For none, one, or two polarities

How do POLO junctions fit best into industrial Si solar cells?

verfasst von
Robby Peibst, Christian Kruse, Sören Schäfer, Verena Mertens, Stefan Bordihn, Thorsten Dullweber, Felix Haase, Christina Hollemann, Bianca Lim, Byungsul Min, Raphael Niepelt, Henning Schulte-Huxel, Rolf Brendel
Abstract

We present a systematic study on the benefit of the implementation of poly-Si on oxide (POLO) or related junctions into p-type industrial Si solar cells as compared with the benchmark of Passivated Emitter and Rear Cell (PERC). We assess three aspects: (a) the simulated efficiency potential of representative structures with POLO junctions for none (=PERC+), one, and for two polarities; (b) possible lean process flows for their fabrication; and (c) experimental results on major building blocks. Synergistic efficiency gain analysis reveals that the exclusive suppression of the contact recombination for one polarity by POLO only yields moderate efficiency improvements between 0.23%abs and 0.41%abs as compared with PERC+ because of the remaining recombination paths. This problem is solved in a structure that includes POLO junctions for both polarities (POLO2), for whose realization we propose a lean process flow, and for which we experimentally demonstrate the most important building blocks. However, two experimental challenges—alignment tolerances and screen-print metallization of p+ poly-Si—are unsolved so far and reduced the efficiency of the “real” POLO2 cell as compared with an idealized scenario. As an intermediate step, we therefore work on a POLO IBC cell with POLO junctions for one polarity. It avoids the abovementioned challenges of the POLO2 structure, can be realized within a lean process flow, and has an efficiency benefit of 1.59%abs as compared with PERC—because not only contact recombination is suppressed but also the entire phosphorus emitter is replaced by an n+ POLO junction.

Organisationseinheit(en)
Institut für Materialien und Bauelemente der Elektronik
Abt. Solarenergie
Externe Organisation(en)
Institut für Solarenergieforschung GmbH (ISFH)
Typ
Artikel
Journal
Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications
Band
28
Seiten
503-516
Anzahl der Seiten
14
ISSN
1062-7995
Publikationsdatum
20.05.2020
Publikationsstatus
Veröffentlicht
Peer-reviewed
Ja
ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete
Elektronische, optische und magnetische Materialien, Erneuerbare Energien, Nachhaltigkeit und Umwelt, Physik der kondensierten Materie, Elektrotechnik und Elektronik
Ziele für nachhaltige Entwicklung
SDG 7 – Erschwingliche und saubere Energie
Elektronische Version(en)
https://doi.org/10.1002/pip.3201 (Zugang: Offen)