Alternative Rear Surface Passivation for Industrial Cell Production

Abstract

A new PECVD double layer stack for surface passivation is presented in this work. It consists of a thin surface film of hydrogenated, silicon rich oxynitride (a-SiOXNY:H) and a hydrogenated silicon nitride layer (a-SiNX:H). This system provides an excellent surface passivation (till Seff < 1 cm/s) and is easily deposited by an industrial type inline PECVD-system with a high throughput. It’s activated by a short temperature step, which could be a firing step for screen printed contacts. The passivation quality can even be upgraded by illumination.