Liquid-phase-deposited siloxane-based capping layers for silicon solar cells

We apply non-vacuum processing to deposit dielectric capping layers on top of ultrathin atomic-layer-deposited aluminum oxide (AlOx) films, used for the rear surface passivation of high-efficiency crystalline silicon solar cells. We examine various siloxane-based liquid-phase-deposited (LPD) materials. Our optimized AlOx/LPD stacks show an excellent thermal and chemical stability against aluminum metal paste, as demonstrated by measured surface recombination velocities below 10 cm/s on 1.3 Ωcm p-type silicon wafers after firing in a belt-line furnace with screen-printed aluminum paste on top. Implementation of the optimized LPD layers into an industrial-type screen-printing solar cell process results in energy conversion efficiencies of up to 19.8% on p-type Czochralski silicon.