Abstract
This letter examines the application of transparent MoOx (x<3) films deposited by thermal evaporation directly onto crystalline silicon (c-Si) to create hole-conducting contacts for silicon solar cells. The carrier-selectivity of MoOx based contacts on both n- and p-type surfaces is evaluated via simultaneous consideration of the contact recombination parameter J(0c) and the contact resistivity rho(c). Contacts made to p-type wafers and p(+) diffused regions achieve optimum rho(c) values of 1 and 0.2 m Omega.cm(2), respectively, and both result in a J(0c) of similar to 200 fA/cm(2). These values suggest that significant gains can be made over conventional hole contacts to p-type material. Similar MoOx contacts made to n-type silicon result in higher J(0c) and rho(c) with optimum values of similar to 300 fA/cm(2) and 30 m Omega.cm(2) but still offer significant advantages over conventional approaches in terms of contact passivation, optical properties, and device fabrication. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.