Epitaxy of emitters on P- and N-type substrates for crystalline silicon solar cells

This paper suggests epitaxy of silicon for emitter formation by high temperature CVD as an alternative to conventional processing for standard silicon wafer solar cells. Epitaxy could provide an alternative method to create an adjustable emitter shape at a short deposition time. Results of solar cells of phosphorous-doped epitaxial layers on p-type silicon wafers are presented. Different measurement methods characterising the doping profile and level were applied to such emitters. Until now no standard diffusion process has been found to create boron-doped emitters for n-type silicon wafers. Epitaxially deposited p-type emitters might open the market for n-type crystalline silicon solar cells. This paper presents preliminary and promising results of n-type solar cells with a boron-doped epitaxial emitter.