Analysis of silicon solar cells with poly-Si/SiOx carrier-selective base and emitter contacts

Passivating contacts are a promising technology to enhance silicon solar cells conversion efficiency. In this paper, we present a simulation study carried out by using physical models calibrated on the basis of experimental data, aimed at understanding the electrical properties of front emitter silicon solar cells featuring top/rear poly-Si/SiOx selective contacts. Furthermore, we propose a rear junction (RJ) design that desensitizes the fill factor to top electrode resistivity. According to our simulations, the RJ scheme addresses the possibility to omit the transparent conductive oxide allowing promising conversion efficiency of silicon solar cells with carrier-selective contacts. In addition, the influence of the surface recombination velocity at the c-Si/SiOx interfaces and of the effective tunneling masses is investigated.