Conductive and Stable Magnesium Oxide Electron-Selective Contacts for Efficient Silicon Solar Cells

A high Schottky barrier (>0.65 eV) for electrons is typically found on lightly doped n-type crystalline (c-Si) wafers for a variety of contact metals. This behavior is commonly attributed to the Fermi-level pinning effect and has hindered the development of n-type c-Si solar cells, while its p-type counterparts have been commercialized for several decades, typically utilizing aluminium alloys in full-area, and more recently, partial-area rear contact configurations. Here the authors demonstrate a highly conductive and thermally stable electrode composed of a magnesium oxide/aluminium (MgO_x/Al) contact, achieving moderately low resistivity Ohmic contacts on lightly doped n-type c-Si. The electrode, functionalized with nanoscale MgO_x films, significantly enhances the performance of n-type c-Si solar cells to a power conversion efficiency of 20%, advancing n-type c-Si solar cells with full-area dopant-free rear contacts to a point of competitiveness with the standard p-type architecture. The low thermal budget of the cathode formation, its dopant-free nature, and the simplicity of the device structure enabled by the MgO_x/Al contact open up new possibilities in designing and fabricating low-cost optoelectronic devices, including solar cells, thin film transistors, or light emitting diodes.