A Study on the Electrodeposition and Silicidation of Nickel-Cobalt Alloys for Silicon Photovoltaic Cell Metallization

Huang, Qiang

doi:10.1149/2.0191602jss

Cited by 8 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…, semiconducting PbO 2 electrode in lead-acid batteries), compound semiconductors ( e.g. , photoelectrochemical HER with MoS 2 ), and Si solar cells. − However, there is not enough discussion on the formation of a space-charge layer from an electrochemistry viewpoint.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Semiconductor-to-Metal-like Behavior of Si with Dopant Concentration—An Electrochemical Investigation and Illustration with Surface Hydride Formation and Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

et al. 2020

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n-type and p-type silicon of various dopant concentrations (10 14 to 10 19 cm −3 ) are electrochemically characterized in a 1% hydrogen fluoride (HF) electrolyte with voltammetry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and Mott−Schottky analysis. Voltammograms in conjunction with Mott−Schottky analysis are used to assign the EIS features to the underlying physical processes. The high-frequency (hf) semiconductor features (depletion for n-type Si and accumulation for p-type Si) are strongly influenced by the cathodic overpotentials (−0.4 to −1.5 V) and dopant concentration and are not apparent in the Nyquist plots. With an increase in dopant concentration, Si shows features similar to that of metals, with an hf reminiscence of the spacecharge capacitance. Nevertheless, the mid-frequency (mf) semicircle corresponding to the double layer dominates the EIS features. Moreover, at further lower potentials, various low-frequency (lf) features corresponding to the hydride formation and hydrogen evolution reaction are observed.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Semiconductor-to-Metal-like Behavior of Si with Dopant Concentration—An Electrochemical Investigation and Illustration with Surface Hydride Formation and Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

et al. 2020

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“…The total thickness of the metal layers was expected to be similar for the two solar cells as the total charge for plating was the same. However the first cell showed some degradation after annealing for 20 55 In general, the higher the Co content, the higher the temperature needed for silicidation or the slower the silicidation reaction at a given temperature. As Ni continued to diffuse out, the Co content in the remaining alloy increased and the silicidation slowed down.…”

Section: Effect Of the Thickness And Plating Chemistry Of Ni Layer On...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The silicidation of plated NiCo alloy was studied in details previously and published separately. 55 In general, the higher the Co content, the higher the temperature needed for silicidation or the slower the silicidation reaction at a given temperature. As Ni continued to diffuse out, the Co content in the remaining alloy increased and the silicidation slowed down.…”

Section: Ecs Journal Of Solid State Science and Technology 5 (2) Q24mentioning

confidence: 99%

A Study on the Long-Term Degradation of Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells Metallized with Cu Electroplating

Huang¹,

Reuter²,

Zhu³

et al. 2015

ECS J. Solid State Sci. Technol.

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While using Cu electroplating to metallize silicon cells is of great interest, the long term reliability of such cells have not been well understood. In this paper silicon solar cells metallized with electroplated Cu were thermally stressed. The cell performance was characterized in conjunction with microscopic structure analysis to understand the long-term degradation mechanism and the effect of each different metal layer. The Ni silicide layer had little impact on the performance degradation at 200 • C. Increasing the thickness of a second Ni layer between the silicide and Cu significantly delayed this degradation, acting as a diffusion barrier. A series of cells annealed at different temperatures were used to extrapolate the degradation kinetics. Two different mechanisms were observed. Further silicidation of the second Ni layer was observed and was believed to cause the degradation at a higher temperature of 250 • C. However, this silicidation reaction rate dropped quickly as the temperature decreased and Cu diffusion became the dominant mechanism for cell degradation at temperatures below 200 • C. These two different mechanisms cross over at about 200 • C in this study, where both silicidation and Cu diffusion were observed. An improvement in the cell lifetime by replacing pure Ni with NiCo alloy was studied. In the standard manufacturing process flow of silicon solar cells, the front grids are formed with Ag screen printing. Replacing the screen-printed Ag with electroplated high aspect ratio Cu line has been proposed decades ago.1,2 This method has been of great interest primarily because of the lower conductivity and higher cost of Ag paste. In addition, the plated Cu potentially allows a higher aspect ratio or a smaller shadowing of the front grid and thus enables higher cell efficiencies. More importantly, the most recent development in laser patterning of the front grid allows an easy integration of the electroplating on the selective emitter formed by laser doping. [3][4][5] Different Cu metallization schemes have been reported before. 6,7 The schemes included electroless deposition of Ni and silicidation, [8][9][10] Cu electrodeposition on printed thin seed layer, 11 and electrodeposition of Ni and Cu.12-14 Among them, most of the schemes involve the formation of Ni silicide by annealing either electroless or electrolytic deposited Ni. The main purpose of the silicide is to lower the contact resistance between the metal and emitter and thus to improve the cell performance.Ni silicidation has been extensively studied for the application in complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) contacts. [15][16][17] Ni 2 Si silicide formation starts at as low as about 300• C, followed by monosilicide phases at around 400• C and silicon rich phases at above 800• C. However, small amount of Ni-richer phases such as Ni 3 Si and Ni 5 Si 2 could be observed at as low as 200• C. 15 All the studies for CMOS applications were performed on extremely thin Ni films fabricated using vacuum deposition. The silicide forme...

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Nucleation and growth kinetics of electrodeposited Ni films on Si(100) surfaces

Philipsen

Jehoul

Inoue

et al. 2017

Electrochimica Acta

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A Study on the Electrodeposition and Silicidation of Nickel-Cobalt Alloys for Silicon Photovoltaic Cell Metallization

Cited by 8 publications

References 41 publications

Semiconductor-to-Metal-like Behavior of Si with Dopant Concentration—An Electrochemical Investigation and Illustration with Surface Hydride Formation and Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

Semiconductor-to-Metal-like Behavior of Si with Dopant Concentration—An Electrochemical Investigation and Illustration with Surface Hydride Formation and Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

A Study on the Long-Term Degradation of Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells Metallized with Cu Electroplating

Nucleation and growth kinetics of electrodeposited Ni films on Si(100) surfaces

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