Abstract
A new and simple process for fabricating a selective emitter solar cell has been proposed. Lightly and heavily doped emitters could be concurrently formed after a single POCl 3 diffusion step through the selective formation of SiN x , which serves as the diffusion barrier and can be grown by NH 3 plasma nitridation of the Si surface. The desired phosphorus depth profile for the lightly and heavily doped region verifies the eligibility of this process. From the electrical characterization, the selective emitter solar cell fabricated by this process manifests a higher absolute conversion efficiency than a conventional one by 0.5%. It is the enhanced response to the short wavelength light and the reduced surface recombination that causes the considerable improvement in conversion efficiency which is beneficial to further hold the competitive advantage for solar cell manufacturers. Most importantly, the proposed process can be fully integrated into the conventional solar cell process in a mass-production laboratory. © 2010 IOP Publishing Ltd.