Comparison of crystal Si solar cells fabricated on p-type and n-type float zone silicon wafers

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2013
Bilgen, Makbule
Solar cells are traditionally fabricated on p-type Si substrates due to the high electron diffusion length in p-type substrate. However, high quality float zone silicon wafers provide higher carrier life time for holes in the n-type substrates, making it possible to fabricate high efficiency solar cells in this type of substrate. Superior properties of n-type substrates have created a tendency towards fabrication of n-type solar cells in photovoltaic market technology considerably. It is even forecasted that photovoltaic (PV) industry will completely shift from p-type systems to n-type systems in the near future. This technology shift leads to new research activities related to production steps since it should be optimized to get better performance of solar cells. In this work, we have focused on the development of solar cells based on n-type substrate. Several different routes have been followed and compared with each other. Comparison was made between solar cells fabricated on n- and p-type substrates having a good quality. The conditions yielding high solar cell efficiency was studied in this direction. Both the fabrication and characterization of solar cells were carried out at METU-GÜNAM facilities.

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Citation Formats
M. Bilgen, “Comparison of crystal Si solar cells fabricated on p-type and n-type float zone silicon wafers,” M.S. - Master of Science, Middle East Technical University, 2013.