Industrially feasible front-side metallization based on ink-jet masking and nickel plating

An alternative for an industrial front side metallization process for silicon solar cells is presented in this paper. Using ink-jet printing of a resist and wet-chemical acidic etching a structure is formed into the anti-reflection coating. The metallization is performed in two steps: first the formation of a seed layer by electroless nickel plating, followed by the growth of the contacts through light-induced silver plating. An evaluation of different steps in the process, like etching of the SiNx and formation of the silicide, is presented here. Industrial solar cells investigated in this paper show jsc ~35 mA/cm2, Fill Factor ~77 % and efficiencies up to 16.7 %.