Emitters of a backside contact solar cell

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9537041-B2
Application number	US-201414318374-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 27, 2014
Priority date	Jun 27, 2014
Publication date	Jan 3, 2017
Grant date	Jan 3, 2017

Abstract

A system and method of patterning dopants of opposite polarity to form a solar cell is described. Two dopant films are deposited on a substrate. A laser is used to pattern the N-type dopant, by mixing the two dopant films into a single film with an exposure to the laser and/or drive the N-type dopant into the substrate to form an N-type emitter. A thermal process drives the P-type dopant from the P-type dopant film to form P-type emitters and further drives the N-type dopant from the single film to either form or further drive the N-type emitter.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of forming emitters for a back-contact solar cell, the method comprising:
forming a stack of at least two dopant material source layers above a substrate of the solar cell, wherein a dopant material source layer of the at least two dopant material source layers has dopants of one impurity conductivity type being of opposite polarity from dopants of another impurity conductivity type of an adjacent dopant material source layer of the at least two dopant material source layers; and
directing a first laser beam on a first portion of the stack of at least two dopant material source layers to form a single dopant material source layer from the at least two dopant material source layers;
wherein directing a first laser beam on a first portion of the stack of at least two dopant material source layers further comprises:
patterning with the first laser beam the substrate to form a first emitter of the solar cell from the dopants of one impurity conductivity type that are available in the single dopant material source layer; and
further comprising:
directing a second laser beam on a region of the first portion of the stack of at least two dopant material source layers to diffuse the dopants of one impurity conductivity type at a second dopant concentration level by using the second laser beam, wherein the second dopant concentration level is greater than the first dopant concentration level.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein patterning with the first laser beam the substrate to form a first emitter of the solar cell further comprises:
diffusing the dopants of one impurity conductivity type with the first laser beam into a first portion of the substrate under the single dopant material source layer at a first dopant concentration level.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
patterning the substrate to form a second emitter of the solar cell from the dopants of another impurity conductivity type of the stacked dopant material source layer of the at least two dopant material source layers adjacent to the first emitter, wherein the second emitter is different than the first emitter.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein patterning the substrate to form a second emitter of the solar cell further comprises:
thermally driving the dopants of another impurity conductivity type from a second portion of the stack of at least two dopant material source layers into a second portion of the substrate adjacent to the single dopant material source layer, wherein the second portion of the stack is different than the first portion of the stack, the second portion of the substrate is different than the first portion of the substrate.

5. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:
forming a first contact hole to the first emitter of the solar cell and forming a first metal contact into the first contact hole to electrically connect to the first emitter; and
forming a second contact hole to the second emitter of the solar cell and forming a second metal contact into the second contact hole to electrically connect to the second emitter.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein forming a stack of at least two dopant material source layers further comprises:
depositing a first dopant source film of a first impurity conductivity type above the substrate of the solar cell and depositing a second dopant source film of a second impurity conductivity type above the first dopant source film.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein depositing the first and second dopant source films further comprises:
forming, by chemical vapor deposition, the first dopant source film of the first impurity conductivity type; and
forming, by chemical vapor deposition, the second dopant source film of the second impurity conductivity type.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the first impurity conductivity type is P-type, the second impurity conductivity type is N-type, and wherein forming, by chemical vapor deposition, the first dopant source film further comprises:
using boron silicate glass (BSG) to form the first dopant source film, and
wherein forming, by chemical vapor deposition, the second dopant source film further comprises:
using phosphorus silicate glass (PSG) to form the second dopant source film.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
thermally driving the dopants of one impurity conductivity type from the single dopant material source layer into a first portion of the substrate to form a first emitter of the solar cell.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
thermally driving the dopants of another impurity conductivity type from the stack of at least two dopant material source layers into a second portion of the substrate adjacent to the first portion of the substrate to form a second emitter of the solar cell.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the second emitter is different than the first emitter and the second portion of the substrate is different than the first portion of the substrate.

12. A method of forming emitters for a back-contact solar cell, the method comprising:
forming a stack of at least two dopant material source layers above a substrate of the solar cell, wherein a dopant material source layer of the at least two dopant material source layers has dopants of one impurity conductivity type being of opposite polarity from dopants of another impurity conductivity type of an adjacent dopant material source layer of the at least two dopant material source layers; and
directing a first laser beam on a first portion of the stack of at least two dopant material source layers to form a single dopant material source layer from the at least two dopant material source layers;
wherein directing a first laser beam on a first portion of the stack of at least two dopant material source layers further comprises:
generating the first laser beam from a laser source;
applying a first laser profile of the first laser beam to mix dopants of both the one and another impurity conductivity types from the at least two dopant material source layers into the single dopant material source layer; and
applying a second laser profile of the first laser beam or a second laser beam to pattern the substrate to form a first emitter of the solar cell.

Assignees

• Loscutoff Paul
• Harley Gabriel
• Sunpower Corp

Inventors

• Loscutoff Paul
• Harley Gabriel

Classifications

• H10P34/42

  with electromagnetic radiation, e.g. laser annealing (laser cutting H10P54/20) · CPC title

• H10P32/19

  Diffusion sources · CPC title

• H10P32/16

  between a solid phase and a liquid phase · CPC title

• H01L31/0516

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L31/022441

  Electricity · mapped topic