Nowadays, an increasing share of photovoltaic (PV) systems makes use of module- or submodule-level power electronics (PE). Furthermore, PE is used in stand-alone devices powered by PV-storage solutions. One way to facilitate further implementation of PE in PV applications is to integrate PE components into crystalline silicon PV cells. Herein, the COSMOS device is introduced, denoting COmbined Solar cell and metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET). Specifically, the combined manufacturing of lateral power MOSFETs and interdigitated back contact solar cells with tunnel-oxide passivated contacts (TOPCon) on a single wafer is reported. Many steps of the proposed process flow are used for the fabrication of both devices, enabling cost-effective integration of the MOSFET. Both n-type solar cells with integrated p-channel MOSFETs (PMOS) and p-type solar cells with integrated n-channel MOSFETs (NMOS) are successfully manufactured. NMOS devices perform better in achieving low on-resistance, while PMOS devices exhibit lower leakage currents. Furthermore, the study reveals integration challenges where off-state leakage currents of the MOSFET can increase due to illumination and specific configurations of monolithic interconnections between the MOSFET and the solar cell. Nevertheless, for both n-type and p-type solar cells, efficiencies exceeding 20% are achieved, highlighting the potential of the proposed process for COSMOS devices.

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Accelerating the deployment of Photovoltaic (PV) systems is a key contributing factor in achieving climate neutrality. Even though solar power is one of the cheapest energy sources and its deployment is growing rapidly around the world, an even faster growth is required to achieve existing climate goals. Besides the role that finance and permitting can play as enablers or barriers to this, the key elements to enable fast PV deployment are the use of education, and science and data-driven tools to empower citizens, installers, and investors to make their decisions based on robust scientific evidence. This perspective article aims to summarize the key concepts presented and discussed during the side event at COP27 on PV resources towards climate neutrality. The article will accomplish this by highlighting two key aspects: (1) the advantages of using solar-related education and data-driven tools, and (2) showcasing the significance of education, improved data and tools, community involvement, and PV mapping in expediting the deployment of PV systems.@en

Passivating contacts are crucial for realizing high-performance crystalline silicon solar cells. Herein, contact formation by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) followed by an annealing step is focused on. Poly-SiO_x passivating contacts by combining plasma-assisted N₂O-based oxidation of silicon (PANO-SiO_x) with a thin film of phosphorus (n⁺) or boron (p⁺)-doped hydrogenated amorphous silicon oxide (a-SiO_x:H) are manufactured. Postannealing is conducted for transitioning a-SiO_x:H into poly-SiO_x. The aim is to achieve a contact with low absorption and high-quality passivation. It is demonstrated that by tuning the plasma oxidation process time and power, the PANO-SiO_x thickness and its passivation quality can be controlled. A higher SiO₂ content is observed in PANO-SiO_x than in the nitric acid oxidation of silicon (NAOS-SiO_x) counterpart. PANO-SiO_x acts as a stronger diffusion barrier for both boron and phosphorus atoms compared to NAOS-SiO_x, affecting the dopant distribution during annealing. Implied open-circuit voltages up to 751 and 710 mV for n⁺ and p⁺ flat symmetric samples, respectively, are demonstrated. With respect to standard thermally grown SiO₂ tunneling oxide combined with (in/ex)situ-doped low-pressure chemical vapor deposition poly-Si, this study presents a simple alternative for manufacturing passivating contact fully based on PECVD processes.

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Passivated contact based on a thin interfacial oxide and a highly doped polysilicon layer has emerged as the next evolutionary step to increase the efficiencies of industrial silicon solar cells. To take maximum advantage from this layer stack, it is vital to limit the losses at the metal polysilicon interface, which can be quantified as metal polysilicon recombination current density (J _0met) and contact resistivity. In cell concepts, wherein a large variety of silicon substrate surface finish can be obtained, it is essential to know how the surface finish affects the J _0met and contact resistivity. Herein, commercially available fire through silver paste and the metal-polysilicon recombination current densities and contact resistivity are used for three different silicon substrate surface finishes, namely: planar or saw damage etched (SDE), chemically polished in acidic solution and alkaline pyramidal textured. Contact resistivity values below 3 mΩ cm² with J _0met in order of the recombination current density of the doped region (J _0pass) are obtained for samples with planar surface for both 150 and 200 nm n⁺ polysilicon layer thicknesses. The results presented in this work show that the samples with flat substrate morphology outperform the samples with textured surfaces.

