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Excellent boron emitter passivation for high‐efficiency Si wafer solar cells using AlO x /SiN x dielectric stacks deposited in an industrial inline plasma reactor
Author(s) -
Duttagupta Shubham,
Lin Fen,
Shetty Kishan Devappa,
Aberle Armin G.,
Hoex Bram
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
progress in photovoltaics: research and applications
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.286
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1099-159X
pISSN - 1062-7995
DOI - 10.1002/pip.1259
Subject(s) - passivation , saturation current , common emitter , wafer , analytical chemistry (journal) , boron , stack (abstract data type) , materials science , dielectric , chemical vapor deposition , saturation (graph theory) , optoelectronics , planar , plasma , layer (electronics) , chemistry , nanotechnology , voltage , electrical engineering , physics , computer graphics (images) , mathematics , engineering , organic chemistry , chromatography , combinatorics , quantum mechanics , computer science , programming language
Excellent passivation of boron emitters is realised using AlO x /SiN x dielectric stacks deposited in an industrial inline plasma‐enhanced chemical vapour deposition reactor. Very low emitter saturation current density ( J 0e ) values of 10 and 45 fA/cm 2 are obtained for 180 and 30 Ω/sq planar p + emitters, respectively. For textured p + emitters, the J 0e was found to be 1.5–2 times higher compared with planar emitters. The required thermal activation of the AlO x films is performed in a standard industrial fast‐firing furnace, making the developed passivation stack industrially viable. We also show that an AlO x thickness of 5 nm in the AlO x /SiN x stack is sufficient for obtaining a J 0e of 18 fA/cm 2 for planar 80 Ω/sq p + emitters, which corresponds to a 1‐sun open‐circuit voltage limit of the solar cell of 736 mV at 25 °C. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.