Surface passivation of silicon solar cells using industrially relevant Al2O3 deposition techniques

J. Schmidt, F. Werner, B. Veith, D. Zielke, R. Bock, R. Brendel, M.V. Tiba, P. Poodt, F. Roozeboom, A. Li, A. Cuevas

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Abstract

The next generation of industrial silicon solar cells aims at efficiencies of 20% and above. To achieve this goal using ever-thinner silicon wafers, a highly effective surface passivation of the cell front and rear is required. In the past, finding a suitable dielectric layer providing a high-quality rear passivation has been a major challenge. Aluminium oxide (Al2O3) grown by atomic layer deposition (ALD) has only recently turned out to be a nearly perfect candidate for such a dielectric. However, conventional ALD is limited to deposition rates well below 2nm/min, which is incompatible with industrial solar cell production. This paper assesses the passivation quality provided by three different industrially relevant techniques for the deposition of Al2O3 layers, namely high-rate spatial ALD, plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition (PECVD) and reactive sputtering.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)52-57
Number of pages5
JournalPhotovoltaics International : the Technology Resource for PV Professionals
Volume10
Publication statusPublished - 2010

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