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Energy Procedia 27 (2012) 543 – 548

SiliconPV: April 03-05, 2012, Leuven, Belgium

Simplified interdigitated back contact solar cells

C.E. Chan *, B.J. Hallam, S.R. Wenham
a

School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052

Abstract

In this work, the fabrication of an interdigitated back contact solar cell is investigated on p-type Czochralski
silicon wafers using a novel laser doping approach to form both polarities of rear contacts. Using only one
conventional thermal diffusion which forms the n+ active emitter on the rear and n+ floating emitter on the front of
the device, implied open circuit voltages exceeding 690 mV have been achieved on partly processed devices prior to
metallisation, with virtually full-area emitter coverage and both polarities of contacts formed, indicating the potential
of this structure for achieving high efficiencies with a simple process. Severe shunting post-metallisation due to the
poor electrical isolation properties of the rear surface passivation layer currently limits the final device voltage to
625 mV. Further investigations must be undertaken in order to minimise the parasitic shunting effect and maintain a
high open circuit voltage post-metallisation.

©© 2012
2012Published
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Openconference
access under CC BY-NC-ND license.

Keywords: Solar cells; interdigitated back contacts; laser doping

1. Introduction

Interdigitated back contact (IBC) solar cells offer numerous advantages over conventional solar cells
including significant improvement in short circuit current achieved from zero shading loss; simpler
interconnection techniques and a higher packing density [1]; improved aesthetics; lower resistive losses
and consequently higher efficiencies [2]. Despite these advantages, the complexities in the processing
required to achieve such structures are often too costly for commercial production with typically two or
more high temperature diffusion steps being required. For example, a processing sequence for a rear
contacted rear junction cell can often include at a minimum: 1) rear emitter diffusion, 2) FSF diffusion
and 3) rear base diffusion [3-5]. There are numerous disadvantages associated with multiple high

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +61 2 9385 6053; fax: +61 2 9385 7212
E-mail address: catherine.chan@unsw.edu.au

1876-6102 © 2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the
SiliconPV 2012 conference. Open access under CC BY-NC-ND license.
doi:10.1016/j.egypro.2012.07.107
544 C.E. Chan et al. / Energy Procedia 27 (2012) 543 – 548

temperature processing steps including: increased processing time; high costs; increased potential for
introducing contaminants; and degradation in bulk lifetime, particularly when using lower quality
substrates which are emerging onto the market. Moreover, one or more of these diffusions is performed
through a diffusion mask, such as silicon dioxide, which needs to be grown at high temperatures and
patterned using methods such as photolithography, laser ablation or inkjet printing.
Laser doping has the potential to drastically simplify the processing sequence for rear contact solar
cells as it can simultaneously pattern a dielectric layer and form heavily doped regions in the underlying
silicon. The manufacture of laser doped selective emitter solar cells (LDSE) has already been shown to be
achievable in a commercial environment [6, 7] and record cell results have recently been achieved by
UNSW in industrial environments [8, 9]. However, little work has previously been done on laser doping
through an emitter of opposite polarity.
Recently, the authors of this work have demonstrated the formation of deep laser doped regions with
junctions extending more than 10 μm into the wafer, as shown in Figure 1(a) [10]. The formation of such
deep molten regions allows an existing doped surface layer (such as an n-type emitter) to be smeared out
so that its dopant concentration is substantially reduced. At the same time, p-type dopants present in a
dopant film on the surface of the wafer can be incorporated into the molten region. By controlling the
concentration of dopants within the molten region as well as the heating and cooling regime, the authors
have shown that it is possible to fully overcompensate the n-type emitter and form a direct contact to the
buried p-type base material as shown in Figure 1(b) [10]. The applicability of this process to solar cells
and ability to avoid junction tunneling between the n-type emitter and p-type compensated laser doped
contacts has been investigated by the authors [11], with the finding that low dark saturation currents are
introduced by the laser doping step and a high implied Voc can therefore be maintained after the formation
of these contacts, without the need for isolation between the n+ emitter and p++ laser doped contact region.

Wafer surface
Wafer surface
SiN Opening in SiON
n-type n-type SiN Opening in SiON
emitter emitter

Laser doped
Junction region (n-type) Junction Laser doped
p-type base
p-type base region (p-type)

Fig. 1. Combined SEM/EBIC image of the cross section of (a) an n-type laser doped line and (b) a p-type laser doped line, both
processed at 0.2 m/s on a p-type wafer with a thermally diffused phosphorus emitter at the surface [10]. The location of the junction
is indicated by the bright regions

In this work, we investigate the fabrication of a laser doped IBC (LD-IBC) solar cell using this laser
doping technique to form both polarities of contacts.