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In this article, we investigate the passivation quality and electrical contact properties for samples with a 150 nm thick n+ polysilicon layer in comparison to samples with a phosphorus diffused layer. High level of passivation is achieved for the samples with n+ polysilicon layer and an interfacial oxide underneath it. The contact properties with screen-printed fire-through silver paste are excellent (no additional recombination from metallization and specific contact resistivity (ρc) ≤ 2 mΩ·cm2) for the samples with the polysilicon layers. Fast-firing peak temperature was varied during the contact formation process; this was done to see the trend in the contact properties with the change in the thermal budget. The differences in the J0met and ρc for the two different kinds of samples are explained with the help of high-resolution scanning electron microscope imaging. Finally, we prepare M2-sized n-passivated emitter rear totally (PERT) diffused solar cells with a 150 nm thick n+ polysilicon based passivated rear contact. The best cell achieved an efficiency of 21.64%, with a Voc of 686 mV and fill factor of 80.2%.

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This work investigates how the thickness of the polysilicon layer and temperatures during contact sintering influence the properties of SiO_x/polysilicon passivated contacts. The n⁺ polysilicon layers deposited by low-pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) on top of a thin wet chemically grown interface oxide layer providing chemical and field-effect passivation on n-type monocrystalline silicon wafers are investigated. Three different polysilicon layer thicknesses of 50, 100, and 150 nm are considered in this work. A high level of passivation with implied V_oc values above 735 mV and J₀₁ below 5 fA cm⁻² is obtained for symmetric lifetime test samples. These samples are used to investigate the interaction of the silver paste with the polysilicon layer at different fast firing peak temperatures. Reduction in polysilicon layer thickness leads to an increase in contact resistivity as well as in J_0met. Excellent J_0met values of the order of J₀₁ with contact resistivity values below 2 mΩ cm² are obtained for samples with polysilicon layers of 100 and 150 nm thickness.

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We have metallised n+ polysilicon passivated layer structures deposited by Low Pressure Chemical Vapor Deposition (LPCVD) with silver pastes. We analysed recombination at the metal contacts by photoluminescence imaging of metallised lifetime samples and found for the best paste, metal semiconductor recombination current density values (J0met) below 70 fA/cm², with contact resistivity below 2 mΩcm². To our knowledge, these are among the lowest values reported so far for full size M2 wafers with 150 nm thin polysilicon layer and wet chemical thin oxide. We also studied the effect of the peak firing temperature on the J0met and contact resistivity in this work. Further, we performed Scanning Electron Microscopy to further understand the silver polysilicon interface.

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We have printed firing through silver paste on n+ polysilicon passivated layer structures deposited by Low Pressure Chemical Vapor Deposition (LPCVD). We analysed recombination at the metal contacts by photoluminescence imaging of metallised lifetime samples and found for the best paste, metal semiconductor recombination current density values (J0met) below 100 fA/cm². To our knowledge, these are among the lowest values reported so far for full size M2 wafers with 150 nm thin polysilicon layer. On samples metallised with standard commercial pastes for diffused emitters, we observed higher J0met values, while contact resistivity was acceptable for all samples. We also studied the effect of the peak firing temperature on the J0met and contact resistivity in this work. Further, we compared the impact of deep and shallow doping profiles on the passivation and the J0met values.

