AbstractEfficient thin-film polycrystalline-silicon (pc-Si) solar cells on inexpensive substrates could lower the price of photovoltaic electricity substantially. At the MRS conference in 2006, we presented a pc-Si solar cell with an efficiency of 5.9% that had an absorber layer made by aluminum-induced crystallization (AIC) of amorphous silicon followed by high-temperature epitaxial thickening. The efficiency of this cell was mainly limited by the current density. To obtain higher efficiencies, we therefore need to implement an effective light trapping scheme in our pc-Si solar cell process. In this work, we describe how we recently enhanced the current density and efficiency of our cells. We achieved a cell efficiency of 8.0% for pc-Si cells in substrate configuration. Our cell process is based on pc-Si layers made by AIC and thermal CVD on smoothened alumina substrates. The cells are in substrate configuration with deposited a-Si heterojunction emitters and interdigitated top contacts. The front surface of the cells is plasma textured which leads to an increase in current density. The current density is further enhanced by minimizing the back surface field thickness of the cells to reduce the light loss in this layer. Our present pc-Si solar cell efficiency together with the fast progression that we have made over the last few years indicate the large potential of pc-Si solar cells based on the AIC seed layer approach.
Adaptation of the industrial PERC solar cell process chain to plated Ni/Cu/Ag front contact metallization