Ring Defects Associated with Boron–Oxygen‐Related Degradation in p‐Type Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cells
Silicon heterojunction (SHJ) cell architectures, which have dominated silicon single‐junction efficiency records for the past 10 years, are processed at relatively low temperatures, on the order of ≈250 °C. Recombination‐active oxygen complexes in crystalline silicon, formed from interstitial oxygen...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley-VCH
2025-02-01
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| Series: | Advanced Energy & Sustainability Research |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1002/aesr.202400255 |
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| author | Bruno Vicari Stefani Moonyong Kim Matthew Wright Anastasia Soeriyadi Ilya Nyapshaev Konstantin Emtsev Brett Hallam |
| author_facet | Bruno Vicari Stefani Moonyong Kim Matthew Wright Anastasia Soeriyadi Ilya Nyapshaev Konstantin Emtsev Brett Hallam |
| author_sort | Bruno Vicari Stefani |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Silicon heterojunction (SHJ) cell architectures, which have dominated silicon single‐junction efficiency records for the past 10 years, are processed at relatively low temperatures, on the order of ≈250 °C. Recombination‐active oxygen complexes in crystalline silicon, formed from interstitial oxygen (Oi), typically require temperatures higher than this to form. Therefore, it is typically assumed that SHJ cells are immune to such defects. This contrasts with the high‐temperature passivated emitter and rear cell (PERC) and tunneling oxide passivating contact (TOPCon) architectures, which can suffer from oxygen precipitates that are recombination active and difficult to predict. Herein, ring‐like defects are observed in boron‐doped p‐type SHJ solar cells, which leads to a degradation of open‐circuit voltage. It is shown that the spatial variation of this recombination activity is related to the boron–oxygen defect, the variation of which is likely due to the radial Oi distribution. Although boron‐doped p‐type wafers are no longer the industry standard, the defect engineering of wafers for SHJ production, using high‐temperature processing, is gaining significant interest. Such wafers can have an increased susceptibility to ring‐like defects. Therefore, spatially inhomogeneous defects causing recombination may become increasingly relevant for SHJ cells. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-a0992e23fbd74c148df5de73d5601af5 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2699-9412 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-02-01 |
| publisher | Wiley-VCH |
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| series | Advanced Energy & Sustainability Research |
| spelling | doaj-art-a0992e23fbd74c148df5de73d5601af52025-02-06T18:50:31ZengWiley-VCHAdvanced Energy & Sustainability Research2699-94122025-02-0162n/an/a10.1002/aesr.202400255Ring Defects Associated with Boron–Oxygen‐Related Degradation in p‐Type Silicon Heterojunction Solar CellsBruno Vicari Stefani0Moonyong Kim1Matthew Wright2Anastasia Soeriyadi3Ilya Nyapshaev4Konstantin Emtsev5Brett Hallam6School of Photovoltaics and Renewable Energy Engineering UNSW Sydney NSW 2052 AustraliaSchool of Photovoltaics and Renewable Energy Engineering UNSW Sydney NSW 2052 AustraliaDepartment of Materials University of Oxford Oxford OX1 3PH UKDepartment of Materials University of Oxford Oxford OX1 3PH UKR&D Center of Thin Film Technologies in Energetics St. Petersburg 194064 RussiaR&D Center of Thin Film Technologies in Energetics St. Petersburg 194064 RussiaSchool of Photovoltaics and Renewable Energy Engineering UNSW Sydney NSW 2052 AustraliaSilicon heterojunction (SHJ) cell architectures, which have dominated silicon single‐junction efficiency records for the past 10 years, are processed at relatively low temperatures, on the order of ≈250 °C. Recombination‐active oxygen complexes in crystalline silicon, formed from interstitial oxygen (Oi), typically require temperatures higher than this to form. Therefore, it is typically assumed that SHJ cells are immune to such defects. This contrasts with the high‐temperature passivated emitter and rear cell (PERC) and tunneling oxide passivating contact (TOPCon) architectures, which can suffer from oxygen precipitates that are recombination active and difficult to predict. Herein, ring‐like defects are observed in boron‐doped p‐type SHJ solar cells, which leads to a degradation of open‐circuit voltage. It is shown that the spatial variation of this recombination activity is related to the boron–oxygen defect, the variation of which is likely due to the radial Oi distribution. Although boron‐doped p‐type wafers are no longer the industry standard, the defect engineering of wafers for SHJ production, using high‐temperature processing, is gaining significant interest. Such wafers can have an increased susceptibility to ring‐like defects. Therefore, spatially inhomogeneous defects causing recombination may become increasingly relevant for SHJ cells.https://doi.org/10.1002/aesr.202400255boronheterojunctionsoxygenp‐typessilicon |
| spellingShingle | Bruno Vicari Stefani Moonyong Kim Matthew Wright Anastasia Soeriyadi Ilya Nyapshaev Konstantin Emtsev Brett Hallam Ring Defects Associated with Boron–Oxygen‐Related Degradation in p‐Type Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cells Advanced Energy & Sustainability Research boron heterojunctions oxygen p‐types silicon |
| title | Ring Defects Associated with Boron–Oxygen‐Related Degradation in p‐Type Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cells |
| title_full | Ring Defects Associated with Boron–Oxygen‐Related Degradation in p‐Type Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cells |
| title_fullStr | Ring Defects Associated with Boron–Oxygen‐Related Degradation in p‐Type Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cells |
| title_full_unstemmed | Ring Defects Associated with Boron–Oxygen‐Related Degradation in p‐Type Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cells |
| title_short | Ring Defects Associated with Boron–Oxygen‐Related Degradation in p‐Type Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cells |
| title_sort | ring defects associated with boron oxygen related degradation in p type silicon heterojunction solar cells |
| topic | boron heterojunctions oxygen p‐types silicon |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1002/aesr.202400255 |
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