Polycrystalline silicon passivated tunneling contacts for high efficiency silicon solar cells

We apply n- and p-type polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) films on tunneling SiOx to form passivated contacts to n-type Si wafers. The resulting induced emitter and n+/n back surface field junctions of high carrier selectivity and low contact resistivity enable high efficiency Si solar cells. This work addresses the materials science of their performance governed by the properties of the individual layers (poly-Si, tunneling oxide) and more importantly, by the process history of the cell as a whole. Tunneling SiOx layers (