[20p-C101-1~17] 16.3 Bulk, thin-film and other silicon-based solar cells

[20p-C101-2] Toward TCO-free silicon heterojunction solar cells

〇Hitoshi Sai¹, Takuya Matsui¹ (1.AIST)

Keywords:solar cell, silicon, heterojunction

Silicon heterojunction (SHJ) architecture with a-Si:H layers is one of the most advanced c-Si cell structures and its high potential has been demonstrated by large-area and high-efficiency devices. In recent years, the production capacity of SHJ cells is growing quickly. However, one drawback of the SHJ architecture is high cost of non-Si materials. In particular, SHJ requires transparent conductive oxide (TCO) films on both sides mainly for supporting lateral carrier transport, which are based on costly In₂O₃-based materials in most cases. Therefore, alternative TCO materials without rare metals are highly required. Another attractive approach is TCO-less or TCO-free SHJ. In this work, we investigate the potential of TCO-free SHJ solar cells, with a particular focus on the lateral electrical transport and stability.