Electron Selective Passivation Contact of Hydrogenated Titanium Nitride for Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells

Dopant‐free electron‐selective contact materials with hydrogen passivation are crucial for electronic extraction applications for crystalline silicon (c‐Si) cells. However, research on these materials, particularly transition metal nitrides, is limited. In this work, we investigate a titanium nitride (TiN)/SiO x stack placed between c‐Si and metal electrode, examining how hydrogen passivate affect the interfacial contacts. Three methods were investigated: (1) using Ar/H 2 (95%/5%) as the working gas during TiN deposition; (2) pure Ar during TiN deposition followed by postannealing at 250°C for 30 min; and (3) Ar/H 2 during deposition, followed by postannealing. A control group without hydrogenation is also included. The best performance, with a contact resistivity of 1.48 mΩ·cm 2 and an open‐circuit voltage of 674.4 mV, result in a champion power conversion efficiency of 22.4% as the dopant‐free electron‐selective contact material. This work highlights the sensitivity of transition metal nitrides, such as TiN, to hydrogenation under natural oxidizing conditions and emphasized the critical role of postannealing processes and material compatibility.

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Publication Details

Journal
Solar RRL
Published
2026-02-17
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/solr.202500962
Primary Topic
Silicon and Solar Cell Technologies
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Electron Selective Passivation Contact of Hydrogenated Titanium Nitride for Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells

Guofu Hou, Yi Ding, Wei Li, Bike Zhang et al.
Solar RRL
Silicon and Solar Cell Technologies
article

Electron Selective Passivation Contact of Hydrogenated Titanium Nitride for Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells

Guofu Hou, Yi Ding, Wei Li, Bike Zhang, Qian Huang, Zhiyuan Xu, Huizhi Ren, Xiaodan Zhang, Jian He, Xinliang Chen, Ying Zhao, Yu Yan
article en

Abstract

Dopant‐free electron‐selective contact materials with hydrogen passivation are crucial for electronic extraction applications for crystalline silicon (c‐Si) cells. However, research on these materials, particularly transition metal nitrides, is limited. In this work, we investigate a titanium nitride (TiN)/SiO x stack placed between c‐Si and metal electrode, examining how hydrogen passivate affect the interfacial contacts. Three methods were investigated: (1) using Ar/H 2 (95%/5%) as the working gas during TiN deposition; (2) pure Ar during TiN deposition followed by postannealing at 250°C for 30 min; and (3) Ar/H 2 during deposition, followed by postannealing. A control group without hydrogenation is also included. The best performance, with a contact resistivity of 1.48 mΩ·cm 2 and an open‐circuit voltage of 674.4 mV, result in a champion power conversion efficiency of 22.4% as the dopant‐free electron‐selective contact material. This work highlights the sensitivity of transition metal nitrides, such as TiN, to hydrogenation under natural oxidizing conditions and emphasized the critical role of postannealing processes and material compatibility.

Solar RRLVol. 10(4)
Tianjin University of Technology (CN), Sun Yat-sen University (CN), Shenzhen University (CN), Nankai University (CN), The Seventh Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University (CN), Beijing Solar Energy Research Institute (CN), Changzhou University (CN)
National Natural Science Foundation of China, Nankai University, Natural Science Foundation of Tianjin City, State Key Laboratory of Photovoltaic Science and Technology, National Key Research and Development Program of China, Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities
Openalex Percentile: Top 52%
Silicon and Solar Cell Technologies
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