Reduction of grain boundary recombination in polycrystalline silicon solar cells
- 1 April 1977
- journal article
- research article
- Published by AIP Publishing in Applied Physics Letters
- Vol. 30 (7) , 351-353
- https://doi.org/10.1063/1.89396
Abstract
The possibility of increasing the carrier collection efficiency in polycrystalline silicon by means of a heavily doped region near the grain boundaries is investigated. Phosphorous dopant is preferentially introduced into the grain boundaries of p‐type material by a low‐temperature diffusion process. A subsequent high‐temperature diffusion forms a highly n‐doped skin covering each grain. The resulting junction around each grain surface collects electrons which might otherwise recombine at the grain boundaries. This grain boundary doping scheme makes possible an increase in the conversion efficiency of polycrystalline silicon solar cells in which the grain structure is columnar.Keywords
This publication has 3 references indexed in Scilit:
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- Intrinsic Optical Absorption in Single-Crystal Germanium and Silicon at 77°K and 300°KPhysical Review B, 1955
- Anisotropy of Diffusion in Grain BoundariesJournal of Applied Physics, 1954