Emitter Design with Cost-effective Implantation

Until very recently, ion implantation has been too expensive for PV applications. However, an ion implanter has become commercially available for PV very recently, and has been used to fabricate some devices with very low saturation current-densities. We predict possible applications utilizing a combination of implantation, annealing, device, and circuit modeling. Ion energies of 30 keV and doses in the range of 5×10–1×10 cm are sufficient for obtaining cell efficiency levels above 20% if appropriate wafer material is used. We investigate how such emitters can be optimally used in various cell structures.