Co-Diffusion Processing of p+/n/n+ Structure for n-Type Silicon Solar Cells Using Boron Doped Paper Sheets

In this work we designed, fabricated and assessed a p(+)/n/n(+) structure which constitute the basis and the core part of the n-type silicon solar cells. The process of fabrication is based on the co-diffusion of pre-deposited phosphorus and boron. It consists of carrying out simultaneously in one single high temperature step the diffusion of both boron and phosphorus of the p(+) emitter and pre-deposited n(+)- back surface field (BSF), respectively. The first step was the pre-formation of the n(+)-BSF in a POCl3 furnace system. After depositing the silicon nitride film onto the wafers rear side as a diffusion barrier to protect them from being boron doped, the wafers underwent an alkaline bath to etch the phosphorus layer of the front side. Onto this latter we used a boron source paper sheets to create a p(+) emitter (preform source) simultaneously with n(+)-BSF drive-in step. This co-diffusion process was carried out at a temperature of 930 degrees C in a quartz tube devoted to this purpose. The resulting structure has a sheet resistance of 49 omega/ and 39 omega/ for emitter and BSF, respectively, corresponding to junction depths of 0.40 mu m and 0.55 mu m. The dopants surface concentrations are of 1.14 E20 atoms. cm(-3) and 6.20 E19 atoms. cm(-3) for emitter and BSF, respectively. This p(+)/n/n(+) structure was used to fabricate solar cells after passivating the emitter and screen printing the front and rear side metallic contacts. A short circuit current density of 31.60 mA/cm(2), an open circuit voltage of 555 mV and an efficiency of 10.70% was measured indicating that our non-optimized fabrication process and the resultant device is viable.

Automated summary

In this work, a p(+)/n/n(+) structure was designed, fabricated and assessed as the core part of n-type silicon solar cells. The fabrication process involved the co-diffusion of pre-deposited phosphorus and boron, resulting in a structure with promising electrical performance and efficiency.