2. Processing sequence

Standard commercial grade 1 Ω.cm p-type CZ wafers were used in this work. For simplicity, planar
 C.E. Chan et al. / Energy Procedia 27 (2012) 543 – 548 545

wafers were used with no texturing on the front surface, with the initial aim of achieving high open circuit
voltages as proof of concept. Future work will focus on optimising the optics for current collection. The
process flow is shown schematically in Figure 2.
Wafers were saw damage etched in NaOH solution to a thickness of 150 μm. Following a full RCA
clean and HF dip, wafers were thermally diffused at 860 °C via solid source phosphorus diffusion in a
back-to-back arrangement to obtain a final active emitter sheet resistivity of 150 Ω/ on the rear (non-
light receiving) side of the device and approximately 1000 Ω/ floating emitter on the front (light
receiving) side of the device. Wafers then underwent an additional HF dip to remove PSG prior to
PECVD SiON deposition on both sides.
For the laser doping, firstly, a commercially available boron spin on dopant source was spun onto the
wafer at 2000 rpm for 40 seconds and baked at 130 °C for 10 mins. A high powered 532 nm wavelength
laser with scanning optics was then scanned over the wafer to form p-type laser doped lines penetrating
through the n-type emitter on a pitch of 1 mm. Following a rinse-off of the p-type dopant source,
phosphoric acid (85% concentration) was spun onto the wafer as an n-type dopant source. The same laser
was used to scan over the wafer to form n-type laser doped lines on a 1mm pitch in an interdigitated
pattern (resulting in a spacing of 0.5 mm between contacts of opposite polarity). After removal of residual
phosphoric acid, wafers were then annealed at 400 °C for 15 minutes in nitrogen ambient followed by a
30 second HF dip to deglaze the laser doped lines. Metal contacts were formed via thermal evaporation of
aluminium. Finally, cells were sintered in nitrogen ambient at 300 °C for 5 minutes to reduce contact
resistance. The final device structure is shown schematically in Figure 3.

Solid source P
Laser doping of p-
Saw damage removal diffusion (back to PECVD SiON on
type and then n-
+ cleaning back) at 860 °C + both sides
type lines
PSG removal

Anneal at 400 °C
for 15 mins Thermal aluminium
Sinter at 300 °C for
followed by evaporation to form
metal contacts 5 mins
deglaze of LD lines

Fig. 2. Process flow for LD-IBC solar cell

SiON (75 nm)

n-type front floating junction
(1000 ohm/sq)
p-type CZ bulk (1 Ohm-cm)
n-type rear emitter (150 Ohm/sq)
SiON (200 nm)
Aluminium

Fig. 3. Structure of the LD-IBC solar cell

546 C.E. Chan et al. / Energy Procedia 27 (2012) 543 – 548

Quasi-steady-state photoconductance (QSS-PC) was used to determine the implied 1-sun open circuit
voltage (iVoc) at three stages of processing: 1. after PECVD deposition, 2. after laser doping, and 3. after
annealing.

3. Results

High implied open circuit voltages of over 690 mV were obtained on partly-processed devices prior to
metallisation, demonstrating the ability for both polarities of contacts to be formed using laser doping
with minimal defect formation or parasitic shunting between contact polarities being induced. This shows
the potential of the process to achieve high-efficiency devices provided this voltage can be maintained
after metallisation. However, after metallisation, severe shunting between the n- and p-type silicon occurs
where n-type silicon is exposed around the perimeter of the p-type laser doped lines where the dielectric
layer is damaged, as shown in Figure 4(a) and (b). This reduces the final Voc to 625 mV and efficiency to
14.5%. The light J-V curve of the LD-IBC cell is shown in Figure 5. Note that the front surface is planar
with high reflectance, resulting in low currents.
As can be seen in Figure 1(b), the deep lateral diffusion of the p-type dopants should extend
underneath this partially ablated dielectric region. However, optimisation of laser parameters to
encourage deeper lateral diffusion extending beyond the damaged region could help minimise the
shunting. Alternatively, the use of dielectric layers with a higher melting point or alternative laser beam
profiles such as a top-hat beam could be investigated to reduce shunting by reducing the risk of partially
ablating and forming pinholes in the dielectric layer.

Table 1. One-sun implied open circuit voltages at each stage of processing and final open circuit voltage

Stage of processing iVoc (mV)

After PECVD 699
After laser doping 675
After anneal 692
After metallisation and sinter 625 (Voc)

(a) (b)
Shunt path

p++
n+
SiON
Al

Fig. 4. (a) Microscope image of p-type laser doped line with partially ablated dielectric layer around the edge of the line and (b)
schematic of shunt path through partially ablated dielectric
 C.E. Chan et al. / Energy Procedia 27 (2012) 543 – 548 547

Fig. 5. Light J-V curve of LD-IBC cell

4. Conclusion

A simple method for fabricating IBC solar cells has been demonstrated in which only one high
temperature process is required. Patterning of the rear dielectric layer and heavy doping of the underlying
silicon is performed simultaneously in a single laser doping step for each polarity of contact, eliminating
the need for any further conventional high temperature diffusion steps after the initial emitter diffusion.
For the p-type contact, laser parameters are selected such that the n-type emitter is locally over-
compensated by p-type dopants, forming direct contact to the base. Virtually full emitter coverage can be
maintained in this process, eliminating any electrical shading normally present in IBC solar cells caused
by recombination above the base diffusion. This can enhance carrier collection and thereby relax the
constraints placed on wafer quality in contrast to the tight constraints required by cell technologies which
have only partial emitter coverage. The LD-IBC cell is capable of achieving very high implied open
circuit voltages of 690 mV prior to metallization. Shunting post-metallisation limits the cell efficiency to
14.5 %, and future work must focus on achieving good electrical isolation between the n-type emitter and
the p-type contacts to maintain high shunt resistance.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the support of Tom Puzzer and the staff at the UNSW
Electron Microscope Unit, a division of the Australian Microscope and Microanalysis Research Facility
(AMMRF) for the assistance with the SEM and EBIC images produced in this work. The support of the
Australian Solar Institute and Suntech are also acknowledged.

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