In this paper we present first results concerning different thermal evaporation processes for thin aluminum layers, which are carried out on a pilot system with a throughput of up to 540 wafers/h (156x156 mm2). To qualify the processes the deposited aluminum layers were evaluated with respect to homogeneity and conductivity. Additionally the effect of the different processes on the passivation quality of a thermally grown 100 nm thick SiO 2 was analyzed by means of lifetime measurements, indicating a negligible effect of the conducted process variations on the passivation quality. Finally high-efficiency silicon solar cells were prepared to determine the overall potential and to compare it with an electron beam (e-gun) evaporation process, which is used as a standard process in our laboratory. An efficiency of up to 21% was achieved by the high deposition rate technique performing at least as well as our standard high efficiency process

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