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Title: Investigation of the Interactions Between Low-Temperature Ag Paste Components and SiO2/Poly-Si(n) Contacts and the Impact on Contact Properties

Conference ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0090902· OSTI ID:1889659

Reducing poly-Si thickness to minimize parasitic absorption on a light-receiving side of a TOPCon solar cell without suffering voltage losses after metallization is a challenge in optimizing TOPCon performance. As an alternative to fire-through pastes, we investigate low-temperature Ag paste to SiO2/poly-Si passivating contacts through fabrication of electrical test structures to characterize the passivation quality and electrical transport across the metallized interface. With current paste chemistries, we find that solvent wetting of the poly-Si surface before evaporation and non-volatile binder resin adhesion to the surface after curing are major impediments which prevent Ag contact formation. However, low- resistance poly-Si/Ag interfaces formed with physical vapour deposition similarly degrade after annealing, indicating contacting issues related to the Ag content even in the absence of the organic paste components.

Research Organization:
National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office
DOE Contract Number:
AC36-08GO28308
OSTI ID:
1889659
Report Number(s):
NREL/CP-5900-79981; MainId:41186; UUID:ab8c1a3b-8fc6-40b6-b8e0-0c9f04fa9f9a; MainAdminID:62871
Resource Relation:
Conference: Presented at SiliconPV 2021: The 11th International Conference on Crystalline Silicon Photovoltaics, 19-23 April 2021, Hamelin, Germany
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (6)

n-Type Si solar cells with passivating electron contact: Identifying sources for efficiency limitations by wafer thickness and resistivity variation journal December 2017
High efficiency n-type silicon solar cells with passivating contacts based on PECVD silicon films doped by phosphorus diffusion journal May 2019
Development of thin polysilicon layers for application in monoPoly™ cells with screen-printed and fired metallization journal April 2020
The formation mechanism for printed silver-contacts for silicon solar cells journal April 2016
Low-Resistivity Screen-Printed Contacts on Indium Tin Oxide Layers for Silicon Solar Cells With Passivating Contacts journal September 2018
Study on the Curing Process of Silver Paste of Heterojunction Solar Cells Using Response Surface Methodology journal July 2020