Efficiency gain in plated bifacial n-type PERT cells by means of a selective emitter approach using selective epitaxy

This work evaluates the potential of selective epitaxy to mitigate the recombination losses at the p-type contact regions of plated bifacial n-type PERT cells. Following the growth of a 500 nm, 2.5 10(19) cm(-3) boron doped epitaxial layer at the emitter contact regions defined by laser ablation of the passivating dielectrics, both an increase in V-oc (+6 mV) and FF (+ 1% absolute) are measured in the final cells compared to the reference with a homogeneous diffused emitter. These results come with an average efficiency gain of 0.3 and 0.5% absolute for front and rear side illumination, respectively. If the diffused, blanket emitter in the passivated regions is replaced by a thicker, lowly doped epitaxial profile (3 mu m, 5 10(18) cm(-3)) to further reduce recombination, an additional rise in implied V-oc after metallization of 10 mV is estimated. This increase would be the result of a reduction in J(0,pass, emitter) (down to 6 fA/cm(2)) and J(0,plated, emitter) (down to 1967 fA/cm(2)).