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The optical and electrical properties of Si rich SiC (SRSC) solar cell absorber layers will strongly depend on interfacial layers between the Si and the SiC matrix and in this work, we analyze hitherto undiscovered interfacial layers. The SRSC thin films were deposited using a plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) technique and annealed in a nitrogen environment at 1100 °C. The thermal treatment leads to metastable SRSC films spinodally decomposed into a Si–SiC nanocomposite. After the thermal treatment, the coexistence of crystalline Si and SiC nanostructures was analysed by high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and electron diffraction. From the quantitative extraction of the different plasmon signals from electron energy-loss spectra, an additional structure, amorphous SiC (a-SiC) was found. Quantitative spectroscopic electron tomography was developed to obtain three dimensional (3D) plasmonic maps. In these 3D spectroscopic maps, the Si regions appear as network structures inside the SiC matrix where the a-SiC appears as an interfacial layer separating the matrix and Si network. The presence of the a-SiC interface can be explained in the framework of the nucleation and growth model.@en

Hydrogenated amorphous silicon oxide (a-SiOx:H) solar cells have been successfully implemented to multi-junction thin film silicon solar cells. The efficiency of these solar cells, however, has still been below that of state-of-the-art solar cells mainly due to the low Jsc of the a-SiOx:H solar cells and the unbalanced current matching between sub-cells. In this study, we carry out optical simulations to find the main optical losses for the a-SiOx:H solar cell, which so far was mainly optimized for Voc and fill-factor (FF). It is observed that a large portion of the incident light is absorbed parasitically by the p-a-SiOx:H and n-a-SiOx:H layers, although the use of these layers leads to the highest Voc × FF product. When a more transparent and conductive p-nc-SiOx:H layer is substituted for the p-a-SiOx:H layer, the parasitic absorption loss at short wavelengths is notably reduced, leading to higher Jsc. However, this gain in Jsc by the use of the p-nc-SiOx:H compromises the Voc. When replacing the n-a-SiOx:H layer for an n-nc-SiOx:H layer that has low n and k values, the plasmonic absorption loss at the n-nc-SiOx:H/Ag interfaces and the parasitic absorption in the n-nc-SiOx:H are substantially reduced. Implementation of this n-nc-SiOx:H leads to an increase of the Jsc without a drop of the Voc and FF. When implementing a thinner p-a-SiOx:H layer, a thicker i-a-SiOx:H layer, and an n-nc-SiOx:H layer, a-SiOx:H solar cells with not only high Jsc but also high Voc and FF can be fabricated. As a result, an 8.8% a-SiOx:H single junction solar cell is successfully fabricated with a Voc of 1.02 V, a FF of 0.70, and a Jsc of 12.3 mA/cm2, which is the highest efficiency ever reported for this type of solar cell.I. INTRODUCTION@en

In this work, we use intrinsic hydrogenated amorphous silicon oxide layers (a-SiOx:H) with varying oxygen content (cO) but similar hydrogen content to passivate the crystalline silicon wafers. Using our deposition conditions, we obtain an effective lifetime (τeff) above 5 ms for cO ≤ 6 at. % for passivation layers with a thickness of 36 ± 2 nm. We subsequently reduce the thickness of the layers using an accurate wet etching method to ∼7 nm and deposit p- and n-type doped layers fabricating a device structure. After the deposition of the doped layers, τeff appears to be predominantly determined by the doped layers themselves and is less dependent on the cO of the a-SiOx:H layers. The results suggest that τeff is determined by the field-effect rather than by chemical passivation.@en

A major limitation in current liquid-phase crystallized (LPC) silicon thin-film record solar cells is optical losses caused by their planar glass-silicon interface. In this study, silicon is grown on nanoimprinted periodically, as well as randomly textured glass substrates, and successfully implemented into state-of-the-art LPC silicon thin-film solar cells. Compared with an optimized planar reference device, both textures enhance absorption of light. Interlayer and process optimization allowed achieving a material quality comparable with the planar reference device. On the random texture, an open-circuit voltage above 630 mV was obtained, as well as an external quantum efficiency exceeding the planar reference device by +3 mA/cm2.@en

We report the effect of hydrogen on the crystallization process of silicon nanocrystals embedded in a silicon oxide matrix. We show that hydrogen gas during annealing leads to a lower sub-band gap absorption, indicating passivation of defects created during annealing. Samples annealed in pure nitrogen show expected trends according to crystallization theory. Samples annealed in forming gas, however, deviate from this trend. Their crystallinity decreases for increased annealing time. Furthermore, we observe a decrease in the mean nanocrystal size and the size distribution broadens, indicating that hydrogen causes a size reduction of the silicon nanocrystals.@en

