Minority‐carrier mobility anomalies in low‐resistivity silicon solar cells

Measurement of the minority‐carrier mobility in the base region of the high‐voltage metal‐insulator‐N‐P solar cell, as well as in other 0.1 Ω cm cells, provides direct proof that the high voltages measured for that cell are due not only to improved emitter characteristics but to an improved base region as well. The base characteristics are shown to be quite sensitive to the effects of diffusion induced lattice stress originating in the emitter. The implications of these findings with regard to the fabrication of high efficiency cells are discussed.