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

doi:10.1002/pip.3119

This content will become publicly available on January 21, 2020

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 »« less

Authors:

Unsur, Veysel ^[1]; Department of Energy Systems EngineeringNecmettin Erbakan University Konya Turkey]; Klein, Talysa ^[2]; Hest, Maikel F. A. M. ^[2]; Al Jassim, Mowafak ^[2]; Ebong, Aba ^[1]

Energy Production and Infrastructure Center (EPIC), Department of Electrical and Computer EngineeringUniversity of North Carolina at Charlotte Charlotte North Carolina USA
Material Science CenterNational Renewable Energy Laboratory Golden Colorado USA

Publication Date:: 2019-01-21

Research Org.:: National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Solar Energy Technologies Office (EE-4S)

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, Department of Energy Systems EngineeringNecmettin Erbakan University Konya Turkey], Klein, Talysa, Hest, Maikel F. A. M., 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, Department of Energy Systems EngineeringNecmettin Erbakan University Konya Turkey], Klein, Talysa, Hest, Maikel F. A. M., 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, Department of Energy Systems EngineeringNecmettin Erbakan University Konya Turkey], Klein, Talysa, Hest, Maikel F. A. M., Al Jassim, Mowafak, and Ebong, Aba. Mon .  
        "Rapid thermal processing of cost-effective contacts for silicon solar cells".  United States.  doi:10.1002/pip.3119.

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@article{osti_1506619,

  title        = {Rapid thermal processing of cost-effective contacts for silicon solar cells},

  author       = {Unsur, Veysel and Department of Energy Systems EngineeringNecmettin Erbakan University Konya Turkey] and Klein, Talysa and Hest, Maikel F. A. M. 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        = {1}

}

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Works referenced in this record:

Buried contact silicon solar cells
journal, September 1994

Wenham, S. R.; Honsberg, C. B.; Green, M. A.
Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, Vol. 34, Issue 1-4, p. 101-110
DOI: 10.1016/0927-0248(94)90029-9

24·5% Efficiency silicon PERT cells on MCZ substrates and 24·7% efficiency PERL cells on FZ substrates
journal, November 1999

Zhao, Jianhua; Wang, Aihua; Green, Martin A.
Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications, Vol. 7, Issue 6, p. 471-474
DOI: 10.1002/(SICI)1099-159X(199911/12)7:6<471::AID-PIP298>3.0.CO;2-7

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Similar Records

This content will become publicly available on January 21, 2020

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

Abstract

Citation Formats

Buried contact silicon solar cells journal, September 1994

24·5% Efficiency silicon PERT cells on MCZ substrates and 24·7% efficiency PERL cells on FZ substrates journal, November 1999

Buried contact silicon solar cells
journal, September 1994

24·5% Efficiency silicon PERT cells on MCZ substrates and 24·7% efficiency PERL cells on FZ substrates
journal, November 1999