Tunneling Back-Contacted Silicon Photovoltaics

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This project is investigating the introduction of atomic layer deposited tunnel barriers that simultaneously allow carrier flow and passivate the silicon surface for silicon-based solar cells. The tunnel barrier is combined with metal oxide materials that selectively transport electrons or holes. This work employs and atomic layer for the deposition of these thin film layers, which is a potentially scalable technique capable of uniform sub-nanometer control of film thickness, even on non-planar substrates. This work quantifies the electronic behavior of these contacts, which may establish some of the most efficient electrical contacts to silicon photovoltaics to date.

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