The diffusion of phosphorus and aluminum in a single-step thermal process may reduce the production cost of multicrystalline silicon (mc-Si) solar cells. The goal of this paper is to analyze the influence of phosphorus diffusion parameters on the electrical characteristics of p-type mc-Si solar cells processed with a single-step diffusion of phosphorus and aluminum. To avoid the wafer bowing during aluminum paste firing, the aluminum was deposited by e-beam and co-diffused in the same thermal step that the phosphorus diffusion. First, the aluminum diffusion was performed and, then, the POCl3 was introduced into the quartz tube. The steps of the phosphorus diffusion were experimentally optimized. The best result was found with the temperature of 875 ºC. The POCl3 concentration of 0.15 % and the optimized phosphorus diffusion parameters lead to the efficiency of 14.1%. The reduction of the oxygen flow during ramp temperature and aluminum diffusion improved the efficiency.

The goal of this paper is to present the development and comparison of p-type multicrystalline silicon solar cells with screen printed metallization. Industrial processes were developed to manufacture the n+pn+and n+pp+ solar cells. The n+pn+ structure was obtained with single phosphorus diffusion. The n+pp+ solar cell was developed and the p+ region was optimized experimentally by using one single high temperature step for phosphorus and aluminum diffusion. The results showed that the average efficiency of n+pn+ solar cells with no texturing was 12.3%. The efficiency increased 1.5% (absolute) with the implementation of acidic solution texturing. The highest efficiency achieved for solar cell without (n+pn+) and with (n+pp+) back surface field (BSF) was 13.8% and 14.1%, respectively. The BSF does not result in a significant improvement in the efficiency when the diffusion is carried out in a single step thermal diffusion in industrial process with screen printed metallization.

O crescimento do mercado de células solares e a necessidade de substratos de menor custo tornam o silício multicristalino a principal alternativa para a fabricação de tais células. O objetivo desse artigo é apresentar o desenvolvimento de um processo industrial para fabricação de células solares em silício multicristalino com somente uma difusão de fósforo e metalização por serigrafia. Por meio de simulações, foram otimizados o emissor n+ e a malha de metalização. Também foram analisadas a influência da largura das trilhas e a influência do tempo de vida dos minoritários. Experimentalmente, foi avaliada a influência do processo de queima das pastas de metalização. De acordo com as simulações, o valor da resistência de folha deve ser maior que 50 Ω/□, para que a eficiência não diminua. Também se concluiu que a eficiência diminui de 0,3% a 0,5%, quando a largura das trilhas da malha de metalização é dobrada. Dos resultados experimentais, constatou-se que a temperatura de queima das pastas de metalização afeta, concretamente, a eficiência. A maior eficiência alcançada foi de 11,5%, para a temperatura de queima de 860°C.

The market growth and the need of low cost materials make multicrystalline silicon the main alternative for the solar cell industry. The goal of this article is to present the development of an industrial process for manufacturing multicrystalline silicon solar cells by using only one phosphorus diffusion and screen printing metallization. The n+ emitter and the metallic grid were optimized through simulations and the influence of the width of the metal fingers and the bulk minority carrier lifetime were also analyzed. The influence of the firing conditions of the metal pastes was experimentally studied. According to the results obtained from the simulations, the value of the sheet resistance must be greater than 50 Ω/□ in order to maintain the efficiency of the solar cells. We also concluded that the efficiency decreases from 0.3% to 0.5% when the width of the metal fingers is doubled. From experimental results, it was found that the firing temperature of metallization pastes significantly affects efficiency. The highest efficiency achieved was 11.5% for a firing temperature of 860°C.