STUDY ON THE USE OF GEN5 PECVD REACTORS FOR PRODUCTION OF HIGH-EFFICIENCY SILICON HETEROJUNCTION SOLAR CELLS

In this study, we evaluate the potential of using Gen5 (1.4 m² ) KAI PECVD reactors, originally designed for production of double-junction thin film silicon (micromorph) modules, for manufacturing of high-efficiency silicon heterojunction (Si-HJ) solar cells. It is shown that Gen5 KAI PECVD reactors can provide an excellent uniformity of optical and electrical properties of hydrogenated amorphous silicon layers across entire surface of a 110 130 cm² wafer carrier. Surface passivation with low surface recombination velocity (< 4 cm/s) is achieved on n-type FZ c-Si wafers. First part of the study was conducted on the pilot line at the R&D Center TFTE LLC (Ioffe Institute, St. Petersburg, Russia), where Si-HJ solar cells, with a mean efficiency over 21,5%, were made. Further, these results were transferred on the production line of the Hevel LLC factory, where cells with mean efficiency over 21,5% are produced using commercial 6-inch n-type CZ c-Si wafers and Gen5 KAI PECVD reactors. The potential to reach the efficiency above 22% and solar panels with output power over 300 Watt is also demonstrated.

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