Low cost electroplated NI/CU ohmic contacts for multicrystalline SI solar cells using an ultrasonic system

In this paper using an electroplating technique, an Ni/Cu structure was fabricated on multicrystalline n(+)Si solar cells to develop an inexpensive metallization method without the degradation of the cell performance. By the application of an ultrasonic system one can obtain a film with the lower surface roughness and the higher quality. The electrical resistivity of the electroplated Ni/Cu was investigated for vacuum annealing at various temperatures. Contact resistance of the Ni/Cu structure on n(+)Si was measured using the Transmission Line Model (TLM) method. An optimum specific contact resistance of 2x10(-5) Omega cm(2) Was obtained for layers annealed at 400 degrees C for 10 minutes. SEM, XRD and EDX analyses were used to investigate the surface morphology, structure and composition of deposited films.