H+ passivation of poly-si solar cells processed by different annealing processes

Abstract

The effects of different annealing processes on the photovoltaic (PV) properties and the spectral response as well as minority carrier lifetime in the bulk of unanalyzed PF5 ion implantation poly-Si solar cells were investigated. The different hydrogen passivation effects of defects in poly-Si induced by three heat treatment processes are reported. We used RTA-rapid thermal annealing, YAG pulse laser annealing and CTSA-classical three-step annealing for this study. The results show that cells processed by RTA (800°C, 4 sec) achieved the best PV properties and spectral response among all annealed samples. Under this precess condition, no or few defects were induced in bulk. While RTA (>-850°C for 4 sec), CTSA as well as YAG laser processes induced defects of different nature and concentration in the bulk of cells. It is further shown that hydrogen ion implantation significantly improved, the performances of poly-Si cells. It is able to efficiently remove the YAG laser induced defects in bulk. However, it cannot completely passivate the defects induced by CTSA and RTA processes.