Bifacial solar cells on thin silicon wafers: analysis of the surface passivation and type of silicon

摘要

The aim of this paper was to analyze the surface passivation based on SiO 2 for thin bifacial solar cells as well as to evaluate the influence of the type of substrate used to fabricate the cells. The n + pp + structure was implemented, with phosphorus in the front face and boron and aluminum in the rear face, forming in the latter a selective back surface field. The Czochralski (Cz) and float zone (FZ) monocrystalline silicon wafers (145 μm thick) were used and a thermal step to grow a SiO 2 layer to passivate the surfaces was implemented. The oxide passivated the surfaces, providing an absolute increase of 0.5% in FZ silicon solar cell efficiency. The solar cells produced in Si-Cz did not present the same increase because they showed a high series resistance. The more efficient thin solar cell was manufactured with Si-FZ and with oxidized surfaces, reaching the efficiency of 14.5% and 11.1%, for illumination by the n+ and p+ faces, respectively. The Si-Cz solar cells, even with a lower initial lifetime of minority carriers, reached slightly lower efficiencies than Si-FZ solar cells.