In boron-doped p+-n crystalline silicon(Si) solar cells, p-type boron doping control and surface passivation play a vital role in the realization of high-efficiency and low cost pursuit. In this study, boron-doped p+-emitters are formed by boron diffusion in an open-tube furnace using borontribromide(BBr3) as precursor. The formed emitters are characterized in detail in terms of shape of the doping profile, surface doping concentration, junction depth, sheet resistance and removal of the boron-rich layer(BRL). In the aspect of BRL removal, three different methods were adopted to investigate their influence on device performance. The results demonstrate that our proposed chemical etch treatment(CET) with the proper etching time could be an effective way to remove the BRL.After removal of the BRL, Al_2 O_3/SiN_x stacks are deposited by atomic layer deposition(ALD) and plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition(PECVD) to passivate the cell surface. It was found that a reasonably-high implied Voc of 680 mV has been achieved for the fabricated n-type Si solar cells.
A reasonably-thick Ga NAs/Ga In As superlattice could be an option as a roughly 1 eV subcell to achieve high-efficiency multi-junction solar cells on a lattice-matched Ge substrate. A detailed consideration of a highefficiency design for a GaInP/GaAs/ eV/Ge device is presented. Calculations have been done for this structure to obtain the confined energies of the electrons and holes by utilizing the Kronig-Penney model, as well as the absorption coefficient and thereby the external quantum efficiency. The effect of well layers, Ga NAs or Ga In As,on the absorption and photocurrent density under the AM 1.5 condition is discussed in order to realize a requirement of current matching in the four-junction solar cells. The management of these considerations implies the feasibility of the Ga NAs/Ga In As superlattice subcell design to improve the overall conversion efficiency of lattice matched GaInP/GaAs/1 eV/Ge cells.
采用分子束外延(MBE)生长技术生长了周期厚度不同的1 e V吸收带边的Ga N0.03As0.97/In0.09Ga0.91As应变补偿短周期超晶格(SPSL)。高分辨率X射线衍射(HRXRD)测量结果显示,当周期厚度从6 nm增加到20 nm时,超晶格的结晶质量明显改善。然而,当周期厚度继续增加时,超晶格品质劣化。对超晶格周期良好的样品通过退火优化,获得了具有低温光致发光现象的高含N量Ga NAs/In Ga As超晶格,吸收带边位于1 e V附近。使用10个周期的Ga NAs/In Ga As超晶格(10 nm/10 nm)和Ga As组成的p-i-n太阳电池的短路电流达到10.23 m A/cm2。经聚光测试获得的饱和电流密度、二极管理想因子与由电池暗态电流-电压曲线得到的结果一致。
Atomic-layer-deposited(ALD) aluminum oxide(Al_2O_3) has demonstrated an excellent surface passivation for crystalline silicon(c-Si) surfaces, as well as for highly boron-doped c-Si surfaces. In this paper, water-based thermal atomic layer deposition of Al_2O_3 films are fabricated for c-Si surface passivation. The influence of deposition conditions on the passivation quality is investigated. The results show that the excellent passivation on n-type c-Si can be achieved at a low thermal budget of 250℃ given a gas pressure of 0.15 Torr. The thickness-dependence of surface passivation indicates that the effective minority carrier lifetime increases drastically when the thickness of Al_2O_3 is larger than 10 nm. The influence of thermal post annealing treatments is also studied. Comparable carrier lifetime is achieved when Al_2O_3 sample is annealed for 15 min in forming gas in a temperature range from 400℃ to 450℃. In addition, the passivation quality can be further improved when a thin PECVD-SiN_x cap layer is prepared on Al_2O_3, and an effective minority carrier lifetime of2.8 ms and implied Voc of 721 mV are obtained. In addition, several novel methods are proposed to restrain blistering.
We report a GaInP/GaAs tandem solar cell with a novel GaAs tunnel junction(TJ) with using tellurium(Te) and magnesium(Mg) as n- and p-type dopants via dual-filament low temperature effusion cells grown by molecular beam epitaxy(MBE) at low temperature. The test Te/Mg-doped GaAs TJ shows a peak current density of 21 A/cm2. The tandem solar cell by the Te/Mg TJ shows a short-circuit current density of 12 m A/cm2, but a low open-circuit voltage range of1.4 V^1.71 V under AM1.5 illumination. The secondary ion mass spectroscopy(SIMS) analysis reveals that the Te doping is unexpectedly high and its doping profile extends to the Mg doping region, thus possibly resulting in a less abrupt junction with no tunneling carriers effectively. Furthermore, the tunneling interface shifts from the intended Ga As n++/p++junction to the AlGaInP/GaAs junction with a higher bandgap AlGaInP tunneling layers, thereby reducing the tunneling peak. The Te concentration of ~ 2.5 × 1020 in GaAs could cause a lattice strain of 10-3 in magnitude and thus a surface roughening,which also negatively influences the subsequent growth of the top subcell and the GaAs contacting layers. The doping features of Te and Mg are discussed to understand the photovoltaic response of the studied tandem cell.
