Yang, XinboAydin, ErkanXu, HangKang, JingxuanHedhili, MohamedLiu, WenzhuWan, YimaoPeng, JunSamundsett, ChristianCuevas, AndresDe Wolf, Stefaan2020-05-181614-6840http://hdl.handle.net/1885/204400Minimizing carrier recombination at contact regions by using carrier-selective contact materials, instead of heavily doping the silicon, has attracted considerable attention for high-efficiency, low-cost crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cells. A novel electron-selective, passivating contact for c-Si solar cells is presented. Tantalum nitride (TaN x) thin films deposited by atomic layer deposition are demonstrated to provide excellent electron-transporting and hole-blocking properties to the silicon surface, due to their small conduction band offset and large valence band offset. Thin TaNx interlayers provide moderate passivation of the silicon surfaces while simultaneously allowing a low contact resistivity to n-type silicon. A power conversion efficiency (PCE) of over 20% is demonstrated with c-Si solar cells featuring a simple full-area electron-selective TaNx contact, which significantly improves the fill factor and the open circuit voltage (Voc) and hence provides the higher PCE. The work opens up the possibility of using metal nitrides, instead of metal oxides, as carrier-selective contacts or electron transport layers for photovoltaic devices.The work presented in this publication was supported by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), through the Competitive Research Grant. Research performed at the Australian National University was supported by the Australian Government through the Australian Research Council (Discovery Project: DP150104331).application/pdfen-AU© 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim201810.1002/aenm.2018006082019-12-19