Upgraded metallurgical-grade silicon solar cells with efficiency above 20%

Abstract

We present solar cells fabricated with n-type Czochralski–silicon wafers grown with strongly compensated 100% upgraded metallurgical-grade feedstock, with efficiencies above 20%. The cells have a passivated boron-diffused front surface, and a rear locally phosphorus-diffused structure fabricated using an etch-back process. The local heavy phosphorus diffusion on the rear helps to maintain a high bulk lifetime in the substrates via phosphorus gettering, whilst also reducing recombination under the rear-side metal contacts. The independently measured results yield a peak efficiency of 20.9% for the best upgraded metallurgical-grade silicon cell and 21.9% for a control device made with electronic-grade float-zone silicon. The presence of boron-oxygen related defects in the cells is also investigated, and we confirm that these defects can be partially deactivated permanently by annealing under illumination.