Stack system of PECVD amorphous silicon and PECVD silicon oxide for silicon solar cell rear side passivation

Abstract A stack of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a‐Si) and PECVD‐silicon oxide (SiO x ) has been used as surface passivation layer for silicon wafer surfaces. Very good surface passivation could be reached leading to a surface recombination velocity (SRV) below 10 cm/s on 1 Ω cm p‐type Si wafers. By using the passivation layer system at a solar cell's rear side and applying the laser‐fired contacts (LFC) process, pointwise local rear contacts have been formed and an energy conversion efficiency of 21·7% has been obtained on p‐type FZ substrates (0·5 Ω cm). Simulations show that the effective rear SRV is in the range of 180 cm/s for the combination of metallised and passivated areas, 120 ± 30 cm/s were calculated for the passivated areas. Rear reflectivity is comparable to thermally grown silicon dioxide (SiO 2 ). a‐Si rear passivation appears more stable under different bias light intensities compared to thermally grown SiO 2 . Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.