Abstract
We investigated the impact of the process steps on the performance of the silicon heterojunction solar cells (SHJ). Hydrogen plasma treatment, magnetron sputtering of a transparent conductive oxide, and laser opening of the contact window affect the amorphous silicon layer and, consequently, the performance of solar cells. The use of a multistage process of deposition of thin layers of amorphous silicon makes it possible to reduce the effect of subsequent operations on their properties. Since high-temperature treatment for hydrogenation of dangling bonds is the most commercially acceptable method, it is important to form films with the properties necessary to restore the passivation parameters. To obtain such layers, the process of deposition of layers with intermediate treatment with hydrogen plasma was studied. Processing of the initially formed thin layer makes it possible to amorphize and hydrogenate it, taking into account the etching factor, which makes it possible to significantly reduce the effect of surface imperfections and epitaxial growth points and create conditions for the growth of a high-quality next layer. It has been established that the degradation and restoration of the properties of layers with different ratios of monohydride and dihydride bonds differ to a large extent. While monohydride bonds are broken and restored in other configurations, dihydride bonds are more stable. The parameters of the process of opening contact windows using ultrashort laser pulses in a multilayer thin film system are also determined by the surface morphology. Making changes to the surface texturing process, which allow smoothing the edges of the pyramids, makes it possible to expand the technological window of the process step. Changing the size of the pyramids and, accordingly, their density per unit surface leads to a change in the total area of the opened windows at the same fluence. The process improvements are useful for fabrication of high-performance SHJ solar cells.
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Karabanov, S., Reginevich, M. (2023). Impact of Process Steps on the Performance of Heterojunction Solar Cells. In: Sayigh, A. (eds) Mediterranean Architecture and the Green-Digital Transition. Innovative Renewable Energy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-33148-0_12
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