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Without the use of selective emitter technology, imec, RENA and SoLayTec have demonstrated a 156mm x156mm i-PERC-type c-Si solar cell with an ALD (atomic layer deposition) passivation technique that was claimed to achieve a cell efficiency of 19.6%, within imec’s solar cell pilot line.
“These results indicate that spatial ALD-Al2O3 can offer excellent passivation without suffering from front-side parasitic deposition;” noted Dr. Aude Rothschild, Senior scientist and responsible for the Al2O3 passivation development in imec’s PV department. “The excellent passivation level obtained with the technology allow for even higher efficiencies so that further improvement of solar cell performance is expected in the near future. We are aiming at +20% efficiency in the coming months.”
“This excellent cell result shows the maturity of RENA’s InPolish for rear-side polishing and InOxSide for junction isolation for next generation cell concepts as i-PERC,” added Franck Delahaye, product manager solar at RENA.
Roger Görtzen, Co-founder and manager marketing and sales at SoLayTec said, ”The excellent rear-side passivation results show the properties of SoLayTec’s ALD Al2O3 process. The lab process is scalable to volume production. Together with the low TMAl consumption, it results in the lowest cost of ownership. This is the first choice passivation layer for high efficiency and thin p-type PERC silicon solar cells.”
The results were achieved within imec’s silicon solar cell industrial affiliation program (IIAP) with an average of 19.4% for the small series batch.
