Electron microscopy study of front-side Ag contact in crystalline Si solar cells

被引：92

作者：

Li, Z. G. ^{[1
]}

Liang, L. ^{[1
]}

Cheng, L. K. ^{[1
]}

机构：

[1] DuPont Cent Res & Dev, Wilmington, DE 19880 USA

来源：

JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS | 2009年 / 105卷 / 06期

关键词：

colloids; crystal microstructure; crystallites; electrical contacts; elemental semiconductors; etching; firing (materials); scanning electron microscopy; silicon; silver; solar cells; transmission electron microscopy; tunnelling;

D O I：

10.1063/1.3086663

中图分类号：

O59 [应用物理学];

学科分类号：

摘要：

Efficiency of industrial screen-printed silicon solar cells depends critically on their firing conditions. We investigated the microstructure of the Ag/emitter contact of solar cells fired at temperatures from below to above optimal by electron microscopy. We found that the interfacial microstructure evolved from one richly decorated with nanometer-size Ag colloids into one with many Ag crystallites grown onto the emitter surface. Selective etching revealed a dearth of Ag crystallites in optimally fired cells. Our microstructural observations suggest that a tunneling mechanism (likely assisted by nano-Ag colloids) is responsible for current extraction in these cells fired with optimal conditions.

引用

页数：3

共 8 条

[1] Silver thick-film contacts on highly doped n-type silicon emitters:: Structural and electronic properties of the interface [J].