably lower efficiencies of 15.5%, 15.5%, and 14.1% were obtained, respectively, on FZ, HEM and EFG ribbon silicon for belt-diffused emitters with only one-side phosphorus spin-on with the other side on the belt. This difference in efficiency is reflected in Voc loss for the belt-diffused emitters compared to the POCl(3) emitter cells. The IQE measurements supported that solar cells with belt-diffused emitter with two-side phosphorus spin-on and POCl(3) emitter cells had comparable Jsc. However, the cell with phosphorus spin-on on one-side gave much lower IQE because of poor bulk lifetime or the contamination due to direct contact with the belt. These results indicate that the belt emitters can account for appreciable loss in the performance of the many current commercial cells; however, this loss can be regained by applying phosphorus dopant to both side of the wafer.
Study of Direct PECVD SiN(x)-Induced Surface Emitter and Bulk Defect Passivation in P-Type Silicon Solar Cells

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2005-01) Upadhyaya, A. D. ; Sheoran, Manav ; Rohatgi, Ajeet

This paper shows that direct low-frequency (LF) deposition of SiN films at 425 °C by PECVD followed by a conventional screen-printed contact firing cycle is more effective than a high-frequency (HF) SiN film deposited at 300 °C in passivating both bulk defects and the emitter surface. The emitter saturation current density (Joe), was found to be higher for LF SiN compared to the HF SiN just after deposition. Joe values for LF SiN reduced dramatically after contact firing to 100-200 fA/cm(2), well below the Joe for HF SiN passivated emitters. Solar cells fabricated on float zone (FZ) Si and mc-Si grown by the Heat Exchanger Method (HEM) yielded efficiencies as high as 17.2% and 16.8%, respectively, when coated with LF SiN. The enhanced cell performance is corroborated by a higher short wavelength IQE response in FZ and HEM cells and a higher post hydrogenation lifetime in HEM mc-Si cells coated with LF SiN.
Record High Efficiency Screen-Printed Belt Co-Fired Cells on Cast Multi-Crystalline Silicon

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2004-06) Upadhyaya, A. D. ; Sheoran, Manav ; Rohatgi, Ajeet ; Matthei, Keith

Record-high efficiency screen-printed 4 cm(2) solar cells were achieved on HEM and Baysix cast multi-crystalline silicon. These cells were fabricated using a simple, manufacturable process involving POCl3 diffusion for a 45 Ω/ ٱ emitter, PECVD SiN(x):H deposition for a single-layer antireflection coating and rapid co-firing of an Ag grid, an Al back contact, and Al-BSF formation in a belt furnace. This process scheme resulted in effective impurity gettering and defect passivation. It also contributed to good ohmic contacts with series resistance of < 1Ω-cm(2), back surface recombination velocity of < 500 cm(2)/s, high average bulk lifetimes in the range of 100-250 μs after cell processing and fill factors of ~0.78. These parameters resulted in record high, 16.9% and 16.8% efficient screen-printed cells on HEM (Heat Exchanger Method) and Baysix mc-Si (confirmed by NREL). The identical process applied to the un-textured Float zone (FZ) wafers gave an efficiency of 17.2%. The optimized co-firing cycle, when applied to HEM mc-Si wafers with starting lifetimes varying over a wide range from 4 - 70 μs, resulted in a very tight efficiency range of 16.6% to 16.8% as a result of efficient defect gettering and passivation. Model calculations performed using the simple cell design and measured cell parameters agreed well with the experimental cell efficiency.
Record-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, Vichai

This 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.
String 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, Ajeet

We 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.