학술논문

Potential Gain in Multicrystalline Silicon Solar Cell Efficiency by n-Type Doping
Document Type
Periodical
Source
IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics IEEE J. Photovoltaics Photovoltaics, IEEE Journal of. 5(2):499-506 Mar, 2015
Subject
Photonics and Electrooptics
Silicon
Conductivity
Photovoltaic cells
Iron
Boron
Impurities
multicrystalline silicon
n-type
resistivity
Language
ISSN
2156-3381
2156-3403
Abstract
This study aims for a quantitative investigation of the material limitations and the efficiency potential of an entire multicrystalline (mc) n-type silicon block in comparison with an mc p-type block of the same purity level in order to predict the potential of mc n-type silicon for the industrial production of solar cells. Therefore, two standard mc silicon blocks were crystallized under identical conditions (same high purity feedstock, crucible system, and temperature profiles), only differing in their type of doping. The material quality of wafers along the whole block height is analyzed after different solar cell process steps by photoluminescence imaging of the diffusion length. The bulk recombination related efficiency losses are assessed by an “efficiency limiting bulk recombination analysis (ELBA),” combining injection dependent lifetime images with PC1D cell simulations. The influence of the base resistivity variation along the block is considered in the PC1D cell simulations and backed up by Sentaurus Device simulations. This analysis predicts a significantly higher material-related efficiency potential after typical solar cell processes along the whole block height for mc n-type silicon compared with mc p-type silicon. In addition, the efficiency potential for mc n-type silicon depends less on block position.