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Examination of the properties of the interface of a-SiNx:H/Si in crystalline silicon solar cells and its effect on cell efficiency

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 January 2012

Machteld W.P.E. Lamers ,
Keith Butler ,
Ingrid G. Romijn ,
John Harding  and
Arthur W. Weeber
Machteld W.P.E. Lamers
Affiliation:
ECN Solar Energy, P.O. Box 1, 1755 ZG Petten, the Netherlands.
Keith Butler
Affiliation:
University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK
Ingrid G. Romijn
Affiliation:
ECN Solar Energy, P.O. Box 1, 1755 ZG Petten, the Netherlands.
John Harding
Affiliation:
University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK
Arthur W. Weeber
Affiliation:
ECN Solar Energy, P.O. Box 1, 1755 ZG Petten, the Netherlands.
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Abstract

Nitridation is the process in which, during the initial growth of a-SiNx:H layers on Si surfaces, nitrogen (N) is incorporated into Si lattice near its surface. We show that this nitridation process affects the density of interface states (Dit ) and fixed charges (Qf ) at the interface. These parameters determine the effective surface passivation quality of the layers. The nitridation can be tuned independently of the growth of a-SiNx:H layers by using a plasma treatment prior to actual a-SiNx:H layer deposition. It is shown that the Qf can be varied from 2·1012 to 15·1012 cm-2 without changing the a-SiNx:H deposition process. It is demonstrated that in our case and processing window, Qf is the determining factor in surface passivation quality in the range of 2·1012 to 8·1012 cm-2. For higher values of Qf , Dit has increased significantly and has become dominant thereby reducing the passivation quality. It is shown that the passivation can be controlled independently of the a-SiNx:H deposition process. On completed solar cells this variation in Qf due to nitridation results in a change in open-circuit voltage, Voc, of almost 20mV.

Keywords

plasma-enhanced CVD (PECVD) (deposition)photovoltaicnitride

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 1423: Symposium RR – Dynamics in Confined Systems and Functional Interfaces , 2012 , mrsf11-1423-rr03-05
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2012

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References

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