Six different resistivities (0.32, 0.57, 1.2, 2.2, 9.1 and 20 Ω cm) were investigated to understand the dopant–defect interaction in n‐type, antimony‐doped, dendritic web silicon ribbon, and to study its response to gettering and passivation during belt furnace processing (BFP). The as‐grown lifetime was found to be a strong function of resistivity with higher resistivity displaying higher lifetime. Phosphorus gettering at 925° C/6 min raised the as‐grown lifetime of ∼1 μs in 20 Ω cm n‐web to 5.4 μs. A combination of phosphorus gettering followed by simultaneous Al gettering and SiN hydrogenation raised the 20 Ω cm n‐web lifetime to 78 μs. Unlike the as‐grown web, the processed lifetime was greater than 75 μs for all resistivities, with no clear doping dependence. This is attributed to the very effective gettering and passivation during the belt furnace processing. Front surface field (FSF) n+–n–p+ cells were fabricated by spin‐on phosphorus diffusion on the front and screen‐printed Al on the back. A lifetime value of over 100 μs was obtained in a 14.2% screen‐printed FSF n‐web solar cell fabricated on 100‐μm‐thick 20 Ω cm substrate. The screen‐printed FSF cell fabricated on (111) FZ gave an efficiency of 14.9% with a fill factor of 77.6%. These results are supported by model calculations, which revealed a maximum efficiency of ∼15% for 100‐μm‐thick planar screen‐printed FSF cells and their insensitivity to bulk lifetime above 60 μs. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.