Doctorandus/a PhD student
Partners
Promotor / Supervisor
- Prof. dr. ir. Robert Pierre Mertens (promotor)
- Prof. dr. ir. Jozef Poortmans (mede-promotor)
Samenvatting van het onderzoek / Summary of Research
In this thesis, a concrete type of solar cells using silicon as material, called i-PERC, is investigated. This type of cell features at the rear side a stack of dielectrics as a passivation layer which is pre-openedin order to allow the subsequent metallization step. While in industry,the cells normally fabricated have a full contacted area on their rear side, the i-PERC has these contacts only locally and distributed over the cell area. The aim of this work is to understand the formation of ahighly doped region around the locally contacted back side, and its benefits over the one created for the full contacted area. For the firsttime for this technology, the in-situ formation of the local contacts has been analyzed and recorded by a heating stage, aiming to mimic the high temperature process that is used to melt the Al layer applied on the cells. It has been seen that Si dissolution in Al plays an important role in the formation of the contacts, as it affects key parameters of the cells. Changes in contact pitch, firing temperature and profile, Al thickness and composition are studied for these i-PERC cells. At the end, the rear reflectance loss mechanisms are also investigated by altering the dielectric layers used for passivation, together with the study of the effect of Si incorporation during the firing step, showing that this Si presence at the back side is the main responsible for the loss observed.
Volledige tekst van het doctoraat / full text
Examencommissie / Board of examiners
- Prof. dr. ir. Robert Pierre Mertens (promotor)
- Prof. dr. ir. Jozef Poortmans (mede-promotor)
- Prof. dr. ir. Herman Neuckermans (voorzitter/chairman)
- Prof. dr. ir. Johan Driesen (secretaris/secretary)
- Prof. dr. Andre Stesmans
- Prof. dr. Corneel Claeys
- Dr. Joachim John , IMEC
- Dr. Daniel Biro , Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE