Evaluation of Spin-Coated Alumina Passivation Layer for Point-Contacted Rear Electrode Passivation of Silicon Solar Cells

Abstract

We fabricated silicon solar cells with spin-coated sol-gel alumina passivation layers on the rear side. Spin-coated alumina passivation films have moderate passivation quality and are inferior to atomic layer deposited passivation films. However, low-cost and low temperature process of the sol-gel deposition is still beneficial for the cells using commercially available Cz silicon wafers. Thus, we consider an applicability of the spin-coated alumina passivation layer for rear side passivation. Dependence of cell efficiency on contact spacing and contact diameter of a rear electrode was investigated by both experiments and numerical calculation. The experimental results indicated that conversion efficiency of the cell is enhanced from 9.1% to 11.1% by optimizing an aperture ratio and contact spacing of the rear passivation layers. Numerical calculation indicated that small contact diameter with low aperture ratio of a rear passivation layer is preferable to achieve good cell performance in our experimental condition. We confirmed the effectivity of the spin-coated alumina passivation films for rear surface passivation of the low-cost silicon solar cells.