Impact of defect type on hydrogen passivation effectiveness in multicrystalline silicon solar cells

M.I. Bertoni, S. Hudelson, B.K. Newman, S. Bernardis, D.P. Fenning, H.F.W. Dekkers, E. Cornagliotti, A. Zuschlag, G. Micard, G. Hahn, G. Coletti, B. Lai (+1 others)
2010 2010 35th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference  
In this work we examine the effectiveness of hydrogen passivation at grain boundaries as a function of defect type and microstructure in multicrystalline silicon. We analyze a specially prepared solar cell with alternating mm-wide bare and SiNx-coated stripes using laser beaminduced current (LBIC), electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD), synchrotron-based X-ray fluorescence microscopy (µ-XRF), and defect etching to correlate preand post-hydrogenation recombination activity with grain boundary
more » ... haracter, density of iron-silicide nanoprecipitates, and dislocations. This study reveals that the microstructure of boundaries that passivate well and those that do not differ mostly in the character of the dislocations along the grain boundary, while iron silicide precipitates along the grain boundaries (above detection limits) were found to play a less significant role.
doi:10.1109/pvsc.2010.5616904 fatcat:b5pc7nsfmbgcnhjij6ri52ftmq