Silicon Solar Cells on Glass with Power Conversion Efficiency above 13% at Thickness below 15 Micrometer

• Main Authors: Paul Sonntag, Natalie Preissler, Matevž Bokalič, Martina Trahms, Jan Haschke, Rutger Schlatmann, Marko Topič, Bernd Rech, Daniel Amkreutz
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Nature Publishing Group 2017-04-01
• Series: Scientific Reports
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-00988-x

Abstract Liquid phase crystallized silicon on glass with a thickness of (10–40) μm has the potential to reduce material costs and the environmental impact of crystalline silicon solar cells. Recently, wafer quality open circuit voltages of over 650 mV and remarkable photocurrent densities of over 30 mA/cm2 have been demonstrated on this material, however, a low fill factor was limiting the performance. In this work we present our latest cell progress on 13 μm thin poly-crystalline silicon fabricated by the liquid phase crystallization directly on glass. The contact system uses passivated back-side silicon hetero-junctions, back-side KOH texture for light-trapping and interdigitated ITO/Ag contacts. The fill factors are up to 74% and efficiencies are 13.2% under AM1.5 g for two different doping densities of 1 · 1017/cm3 and 2 · 1016/cm3. The former is limited by bulk and interface recombination, leading to a reduced saturation current density, the latter by series resistance causing a lower fill factor. Both are additionally limited by electrical shading and losses at grain boundaries and dislocations. A small 1 × 0.1 cm2 test structure circumvents limitations of the contact design reaching an efficiency of 15.9% clearly showing the potential of the technology.