Optical and electrical properties of hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si:H) solar cells are strongly influenced by the morphology of underlying substrates. By texturing the substrates, the photogenerated current of nc-Si:H solar cells can increase due to enhanced light scattering. These textured substrates are, however, often incompatible with defect-less nc-Si:H growth resulting in lower Voc and FF. In this study we investigate the correlation between the substrate morphology, the nc-Si:H solar-cell performance, and the defect density in the intrinsic layer of the solar cells (i-nc-Si:H). Statistical surface parameters representing the substrate morphology do not show a strong correlation with the solar-cell parameters. Thus, we first quantify the line density of potentially defective valleys of randomly textured ZnO substrates where the opening angle is smaller than 130° (ρ<130). This ρ<130 is subsequently compared with the solar-cell performance and the defect density of i-nc-Si:H (ρdefect), which is obtained by fitting external photovoltaic parameters from experimental results and simulations. We confirm that when ρ<130 increases the Voc and FF significantly drops. It is also observed that ρdefect increases following a power law dependence of ρ<130. This result is attributed to more frequently formed defective regions for substrates having higher ρ<130.@en

This work studies the dependency of the effective lifetime on the a-Si:H layer thickness of c-Si substrates passivated with intrinsic a-Si:H. This is experimentally investigated by using a soft wet-etching method that enables accurate control of the a-Si:H layer thickness. In this way, variations in the effective lifetime down to thicknesses of a few nanometers are studied, while excluding effects originating from the deposition conditions of a-Si:H when samples of different thicknesses are fabricated. For thin passivation layers, results show a strong thickness dependency of the effective lifetime, which is mainly influenced by the recombination at the external a-Si:H surfaces. For thicker passivation layers, the effective lifetime is predominantly determined by the bulk a-Si:H and/or c-Si defect density. During the etching of the a-Si:H passivation layers, a gradient in the Cody gap for our samples is observed. This gradient is accompanied by a stronger decrease in the effective lifetime and is attributed to a decrease in the a-Si:H band gap and valence band offset. The observed changes in lifetime with a-Si:H layer thickness are supported with AFORS-HET simulations. When a gradient in the a-Si:H passivation layer band gap is used, simulations can reproduce the experimental results.@en

We demonstrate an analytical method to optimize the stoichiometry and thickness of multilayer silicon oxide films in order to achieve the highest density of non-touching and closely spaced silicon nanocrystals after annealing. The probability of a nanocrystal nearest-neighbor distance within a limited range is calculated using the stoichiometry of the as-deposited film and the crystallinity of the annealed film as input parameters. Multiplying this probability with the nanocrystal density results in the density of non-touching and closely spaced silicon nanocrystals. This method can be used to estimate the best as-deposited stoichiometry in order to achieve optimal nanocrystal density and spacing after a subsequent annealing step.@en

A major limitation in current liquid phase crystallized (LPC) silicon thin-film record solar cells are optical losses caused by their planar glass-silicon interface. In this study, silicon is grown on nanoimprinted periodically as well as on randomly textured glass substrates and successfully implemented into state-of-the-art LPC silicon thin-film solar cell stacks. By systematically varying every layer the whole sample stack is optimized regarding its anti-reflection ability. Compared to an optimized planar reference device, a reduction of reflection losses by -3.5% (absolute) on the random and by -9.4% (absolute) on the periodic texture has been achieved in the wavelength range of interest.

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We present a non-destructive measurement and simple analysis method for obtaining the absorption coefficient of silicon nanocrystals (NCs) embedded in an amorphous matrix. This method enables us to pinpoint the contribution of silicon NCs to the absorption spectrum of NC containing films. The density of states (DOS) of the amorphous matrix is modelled using the standard model for amorphous silicon while the NCs are modelled using one Gaussian distribution for the occupied states and one for the unoccupied states. For laser annealed a-Si0.66O0.34:H films, our analysis shows a reduction of the NC band gap from approximately 2.34–2.08 eV indicating larger mean NC size for increasing annealing laser fluences, accompanied by a reduction in NC DOS distribution width from 0.28–0.26 eV, indicating a narrower size distribution.@en