Stability of industrial gallium-doped Czochralski silicon PERC cells and wafers

The carrier lifetime stability of gallium-doped silicon wafers and performance stability of industrial PERC solar cells produced from sister wafers were investigated under four different illumination conditions and temperatures. The seven investigated materials feature a resistivity variation of 0.4...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Solar energy materials and solar cells Vol. 266; p. 112645
Main Authors:	Niewelt, T., Maischner, F., Kwapil, W., Khorani, E., Pain, S.L., Jung, Y., Hopkins, E.C.B., Frosch, M., Altermatt, P.P., Guo, H., Wang, Y.C., Grant, N.E., Murphy, J.D.
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Elsevier B.V 01-03-2024
Online Access:	Get full text
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Summary:	The carrier lifetime stability of gallium-doped silicon wafers and performance stability of industrial PERC solar cells produced from sister wafers were investigated under four different illumination conditions and temperatures. The seven investigated materials feature a resistivity variation of 0.4–1.0 Ωcm and lifetime samples were processed to create high hydrogen content (with PECVD SiNx) or low hydrogen content (with ALD Al2O3 or HfO2). Our results confirm that the material itself is prone to light and elevated temperature induced degradation (LeTID), however experiments on PERC cells produced utilising the same silicon material indicate that the production process can successfully suppress LeTID. In contrast to earlier studies, we observe only small levels of degradation at the cell level, with some showing an improvement in cell parameters under LeTID testing conditions. Our results indicate that LeTID is not necessarily a major issue for the performance of modern passivated emitter and rear cells made from gallium-doped silicon substrates. •Different LeTID stability tests applied to passivated wafers and PERC cells.•LeTID was found to occur on Ga-doped Czochralski Si wafers.•Dark annealing did not activate LeTID defects in Ga-doped Czochralski Si wafers.•In contrast to earlier generations, the investigated Ga-PERC cells did not exhibit LeTID.
ISSN:	0927-0248 1879-3398
DOI:	10.1016/j.solmat.2023.112645