In this work the carrier lifetime evolution of different passivation layers under illumination and at elevated temperatures are investigated. Multicrystalline silicon lifetime samples were treated by implementing typical industrial processing steps. The degradation was found to depend strongly on surface passivation type, but is independent of the surface doping and oxide charge. The influence of the passivation layer on the silicon bulk lifetime degradation is investigated. After reaching a degradation maximum, the lifetime samples feature a regeneration phase. Long-time degradation measurements without excess carrier injection at elevated temperatures show that the carrier lifetime degrades also in darkness. Capacitance-voltage measurements show that the oxide charge is not influenced by the degradation, but a high decrease in carrier lifetime were measured. Firing experiments show that lifetime samples passivated after firing procedure are not prone to degrade.

32nd European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition; 507-509