Analysis of Front Metal Contact for Plated Ni/Cu Silicon Solar Cells

作者：Lee Jae Doo; Kwon Hyuk Yong; Lee Soo Hong^*

来源：Electronic Materials Letters, 2011, 7(4): 349-352.

DOI：10.1007/s13391-011-0250-4

• Silicon solar cells
• Plating
• Ni silicide
• Scanning Electron microscopy(SEM)

Commercial solar cells with screen printed front contacts are formed by using Ag paste. This has caused high shading loss and low conductivity because of high contact resistance. One of the front metal contact solar cells is Ni/Cu metal contact, made by using plating that is easily available so as to allow simple and inexpensive production techniques to be applied to mass production. Ni has been shown to be a suitable barrier to Cu diffusion into the silicon. Also, it is possible to use Ni silicide for the sintering process. Ni silicide has been reported have compositions of Ni(2)Si (200 degrees C similar to 300 degrees C), NiSi (300 degrees C similar to 700 degrees C), and NiSi(2) (700 degrees C similar to 900 degrees C). Especially, NiSi has been shown to have low contact resistance (14 similar to 16 mW.cm) between surface and electrode. Finally, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Energy Dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) analysis show experimental results in which electroless plating of Ni and Ni silicide can be seen. The efficiency of plated Ni/Cu contact solar cells was improved by 0.8% over that of screen printed solar cells.

• 出版日期2011-12