TY - JOUR

T1 - Extended Cox & Strack analysis for the contact resistance of planar samples with carrier-selective junctions on both sides

AU - Folchert, Nils

AU - Brendel, Rolf

N1 - Funding Information: We thank Jimmy Melskens from TU Eindhoven for fruitful discussions. This work was supported by the Ministry for Science and Culture of lower Saxony (project vOx) and by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy under grant no 0324171C (project Nextstep).

PY - 2021/10

Y1 - 2021/10

N2 - We review the famous Cox & Strack equation that is commonly applied in contact resistance measurements of samples with a negligible contact resistance at the sample backside. We apply geometric interpretations to extend the Cox & Strack model a) to samples that have a non-negligible contact resistance not only on the front- but also on the back-side and b) to junctions with a buried contact resistance underneath a conductive layer. Case a) is for example a symmetric sample with a single material junction on both sample surfaces. Case b) could be a poly-Si/SiOx/c-Si or a-Si/c-Si hetero-junction. We compare our analytic treatment with rigorous finite-element simulations and find a relative agreement between 2.5 % and 36 % depending on the sample geometry and resistance values. We apply the method to analyze the contact resistance of lifetime samples with both-sided n+/n-type poly-Si junctions.

AB - We review the famous Cox & Strack equation that is commonly applied in contact resistance measurements of samples with a negligible contact resistance at the sample backside. We apply geometric interpretations to extend the Cox & Strack model a) to samples that have a non-negligible contact resistance not only on the front- but also on the back-side and b) to junctions with a buried contact resistance underneath a conductive layer. Case a) is for example a symmetric sample with a single material junction on both sample surfaces. Case b) could be a poly-Si/SiOx/c-Si or a-Si/c-Si hetero-junction. We compare our analytic treatment with rigorous finite-element simulations and find a relative agreement between 2.5 % and 36 % depending on the sample geometry and resistance values. We apply the method to analyze the contact resistance of lifetime samples with both-sided n+/n-type poly-Si junctions.

KW - Contact resistivity

KW - Photovoltaics

KW - Selective contacts

KW - Silicon

KW - Spreading resistance

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85111577132&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.solmat.2021.111304

DO - 10.1016/j.solmat.2021.111304

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85111577132

VL - 231

JO - Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells

JF - Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells

SN - 0927-0248

M1 - 111304

ER -