TY - JOUR
T1 - Progress with Defect Engineering in Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cells
AU - Wright, Matthew
AU - Stefani, Bruno Vicari
AU - Soeriyadi, Anastasia
AU - Basnet, Rabin
AU - Sun, Chang
AU - Weigand, William
AU - Yu, Zhengshan
AU - Holman, Zachary
AU - Macdonald, Daniel
AU - Hallam, Brett
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics (ACAP) and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) under the following projects: (2017/RND005) and (2017/RND003). The views expressed herein are not necessarily the views of the Australian Government, and the Australian Government does not accept responsibility for any information or advice contained herein. The authors thank the industrial partners with the project, including Hevel Solar, Meyer Burger (Germany), and Apollon Solar. In particular, the authors thank Dr. Dimitry Andronikov and Dr. Sergey Abolmasov of Hevel Solar, who contributed significantly to the new results presented herein. Finally, the authors thank Dr Brendan Wright and Dr Nathan Chang for useful scientific discussions.
Funding Information:
This work was supported by the Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics (ACAP) and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) under the following projects: (2017/RND005) and (2017/RND003). The views expressed herein are not necessarily the views of the Australian Government, and the Australian Government does not accept responsibility for any information or advice contained herein. The authors thank the industrial partners with the project, including Hevel Solar, Meyer Burger (Germany), and Apollon Solar. In particular, the authors thank Dr. Dimitry Andronikov and Dr. Sergey Abolmasov of Hevel Solar, who contributed significantly to the new results presented herein. Finally, the authors thank Dr Brendan Wright and Dr Nathan Chang for useful scientific discussions.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Wiley-VCH GmbH
PY - 2021/9
Y1 - 2021/9
N2 - Due to the low temperature processing constraint in silicon heterojunction (SHJ) solar cells, no defect engineering to improve silicon wafer quality is typically incorporated during cell fabrication. This means that high-quality n-type Cz wafers are required to produce high-efficiency cells. Herein, recent demonstrations of incorporating defect engineering approaches, such as gettering and hydrogenation, into the SHJ process flow for both n-type and p-type wafers are surveyed. Defect engineering on wafers before cell fabrication can significantly improve the quality of low-lifetime p-type wafers, making them much more suitable for SHJ cells. Interestingly, these same approaches are also very effective in improving the cell performance in the n-type wafers that are conventionally used in industry. Post-cell illuminated annealing processes have been shown to eliminate boron–oxygen light-induced degradation (LID) in p-type wafers, leading to stable V OC exceeding 735 mV. New results indicate that the hydrogen naturally incorporated during SHJ processing is sufficient to passivate these defects. Similar illuminated annealing processes also lead to substantial improvements in n-type SHJ cells. With these findings considered, it is demonstrated that a modified SHJ process flow, which includes defect engineering on a wafer level and post-cell hydrogen passivation, is beneficial for SHJ production, regardless of the wafer type.
AB - Due to the low temperature processing constraint in silicon heterojunction (SHJ) solar cells, no defect engineering to improve silicon wafer quality is typically incorporated during cell fabrication. This means that high-quality n-type Cz wafers are required to produce high-efficiency cells. Herein, recent demonstrations of incorporating defect engineering approaches, such as gettering and hydrogenation, into the SHJ process flow for both n-type and p-type wafers are surveyed. Defect engineering on wafers before cell fabrication can significantly improve the quality of low-lifetime p-type wafers, making them much more suitable for SHJ cells. Interestingly, these same approaches are also very effective in improving the cell performance in the n-type wafers that are conventionally used in industry. Post-cell illuminated annealing processes have been shown to eliminate boron–oxygen light-induced degradation (LID) in p-type wafers, leading to stable V OC exceeding 735 mV. New results indicate that the hydrogen naturally incorporated during SHJ processing is sufficient to passivate these defects. Similar illuminated annealing processes also lead to substantial improvements in n-type SHJ cells. With these findings considered, it is demonstrated that a modified SHJ process flow, which includes defect engineering on a wafer level and post-cell hydrogen passivation, is beneficial for SHJ production, regardless of the wafer type.
KW - defect engineering
KW - gettering
KW - hydrogenation
KW - passivation
KW - silicon heterojunction solar cells
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85109362063&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85109362063&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/pssr.202100170
DO - 10.1002/pssr.202100170
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:85109362063
SN - 1862-6254
VL - 15
JO - Physica Status Solidi - Rapid Research Letters
JF - Physica Status Solidi - Rapid Research Letters
IS - 9
M1 - 2100170
ER -