Title:	Development and Characterization of Silicon-Rich Nitride Layers for Silicon Solar Cell Passivating Contacts
Author(s):	R. Sharma, H. Sivaramakrishnan Radhakrishnan, M. Recamán Payo, J. Poortmans
Keywords:	Silicon-Rich-Nitride, Passivating Contact, silicon (Si) solar cell
Topic:	Silicon Materials and Cells
Subtopic:	Heterojunction Solar Cells
Event:	36th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition
Session:	2DV.1.71
Pages:	580 - 585
ISBN:	3-936338-60-4
Paper DOI:	10.4229/EUPVSEC20192019-2DV.1.71
Price:	0,00 EUR
Document(s):	paper

Abstract/Summary:

---

Silicon-rich nitride (SRN) is explored as an alternative to poly-Si for use in poly-Si/SiOx type passivating contact for silicon solar cells. We show that by incorporating nitrogen in silicon films during deposition by PECVD, it is possible to achieve high bandgap silicon-rich films, which are also highly blister-resistant. Micro-structural characterization of the SRN films revealed Si crystallite formation upon annealing the films at 950 °C. We also show that excellent surface passivation of n-type Cz Si wafers, can be achieved after FGA by using SRN on top of thin (1.4 nm) SiOx even without using any intentional doping. However, passivation quality of the SRN-on-SiOx stack after the crystallisation anneal at 950 °C and FGA treatment exhibits severe degradation. Nevertheless, effective lifetimes above 1 ms at an injection level of 1015 cm-3 can be achieved. Moreover, a SRN layer thickness-dependent behavior of passivation was observed.