BACKSIDE ALUMINISATION EFFECTS ON SOLAR-CELL PERFORMANCE

In this work the effect of the back surface field (BSF) formation by h igh temperature treatment of backside aluminisation was analysed in si licon solar cells. Systematic I-V and spectral response (SR) character isation shows an obviously superior performance of Al-diffused cells e specially in the red near infrared region compared to those with conve ntional boron BSF. These findings along with the result of the perform ed XTEM, NRA (Resonance Nuclear Reaction Analysis), SIMS, and ECV (Ele ctrochemical CV) analyses on the backside layer structure lead to the conclusion that the main contribution to the improvement, relative to the conventional reference sample, is the minority carrier lifetime en hancement by gettering effect in the Al-diffusion tail and the improve d light trapping by backside roughening. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd . All rights reserved.