Regular Article

A round Robin-Highliting on the passivating contact technology

¹ Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE), Heidenhofstr. 2, 79110 Freiburg, Germany
² Ion Beam Services (IBS), Rue Gaston Imbert Prolongée, ZI Rousset-Peynier, 13790 Peynier, France
³ Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Bätiment 3316 Station 1, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
⁴ International Solar Energy Research Center e.V (ISC), Rudolf-Diesel-Str. 15, 78467 Konstanz, Germany
⁵ Univ Grenoble Alpes, CEA, LITEN, DTS, INES, 50 avenue du lac Léman, 73375 Le Bourget du Lac, France
⁶ Institute for Solar Energy Research Hamelin (ISFH), Am Ohrberg 1, 31860 Emmerthal, Germany
⁷ Interuniversitair Micro-Electronica Centrum vzw (IMEC), Kapeldreef 75, 3001 Leuven, Belgium

^* e-mail: tobias.fellmeth@ise.fhg.de

Received: 1 July 2021
Received in final form: 22 October 2021
Accepted: 15 November 2021
Published online: 15 December 2021

Abstract

The aim of this work is to demonstrate the maturity of the TOPCon technology by conducting a round-robin on symmetrically processed lifetime samples in the leading European PV institutes EPFL, ISC, CEA-INES, ISFH, IMEC and Fraunhofer ISE within the H2020 funded project called HighLite. For all layers, dark saturation current-densities ranging between 2 and 10 fA/cm² can be reported. Simultaneously, no metal induced recombination for the two lower sintering temperatures have been observed pointing towards a true passivated contact. Furthermore, contact resistivities below 10 mΩcm² have been achieved. It seems that the industrial passivating contact matured to a fully passivated and conducting contact enabling full efficiency potential. The fact that this can be realized using either PECVD or LPCVD from various manufacturer is expected to drive costs down and contribute to the increased adoption of the TOPCon technology.