Phosphorus emitter engineering by plasma-immersion ion implantation for c-Si solar cells

Ion Beam Services (IBS) has developed processes dedicated to silicon-based solar cell manufacturing using a plasma-immersion ion implantation equipment. It enables the realization of various doping profiles for phosphorus-doped emitters which fit the requirements of high-efficiency solar cells. PH3 plasma-implanted emitters are chemically, physically and electrically characterized to demonstrate their excellent quality. Those emitters are then integrated into a low cost p-type monocrystalline silicon solar cell manufacturing line from the National Solar Energy Institute (INES) in order to be compared with usual POCl3 diffusion. Starting from a basic process flow with blanket emitter and conventional full-area aluminum back-surface field, plasma-immersion implanted emitters enable to raise conversion efficiencies above 19.1%. Thanks to an optimized double layer anti-reflective coating, a 19.4% champion cell has been achieved. Depending on different plasma process parameters, lightly doped emitters are then engineered aiming to study doping modulation using a dedicated laser. •Plasma-immersion ion implantation of PH3 for n-type emitter on Cz–Si.•Annealing enables solid-phase epitaxial regrowth and SiO2 emitter passivation.•19.4% champion cell achieved on p-type 239cm2 Cz–Si solar cell with full Al-BSF.•Phosphorus doping profiles are easily tunable for selective emitter fabrication.