Study on Properties of Thick-Film Front Silver Electrodes for Silicon Solar Cells

2013 ◽  
Vol 537 ◽  
pp. 209-213 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ming Fu ◽  
Gong Lei Jin ◽  
Xiao Ding ◽  
Lin Fan ◽  
Dong Chen
Keyword(s):  
Solar Cells ◽  
Thick Film ◽  
Firing Temperature ◽  
Ohmic Contact ◽  
Phosphorus Compounds ◽  
Silicon Solar Cells ◽  
Firing Process ◽  
N Doping ◽  
Silver Electrodes ◽  
The Right

The front electrode is usually made by the screen printing thick-film silver pastes and the high-temperature firing process in industrial production of silicon solar cells. This paper analyzed the ohmic contact mechanism of thick-film front silver electrodes and studied the microstructure of Ag-Si interface by SEM. The paste samples, used to form front silver electrodes of silicon solar cells, were prepared. Thick-film silver electrodes were printed on silicon wafers with different sheet resistances, and the relationships between the sheet resistances and the contact properties were investigated by changing the firing temperature. By adding right amount of phosphorus compounds to the silver paste, the effects of the donor-doping (N-doping) concentrations on the series resistance of cells were studied. The experimental results show that firing temperature is critical to the Ag-Si ohmic contact, particularly when the silver pastes are designed for the wafers with high sheet resistance and the right amount of N-doping addition in the paste may decrease the series resistances of solar cells.

Silver Paste with Nano-sized Glass Frits for Silicon Solar Cells

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 (1) ◽  
pp. 000873-000876
Author(s):  
Yu-Chou Shih ◽  
Yue Shao ◽  
Yeong-Her Lin ◽  
Frank G. Shi
Keyword(s):  
Solar Cells ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Interfacial Structure ◽  
Electrical Performance ◽  
Silicon Solar Cells ◽  
Firing Process ◽  
Manufacturing Cost ◽  
Type Silicon ◽  
Specific Contact ◽  
Silver Electrodes

Scientists are looking for alternatives to fossil fuels as energy source in order to reduce the environmental issues. Solar energy is one of the candidates that have attracted our attention. Monocrystalline and polycrystalline silicon materials are the most common ones for solar cell panels, and one of the key properties of silicon solar cells is the interfacial resistivity between the front silver electrodes and the n-type silicon emitters. The interfacial resistivity is hugely affected by the interfacial structure between silver electrodes and n-type silicon emitters, which plays a very substantial role for the electrical and mechanical properties of the fabricated silicon solar cells. Previous studies show that the residual glass frits layers at the Ag/Si interfaces after the firing process will dramatically increase the contact resistance and this phenomenon subsequently leads to degradation in the overall efficiency of the silicon solar cells. In this study, nano-sized glass frits were employed to improve the interfacial conductivity. Transfer length method (TLM) was applied to evaluate the electrical performance of samples made by different glass frits. Because of the excellent etching ability of nano-sized glass frits, the total amount of isolating compositions can be reduced and therefore there is less residual ceramic at the interfaces. For samples made with nano-sized glass frits, the specific contact resistivity was found to be only 40% of that of samples made with micro-sized glass frits after otherwise identical processing. Our results show that nano-sized glass frits can provide better energy efficiency, less processing time and lower manufacturing cost.

Role of the ambient oxygen on the silver thick-film contact formation for crystalline silicon solar cells

2010 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. S222-S225 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sung-Bin Cho ◽  
Kyoung-Kook Hong ◽  
Joo-Youl Huh ◽  
Hyun Jung Park ◽  
Ji-Weon Jeong
Keyword(s):  
Solar Cells ◽  
Thick Film ◽  
Crystalline Silicon ◽  
Silicon Solar Cells ◽  
Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells ◽  
Contact Formation ◽  
Ambient Oxygen

Study on the Performance of Aluminum Thick Film Contacts for Silicon Solar Cells

2013 ◽  
Vol 833 ◽  
pp. 241-246
Author(s):  
Ming Fu ◽  
Hong Yong Li ◽  
Gong Lei Jin ◽  
Lin Fan ◽  
Dong Chen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Solar Cells ◽  
Thick Film ◽  
Short Circuit ◽  
Short Circuit Current ◽  
Open Circuit ◽  
Silicon Solar Cells ◽  
Back Surface ◽  
Gravimetric Analysis ◽  
Scanning Calorimetry ◽  
Photoelectric Properties

Aluminum rear contacts of silicon solar cells are made commonly by screen-printing aluminum paste and sintering process. Aluminum thick film contacts have a direct effect on photoelectric properties of solar cells, like open circuit voltage (Voc), short circuit current (Isc), conversion efficiency (η), etc. The principle of Al-back surface field (BSF) has been studied in this paper. With thermal gravimetric analysis and differential scanning calorimetry (TGA-DSC) method, the chemical reactions between aluminum thick film and silicon substrate during heat treatment have been investigated. The microstructure of aluminum thick film contacts were analysed by SEM. The electrical properties of Al-BSF are improved by adding a proper amount of nano silicon to the aluminum paste.

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