Empirical and Quokka simulated evidence for enhanced VOC due to limited junction area for high efficiency silicon solar cells

A new design for high efficiency silicon solar cells with the use of limited p-n junction area and point Al rear contact is proposed. In this work, planar test devices with different emitter area and spacing are fabricated to demonstrate the limited junction area (LIA) design can improve V
_OC
for a well-designed cell structure. Interim lifetime and PL measurements during fabrication confirm lower dark saturation current (I
₀
) and higher implied V
_OC
(iV
_OC
) in the LIA samples with a robust surface passivation scheme. Higher V
_OC
and efficiency are also simulated with Quokka on some LIA devices compared to the full area emitter control sample.