The use of oxynitrides for the fabrication of buried contact silicon solar cells

The formation of an oxynitride layer for use with solar cells has been demonstrated using simple equipment designed and assembled by the authors. The oxynitride has been successfully incorporated into the double sided buried contact silicon solar cells sequence, solving the fabrication difficulties associated with the use of an oxide masking layer. The output parameters, particularly the open-circuit voltage, are lower than those demonstrated by the use of a thick silicon dioxide film when working with conventional cell structures. This has been attributed to the inferior surface passivation qualities of the oxynitride. However, the oxynitride films are suitable for other devices like the multi-layer thin crystalline silicon buried contact structure [40].