Yang, X., Liu, W., De Bastiani, M., Allen, T., Kang, J., Xu, H., Aydin, E., Xu, L., Bi, Q., Dang, H., AlHabshi, E., Kotsovos, K., AlSaggaf, A., Gereige, I., Wan, Y., Peng, J., Samundsett, C., Cuevas, A., De Wolf, S. "Dual-Function Electron-Conductive, Hole-Blocking Titanium Nitride Contacts for Efficient Silicon Solar Cells" Joule 3, 1–14.
High-performance passivating contact is a prerequisite for high-efficiency crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cells. In this work, an electron-conductive, hole-blocking contact based on titanium nitride (TiN) deposited by reactive magnetron sputtering is presented. Quasi-metallic TiN combined with an ultrathin SiO2passivation layer (SiO2/TiN) is demonstrated to be an effective electron-selective contact on c-Si, featuring a low-contact resistivity of 16.4 mΩ.cm2 and a tolerable recombination current parameter of ∼500 fA/cm2. By implementing the dual-function SiO2/TiN contact, which acts simultaneously as a surface passivating layer and metal electrode, an efficiency of 20% is achieved by an n-type c-Si solar cell with a simple structure. This work not only demonstrates a way to develop efficient n-type c-Si solar cells with dual-function metal nitride contacts at a low cost but also expands the pool of available carrier transport materials, from metal oxides to metal nitrides, for photovoltaic devices.