Abstract
Light- and elevated temperature-induced degradation (LeTID) can have a severe impact on the carrier lifetime of silicon substrates used in solar cell production and thus remains a crucial challenge for manufacturers. In this work, we introduce a two-step annealing process to mitigate LeTID in multi-crystalline silicon (mc-Si) passivated emitter and rear cell (PERC) solar cells. We demonstrate that the first annealing step (450 °C) with a slow belt speed (0.5 m/min) plays a primary role in mitigating LeTID in the cells, but also results in an increase in contact resistance. The application of a second annealing step at a similar temperature (400–500 °C) with a faster belt speed (1.4 m/min) recovers the contact resistance whilst maintaining the stability of the cell. Applying this approach to the p-type mc-Si PERC solar cells resulted in a reduction of efficiency loss during light soaking from ~6%rel (control) to ~1%rel (treated sample). This finding is significant for p-type mc-Si solar cell manufacturers, as the process can be applied to finished cells using a standard belt firing furnace to stabilise cell efficiency for long term operation in the field.
Published Version
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