Impact of Texture Height and Ozone-Based Rounding on Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cells Performance

Abstract

In this study, the effect of ozone-based rounding was investigated for three random-pyramid texture height ranges for Silicon Heterojunction (SHJ) at the cell and module levels. In a first experiment, 5 ozone-based rounding process times (0, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 minutes) were applied to two texture-height ranges (Small and Medium) to observe variations in the reflection response of the wafers. In a second experiment, 3 ozone-based rounding treatment times (0, 2 and 6 minutes) were applied to three texture-height ranges (Small, Medium and Large) and to observe the results both on the cell and on the module levels. The first experiment has shown that ozone-based rounding increases reflection and has a more pronounced effect for smaller than larger sized texture-heights. An increase in the minimum wavelength of reflection is seen after the Transparent Conductive Oxide (TCO) deposition, indicating that shorter deposition times can be used. The results of the second experiment show that, even though the Short-Circuit Current (Jsc) decreases for the three textures with rounding time, it is compensated by an increase in the pseudo-Fill-Factor (pFF). A maximum is seen at the cell level for 2 minutes of rounding for the small and large texture sizes, but which is leveled at the module. In conclusion, these results indicate that 2 minutes of ozone-based rounding can be beneficial for the cell’s final efficiency as the improvement in passivation still compensates the optical losses resulting in a lower J_sc.