Performance of epitaxial back surface field cells

Epitaxial back surface field structures were formed by depositing a 10 micron thick 10 Omega-cm epitaxial silicon layer onto substrates with resistivities of 0.01, 0.1, 1.0 and 10 Omega-cm. A correlation between cell open-circuit voltage and substrate resistivity was observed and was compared to theory. The cells were also irradiated with 1 MeV electrons to a fluence of 5 X 10 to the 15th power e/cm2. The decrease of cell open-circuit voltage was in excellent agreement with theoretical predictions and the measured short circuit currents were within 2% of the prediction. Calculations are presented of optimum cell performance as functions of epitaxial layer thickness, radiation fluence and substrate diffusion length.