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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
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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