The 35th European PV Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition (EU PVSEC) will take place in Brussels from 24 to 28 September 2018. Last year, the conference was attended by over 2,500 participants from 85 countries. This year, there will be 10 contributions from ISFH scientists.
Early on Monday afternoon, Christian Kruse introduces a simulation tool for conducting a synergistic efficiency gain analysis (SEGA) of (present) Si solar cells such as PERC, PERC+, PERL, PERT, and IBC cells. (2AO.4.3 – Synergistic Efficiency Gain Analyses for the Photovoltaic Community: An Easy to Use SEGA Simulation Tool for Silicon Solar Cells) This tool will be made available to the Photovoltaic community after the conference.
At the same time in the visual session, Dr. Dominic Walter presents lifetime measurements performed during the regeneration process of the boron-oxygen-related defect centre, i.e. not at room temperature, but at the physically relevant conditions. (2AV.1.29 – Lifetime Evolution during Regeneration in Boron-Doped Czochralski-Silicon)
Later, Prof. Dr. Rolf Brendel screens a variety of selective contacts for electrons and holes to find particularly promising combinations in terms of efficiency potential on the one hand and practical processes on the other hand. (1AO.2.6 – Screening selective contact material combinations for novel crystalline Si cell structures)
On Tuesday morning, Dr. Malte Vogt determines the average annual relative current gain f_bif for bifacial PV modules over monofacial PV modules. (5BO.9.5 – Impact of Using Spectrally Resolved Ground Albedo Data for Performance Simulations of Bifacial Modules)
Afterwards, in the Silicon Photovoltaics Plenary session, Dr. Byungsul Min presents selected highlights of the EU Horizon 2020 project DISC, in particular concerning the development of cell and module components such as In-free transparent conductive oxide (TCO) layers with low sputtering damage. (2BP.1.4 – Status of the EU H2020 Disc Project: European Collaboration in Research and Development of High Efficient Double Side Contacted Cells with Innovative Carrier-Selective Contacts)
In the afternoon, Dr. Bianca Lim evaluates the potential of advanced B-doped Cz-Si with extremely low oxygen concentration as well as Ga-doped Cz-Si to avoid LID in state-of-the-art bifacial PERC+ solar cells. In addition, the lifetime and efficiency potential of current industry standard B-doped Cz-Si is assessed. (2BO.3.2 – LID-Free PERC+ Solar Cells with Stable Efficiencies Up to 22.1%)
On Wednesday morning, Dennis Bredemeier presents a production-compatible remedy against LeTID on industrially available high-performance mc-Si material using the inline regeneration furnace c.REG from centrotherm international AG. (2CO.9.4 – Production Compatible Remedy Against LeTID in High-Performance Multicrystalline Silicon Solar Cells)
After the lunch break, Christina Klamt performs a systematic investigation on poly-Si pin diode test structures with varying i poly-Si region widths from dgap = 0 to 380 μm. She observes a strong decrease of the pin diode recombination current density J with increasing i region width, especially in the range between 30 and 40 μm where J changes over four orders of magnitude. (2CO.10.1 – Intrinsic Poly-Crystalline Silicon Region in between the p+ and n+ POLO Contacts of an 26.1%-Efficient IBC Solar Cell)
Also on Wednesday afternoon, Valeriya Titova combines a SiOy/TiOx/Al electron-selective rear contact and a boron-diffused emitter passivated by an Al2O3/SiNx stack at the cell front on an n-type Cz-Si wafer. She demonstrates the feasibility of this concept with a cell efficiency of 20.3%, which is, however, not limited by the TiOx layer selectivity, but by a reduced short-circuit current density Jsc and an increased series resistance Rs. (2CO.11.4 – Implementation of Full-Area-Deposited Electron-Selective TiOx Layers into Silicon Solar Cells)
On Thursday, Agnes Merkle reports for the first time on in-situ phosphorus-doped n+ and boron-doped p+ APCVD silicon layers. For n+ and p+ polysilicon on oxide (POLO) junctions based on these layers, she demonstrates saturation current densities Jo of 10 fA/cm² and 9 fA/cm² respectively and simultaneously low junction resistivity c of 18 mΩcm². Using boron-doped p+-type APCVD layers, she prepares first industrial proof-of-concept solar cells with efficiencies up to 19.4 %. (2DV.3.49 – Atmospheric Pressure Chemical Vapor Deposition of in-Situ Doped Amorphous Silicon Layers for Passivating Contacts)