• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.24 no.12
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• pp.1010-1017
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• 2011

The use of plated front contact for metallization of silicon solar cell may alternative technologies as a screen printed and silver paste contact. This technologies should allow the formation of contact with low contact resistivity a high line conductivity and also reduction of shading losses. A selective emitter structure with highly dopes regions underneath the metal contacts, is widely known to be one of the most promising high-efficiency solution in solar cell processing. When fabricated Ni/Cu plating metallization cell with a selective emitter structure, it has been shown that efficiencies of up to 18% have been achieved using this technology.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2010.06a
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• pp.61.2-61.2
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• 2010

Ag thick-film has usually been used for the front electrode of Si solar cells with the outstanding electrical properties. Ag paste consists of Ag powers, vehicles, frits and additives. Ag paste has broadly been screen-printed on the front side of Si wafer with the merits of low cost and simplicity. The optimal contact formation between Ag electrodes and Si wafer in the front electrode during a fast firing has been considered as the key factor for high efficiency. Although the content of frit in Ag pastes is less than 5wt%, it can profoundly influence the contact formation between Ag and Si under the fast firing. In this study, the effects of lead-free frits on the contacts between Ag and Si were studied with the thermal properties and compositions of various frits. Our experimental results showed that the electrical properties of cells were related to the interface structures between Ag and Si. It was found that current path of electrons from Si to Ag would be possible through the tunneling mechanism assisted by tens of nano-Ag recrystals on $n^+$ emitter as well as Ag recrystals penetrated into $n^+$ emitter layers. These preliminary studies will be helpful for designing the proper frits for the Ag pastes with considering the properties of various Si wafers.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.75-83
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• 2021

The tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) structure got more consideration for development of high performance solar cells by the introduction of a tunnel oxide layer between the substrate and poly-Si is best for attaining interface passivation. The quality of passivation of the tunnel oxide layer clearly depends on the bond of SiO in the tunnel oxide layer, which is affected by the subsequent annealing and the tunnel oxide layer was formed in the suboxide region (SiO, Si₂O, Si₂O₃) at the interface with the substrate. In the suboxide region, an oxygen-rich bond is formed as a result of subsequent annealing that also improves the quality of passivation. To control the surface morphology, annealing profile, and acceleration rate, an oxide tunnel junction structure with a passivation characteristic of 700 mV or more (V_oc) on a p-type wafer could achieved. The quality of passivation of samples subjected to RTP annealing at temperatures above 900℃ declined rapidly. To improve the quality of passivation of the tunnel oxide layer, the physical properties and thermal stability of the thin layer must be considered. TOPCon silicon solar cell has a boron diffused front emitter, a tunnel-SiO_x/n⁺-poly-Si/SiN_x:H structure at the rear side, and screen-printed electrodes on both sides. The saturation currents J_o of this structure on polished surface is 1.3 fA/cm² and for textured silicon surfaces is 3.7 fA/cm² before printing the silver contacts. After printing the Ag contacts, the J_o of this structure increases to 50.7 fA/cm² on textured silicon surfaces, which is still manageably less for metal contacts. This structure was applied to TOPCon solar cells, resulting in a median efficiency of 23.91%, and a highest efficiency of 24.58%, independently. The conversion efficiency of interdigitated back-contact solar cells has reached up to 26% by enhancing the optoelectrical properties for both-sides-contacted of the cells.