Novel Hole Selective CrO x Contact for Dopant-free Back Contact Silicon Solar Cells

Abstract The dopant-free back contact solar cells are demonstrated based on hole selective contact material, chromium trioxide (CrO x , x  x is first applied in silicon based solar cell as the emitter. Integrating 5 nm CrO x and 2 nm LiF x into solar cell as the emitter and the back surface filed, resulted in a device efficiency of 13.6%. For further improvement, the back contact solar cell reaching an efficiency of 15.8% was fabricated, by implementing the multilayer films of CrO x (5 nm)/Au (4 nm)/ CrO x (5 nm) as the emitter. The formation of Cr(OH) 3 in ambient condition, resulted in a lower work function (4.8 eV) of the CrO x film. Furthermore, the multilayer back contact solar cell demonstrated a high stability due to CrO x covered with 500 nm Ag, when stored in ambient air longer than 170 days.