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2006
Conference Paper
Titel
New concepts for the front side metallization of silicon solar cells
Abstract
For the fabrication of front side grids with a higher efficiency potential than screen-printed contacts, two-layer processes are very promising. In the seed step a thin metal line is deposited which forms the mechanical and electrical contact to the emitter. In the growth step this seed layer is thickened by a plating process to increase line conductivity. In our approach the plating is performed using the so-called light-induced plating process. For this technique the solar cell has to be contacted only at the rear which facilitates the transfer into industrial production with high through-put. Several methods to create the seed layer are discussed in this paper: Fine-line pad printing of silver screen-printing pastes, laser sintering/melting of metal powders, chemical Ni plating on solar cells with a structured dielectric layer and aerosol metal jetting. Very encouraging results are achieved for all these technologies.
Author(s)