Current Photovoltaic Research ISSN:2288-3274(Print) 2508-125X(Online)

The dependency of the photovoltaic performance of p-/n-type silicon solar-cells on the metallic contaminant type (Fe, Cu, and Ni) and concentration was investigated. The minority-carrier recombination lifetime was degraded with increasing metallic contaminant concentration, however, the degradation sensitivity of recombination lifetime was lower at n-type than p-type silicon wafer, which means n-type silicon wafer have an immunity to the effect of metallic contamination. This is because heavy metal ions with positive charge have a much larger capture cross section of electron than hole, so that reaction with electrons occurs much more easily. The power conversion efficiency of n-type solar-cells was degraded by 9.73% when metallic impurities were introduced in the silicon bulk, which is lower degradation compared to p-type solar-cells (15.61% of efficiency degradation). Therefore, n-type silicon solar-cells have a potential to achieve high efficiency of the solar-cell in the future with a merit of immunity against metal contamination.