1,8‐Octanedithiol as an Effective Intermediate Layer for Deposition of Cu Electrodes via Inkjet Printing and Laser Sintering on III–V Triple‐Junction Solar Cells

Hayati-Roodbari, Nastaran; Wheeldon, Alexander; Fian, Alexander; Trattnig, Roman

doi:10.1002/pssa.202200089

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…address these limitations, significant research has been done on developing alternative front side metallization schemes, aiming at narrow fingers, high aspect ratios, low-cost abundant material, low-temperature process, and low contact resistance interfaces with c-Si surfaces. Few research groups have developed less-silver or silver-less approaches based on Ni/Cu, Ni/Ag, [18] Ti/Pd/Ag, [19] Al/Ag, [20] Pd/Ag, [21] Cu NP ink [22] Ni/Cu/Ag, [23] and Ni/Cu/Sn [7,23,24] metallization for solar cells.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Narrow Line Width Ni–Cu–Sn Front Contact Metallization Patterns for Low‐Cost High‐Efficiency Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells using Nano‐Imprint Lithography

et al. 2023

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An in‐house‐developed nanoimprint lithography system is designed and developed to demonstrate a commercially viable method for creating Ni–Cu–Sn‐based narrow linewidth finger patterns capable of effectively reducing shadow loss in the front contact metallization on industrial silicon solar cells. Finite element analysis simulation studies estimate that an optimal force of 138 MPa is required to generate damage‐free patterns during nanoimprinting process. The poly (methyl methacrylate) residual layer is removed using reactive ion etching, which enhances the adhesion strength of Ni–Cu–Sn metallization. A low ohmic contact layer at the Si/Ni interface develops after sintering at 420 °C and formation of NiSi layer is confirmed through X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis as a function of Ar+ ion etching time. An average cell efficiency of 18.10% is achieved for silicon solar cells with micropatterned Ni/Cu/Sn‐based narrow linewidth front contact grid design, which can exhibit ≈1% enhancement in cell efficiency compared to commercial Ag screen‐printed solar cells. The Ni/Cu/Sn‐based front contact metallization can improve the cell performance by ≈6% compared to the commercial Ag screen‐printed metallization by reducing shadow loss and thereby indicating its suitability toward deploying for cost‐effective industrial solar cell manufacturing.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Narrow Line Width Ni–Cu–Sn Front Contact Metallization Patterns for Low‐Cost High‐Efficiency Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells using Nano‐Imprint Lithography

et al. 2023

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“…After epitaxy, one of the major costs during the fabrication of III-V solar cells is the front contact metallization [2]. Several variations of the metallization and/or metal deposition technique have been studied in order to reduce this cost [6][7][8][9]. In particular, it was shown that the standard AuGe/Ni/Au front ohmic contact metallization could be replaced by a thin Pd/Ge/Ti/Pd stack combined with a thick Al layer [9].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Low-Cost Passivated Al Front Contacts for III-V/Ge Multijunction Solar Cells

Richard,

Turala,

Aimez

et al. 2023

Energies

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Improving the performances and reducing costs of III-V multijunction solar cells are crucial in aerospatial energy systems and in terrestrial concentrator modules. We attempted to achieve both objectives by implementing non-ohmic metal/semiconductor interface contacts on the front surface of III-V/Ge triple-junction solar cells. We demonstrate the feasibility of this concept for this type of solar cell by a simple evaporation of Al only either on the GaAs contact layer or the AlInP window. The best results were obtained when sulfur passivation by (NH4)2Sx was conducted on the GaAs contact layer. This allowed for a reduction in reverse saturation dark current density by one order of magnitude and a slight increase in Voc of almost 20 mV under 1 sun illumination relative to a reference device with Pd/Ge/Ti/Pd ohmic contacts. However, poor performances were observed at first under concentrated sunlight. Further annealing the solar cells with Al front metallization resulted in the reduction of Voc to the same level as the reference solar cell but allowed for good performances under high illumination. Indeed, an efficiency over 34% was observed at 500 suns light intensity both for Al and Pd/Ge/Ti/Pd contacted solar cells.

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“…Other research groups work on seed and plate metallization of III-V solar cells utilizing copper-based seeds. So far, they do not approach the efficiency of reference cells with photolithographically structured evaporated metal contacts 15 .…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Mask and plate: a scalable front metallization with low-cost potential for III–V-based tandem solar cells enabling 31.6 % conversion efficiency

Schube,

Höhn,

Schygulla

et al. 2023

Sci Rep

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Low-cost approaches for mass production of III–V-based photovoltaics are highly desired today. For the first time, this work presents industrially relevant mask and plate for front metallization of III–V-based solar cells replacing expensive photolithography. Metal contacts are fabricated by nickel (Ni) electroplating directly onto the solar cell’s front using a precisely structured mask. Inkjet printing offers low-cost and high-precision processing for application of an appropriate plating resist. It covers the solar cell’s front side with narrow openings for subsequent electroplating. The width of the resulting Ni contacts is as low as (10.5 ± 0.8) µm with sharp edges and homogenous shape. The 4 cm2-sized champion III–V-on-silicon triple-junction solar cell with mask and plate front metallization reaches a certified conversion efficiency η of (31.6 ± 1.1) % (AM1.5 g spectrum). It performs just as well as the reference sample with photolithography-structured evaporated front contacts, which reaches η = (31.4 ± 1.1) %.

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1,8‐Octanedithiol as an Effective Intermediate Layer for Deposition of Cu Electrodes via Inkjet Printing and Laser Sintering on III–V Triple‐Junction Solar Cells

Cited by 3 publications

References 59 publications

Narrow Line Width Ni–Cu–Sn Front Contact Metallization Patterns for Low‐Cost High‐Efficiency Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells using Nano‐Imprint Lithography

Narrow Line Width Ni–Cu–Sn Front Contact Metallization Patterns for Low‐Cost High‐Efficiency Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells using Nano‐Imprint Lithography

Low-Cost Passivated Al Front Contacts for III-V/Ge Multijunction Solar Cells

Mask and plate: a scalable front metallization with low-cost potential for III–V-based tandem solar cells enabling 31.6 % conversion efficiency

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