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Inkjet Printed Metallizations for Cu(In1-xGax)Se2 Photovoltaic Cells

Journal Article · · Progress in Photovoltaics
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/pip.1105· OSTI ID:1036390
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This study reports the inkjet printing of Ag front contacts on Aluminum doped Zinc Oxide (AZO)/intrinsic Zinc Oxide (i-ZnO)/CdS/Cu(In{sub 1-x}Ga{sub x})Se{sub 2} (CIGS)/Mo thin film photovoltaic cells. The printed Ag contacts are being developed to replace the currently employed evaporated Ni/Al bi-layer contacts. Inkjet deposition conditions were optimized to reduce line resistivity and reduce contact resistance to the Al:ZnO layer. Ag lines printed at a substrate temperature of 200 C showed a line resistivity of 2.06 {mu}{Omega} {center_dot} cm and a contact resistance to Al:ZnO of 8.2 {+-} 0.2 m{Omega} {center_dot} cm{sup 2} compared to 6.93 {+-} 0.3 m{Omega} {center_dot} cm{sup 2} for thermally evaporated contacts. These deposition conditions were used to deposit front contacts onto high quality CIGS thin film photovoltaic cells. The heating required to print the Ag contacts caused the performance to degrade compared to similar devices with evaporated Ni/Al contacts that were not heated. Devices with inkjet printed contacts showed 11.4% conversion efficiency compared to 14.8% with evaporated contacts. Strategies to minimize heating, which is detrimental for efficiency, during inkjet printing are proposed.

Research Organization:
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Solar Energy Technologies Office (EE-4S)
DOE Contract Number:
AC36-08GO28308
OSTI ID:
1036390
Report Number(s):
NREL/JA-5200-54256
Journal Information:
Progress in Photovoltaics, Journal Name: Progress in Photovoltaics Journal Issue: 8 Vol. 19; ISSN 1062-7995
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (9)

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Fine line printed silicon solar cells exceeding 20% efficiency journal November 2008
Measurement of low resistive ohmic contacts on semiconductors journal January 1986
Metal aerosol jet printing for solar cell metallization journal January 2007
Direct-write contacts: Metallization and contact formation conference May 2008
Development of different copper seed layers with respect to the copper electroplating process journal January 2000
High‐efficiency CuIn x Ga 1− x Se 2 solar cells made from (In x ,Ga 1− x ) 2 Se 3 precursor films journal July 1994
Flexible Cu(In,Ga)Se2 thin-film solar cells for space application journal July 2006
19·9%-efficient ZnO/CdS/CuInGaSe 2 solar cell with 81·2% fill factor
  • Repins, Ingrid; Contreras, Miguel A.; Egaas, Brian
  • Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications, Vol. 16, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1002/pip.822
journal May 2008

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Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
ALUMINIUM
CIGS
DEPOSITION
EFFICIENCY
HEATING
PERFORMANCE
PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS
SUBSTRATES
THIN FILMS
ZINC OXIDES
contacts
inkjet