| In this work experimental investigation on Interdigitated Back Contact (IBC) silicon solar cells and application of porous silicon as an anti-reflection (AR) coating have been considered. For this purpose, Interdigitated Back Contact solar cells with active areas of approximately one square centimeter were fabricated on both single- and double-side-polished silicon wafers. In order to investigate the effects of (a) impurity type and (b) the role of wafer thickness on the cell function, wafers of n- and p-type silicon (with resistivity of 11 and 5.6 ohm-cm, respectively) having 300 and 100 micron thickness were used in the cells fabrication. Two different diffusion techniques, spin-on sol-gel and ion-implantation were employed to do the boron diffusion process. The use of SiO;The devices were characterized under dark and light conditions and the effects of parameters such as series and shunt resistances, reverse saturation current, ideality factor, open circuit voltage, short circuit current, fill factor, output power, and efficiency were measured and discussed in details. (1) A technique for creating uniform porous silicon layers from back side point contacts is found. (2) While porous silicon is found to have very low reflectivity, it does not enhance solar cell performance. (3) The failure of porous silicon as anti-reflection coating is discussed. (4) The best cells formed were those having an 1100 A SiO... |
