Implementation of full-area-deposited electron-selective TiOx layers into silicon solar cells

We examine two different silicon solar cell designs featuring full-area electron-selective contacts based on ultrathin (2–3 nm) titanium oxide (TiOx) films deposited by atomic layer deposition. The first cell design applies a layer stack to the cell front, which is composed of an ultrathin intrinsic amorphous silicon (i-a-Si:H) layer for interface passivation, the TiOx film and an indium tin oxide (ITO) layer to provide a good lateral conductance for electrons to the metal fingers. Whereas carrier lifetime measurements on test structures promise high implied open-circuit voltages Voc up to 726 mV, the realized solar cells achieve disappointingly low Voc values <400 mV. The J-V parameters of this cell type are negatively affected by a reverse diode occurring due to the contacting of the TiOx by the high-work function ITO layer. In the second cell type, we implement a layer stack to the cell rear, which is composed of an ultrathin silicon oxide (SiOy) layer, the TiOx film and a full-area-deposited aluminum (Al) layer. Initial Voc values of these cells are relatively low (<600 mV), but improve significantly after annealing at 350°C. The best cell featuring a SiOy/TiOx/Al rear contact achieves an open-circuit voltage of 661 mV and an efficiency of 20.3%. No reverse diode is observed, which is attributed to the lower work function of the Al compared to ITO in the first cell design. From internal quantum efficiency measurements, we extract a rear surface recombination velocity Srear of (52±20) cm/s for our best cell, which is well compatible with efficiencies exceeding 23%.