Reassessment of intrinsic lifetime limit in n-type crystalline silicon and implication on maximum solar cell efficiency

verfasst von

Boris A. Veith-Wolf, Sören Schäfer, Rolf Brendel, Jan Schmidt

Abstract

Unusually high carrier lifetimes are measured by photoconductance decay on n-type Czochralski-grown silicon wafers of different doping concentrations, passivated using plasma-assisted atomic-layer-deposited aluminum oxide (Al₂O₃) on both wafer surfaces. The measured effective lifetimes significantly exceed the intrinsic lifetime limit previously reported in the literature. Several prerequisites have to be fulfilled to allow the measurement of such high lifetimes on Al₂O₃-passivated n-type silicon wafers: (i) large-area wafers are required to minimize the impact of edge recombination via the Al₂O₃-charge-induced inversion layer, (ii) an exceptionally homogeneous Al₂O₃ surface passivation is required, and (iii) very thick silicon wafers are needed. Based on our lifetime measurements on n-type silicon wafers of different doping concentrations, we introduce a new parameterization of the intrinsic lifetime for n-type crystalline silicon. This new parameterization has implications concerning the maximum reachable efficiency of n-type silicon solar cells, which is larger than assumed before.

Organisationseinheit(en)

Institut für Festkörperphysik

Externe Organisation(en)

Institut für Solarenergieforschung GmbH (ISFH)

Typ

Artikel

Journal

Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells

Band

186

Seiten

194-199

Anzahl der Seiten

6

ISSN

0927-0248

Publikationsdatum

11.2018

Publikationsstatus

Veröffentlicht

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Elektronische, optische und magnetische Materialien, Erneuerbare Energien, Nachhaltigkeit und Umwelt, Oberflächen, Beschichtungen und Folien

Ziele für nachhaltige Entwicklung

SDG 7 – Erschwingliche und saubere Energie

Elektronische Version(en)

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solmat.2018.06.029 (Zugang: Geschlossen)