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Title: Rapid thermal processing of cost-effective contacts for silicon solar cells

Abstract

This paper reports on the investigation of rapid thermal processing (RTP) of contacting the Al-BSF solar cell with Ag, Cu, and Ni in conjunction with aerosol printing technique. The study showed a liftoff and delamination, respectively, for the bi and tri stack layers of Ag frit/Ni and Ag frit/Ni/Cu fired above 790 degrees C peak firing temperature. The 770 degrees C peak firing temperature gave excellent electrical performance for both bi and tri stack layer contacts, which is not favorable to forming thick back surface field (BSF) required for high open circuit voltage (VOC). This suggests that the bilayer and trilayer contacts involving Ag frit are limited to low peak firing temperature, but Ni frit, on the other hand, showed a wider firing temperature range. This is supported by low reverse saturation current density (J02) of 1.1 x 10-11 A/cm2 and high shunt resistance (RSH) of 5750 ..omega.. cm2 for the Ni frit fired at 800 degrees C peak firing temperature. More so, the adhesion of Ni Frit to silicon is better than Ag counterpart as evidenced in the SEM micrograph. Thus, by adopting RTP Ni/Cu contacts, the cost of metallization of solar cell can be dropped from 35% ofmore » total processing cost to only 5% to 6%, which is approximately 30% drop in the total cost of processing.« less

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [2];  [1]
+ Show Author Affiliations
  1. Univ. of North Carolina, Charlotte, NC (United States)
  2. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office
OSTI Identifier:
1506619
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1494851
Report Number(s):
NREL/JA-5K00-72994
Journal ID: ISSN 1062-7995
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC36-08GO28308; DE‐AC36‐08GO28308
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Progress in Photovoltaics
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 27; Journal Issue: 5; Journal ID: ISSN 1062-7995
Publisher:
Wiley
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
14 SOLAR ENERGY; 36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; aerosal printing; copper contacts; metallization; nickel contacts; passivated emitter rear contact (PERC) cells; plating; Si solar cells

Citation Formats

Unsur, Veysel, Klein, Talysa, Al Jassim, Mowafak, and Ebong, Aba. Rapid thermal processing of cost-effective contacts for silicon solar cells. United States: N. p., 2019. Web. doi:10.1002/pip.3119.
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Unsur, Veysel, Klein, Talysa, Al Jassim, Mowafak, & Ebong, Aba. Rapid thermal processing of cost-effective contacts for silicon solar cells. United States. doi:10.1002/pip.3119.
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Unsur, Veysel, Klein, Talysa, Al Jassim, Mowafak, and Ebong, Aba. Fri . "Rapid thermal processing of cost-effective contacts for silicon solar cells". United States. doi:10.1002/pip.3119. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1506619.
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@article{osti_1506619,
title = {Rapid thermal processing of cost-effective contacts for silicon solar cells},
author = {Unsur, Veysel and Klein, Talysa and Al Jassim, Mowafak and Ebong, Aba},
abstractNote = {This paper reports on the investigation of rapid thermal processing (RTP) of contacting the Al-BSF solar cell with Ag, Cu, and Ni in conjunction with aerosol printing technique. The study showed a liftoff and delamination, respectively, for the bi and tri stack layers of Ag frit/Ni and Ag frit/Ni/Cu fired above 790 degrees C peak firing temperature. The 770 degrees C peak firing temperature gave excellent electrical performance for both bi and tri stack layer contacts, which is not favorable to forming thick back surface field (BSF) required for high open circuit voltage (VOC). This suggests that the bilayer and trilayer contacts involving Ag frit are limited to low peak firing temperature, but Ni frit, on the other hand, showed a wider firing temperature range. This is supported by low reverse saturation current density (J02) of 1.1 x 10-11 A/cm2 and high shunt resistance (RSH) of 5750 ..omega.. cm2 for the Ni frit fired at 800 degrees C peak firing temperature. More so, the adhesion of Ni Frit to silicon is better than Ag counterpart as evidenced in the SEM micrograph. Thus, by adopting RTP Ni/Cu contacts, the cost of metallization of solar cell can be dropped from 35% of total processing cost to only 5% to 6%, which is approximately 30% drop in the total cost of processing.},
doi = {10.1002/pip.3119},
journal = {Progress in Photovoltaics},
number = 5,
volume = 27,
place = {United States},
year = {2019},
month = {2}
}
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DOI:  10.1002/pip.3119
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