The electrical and microstructural properties of electroplated screen-printed Ag metal contacts in crystalline silicon solar cells

Vinod, Prakash

doi:10.1039/c3ra40823j

Cited by 19 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…In addition to application of electroless plating for deposition of seed Ni layer, photoassisted electroless Ag plating over screen-printed Ag seed layer has been demonstrated to decrease the and leading to absolute improvement in FF by 2 to 8% [55,56]. The improvement in FF is due to filling up of micropores and voids in the screen-printed contacts with plated Ag [55]. Commercially manufactured cells with noncontinuous contact grids or high were also found to improve after electroless Ag plating with absolute efficiency gain of 0.2% to 1.8% [56,57].…”

Section: Electroless Ag Plating For Solar Cell Metallizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Review of Ni-Cu Based Front Side Metallization for c-Si Solar Cells

Raval

Solanki

2013

Journal of Solar Energy

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Given the high percentage of metal cost in cell processing and concerns due to increasing Ag prices, alternative metallization schemes are being considered. Ni-Cu based front side metallization offers potential advantages of finer grid lines, lower series resistance, and reduced costs. A brief overview of various front side patterning techniques is presented. Subsequently, working principle of various plating techniques is discussed. For electroless plated Ni seed layer, fill factor values nearing 80% and efficiencies close to 17.5% have been demonstrated, while for Light Induced Plating deposited layers, an efficiency of 19.2% has been reported. Various methods for qualifying adhesion and long term stability of metal stack are discussed. Adhesion strengths in the range of 1–2.7 N/mm have been obtained for Ni-Cu contacts tabbed with conventional soldering process. Given the significance of metallization properties, different methods for characterization are outlined. The problem of background plating for Ni-Cu based metallization along with the various methods for characterization is summarized. An economic evaluation of front side metallization indicates process cost saving of more than 50% with Ni-Cu-Sn based layers. Recent successful commercialization and demonstration of Ni-Cu based metallization on industrial scale indicate a potential major role of Ni-Cu based contacts in near future.

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Section: Electroless Ag Plating For Solar Cell Metallizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Review of Ni-Cu Based Front Side Metallization for c-Si Solar Cells

Raval

Solanki

2013

Journal of Solar Energy

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“…Electroless deposition is a chemical method to provide silver atoms and small clusters in solution. 45,46 The silver tracks were immerged into the electroless deposition solution aer sintering process as illustrated in Fig. 3a.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seeds triggered massive synthesis and multi-step room temperature post-processing of silver nanoink—application for paper electronics

Zhang

et al. 2017

RSC Adv.

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Paper electronics based on ink-jet printing has become a promising technology for building new concepts of flexible and three dimensional (3D) electronic circuits and devices in a simple, cost-effective and untraditional way. In this paper, we focus on the development of massive silver nanoink syntheses and room temperature post-processing methods to meet the particular technical features of paper electronics. We firstly proposed a seed triggered synthesis method to achieve uniform silver nanoparticles without the existence of large nanostructures. Such a silver nanoparticle solution can be easily centrifuged to nanoink at a relatively low speed. Then we showed that the electric conductivities of the printed silver tracks can be improved significantly by a multi-step room temperature post-processing (MRTP) method including organic solution washing, white LED irradiation and electroless deposition in sequence. Conductivities of up to 17% of that of bulk silver can be achieved which is nearly 2 times that of the printed silver tracks treated by a conventional heating process at 120 C for a long time. Moreover, by combining together with 3D paper folding art, we systematically investigated the electrical performances of the printed circuits associated with the printing uniformity, mechanical flexibility and strain sensitivity. These overall characteristics of the room temperature treated printing technology show great potential for the development of innovative 3D electronic products in the future. † Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available: This section includes the investigation of the relationship between the thickness of the tracks and the printing cycles, SEM image and absorbance spectrum of gold seeds, comparison experiment for the investigation of organic shell dissolving ability of different organic solvents, the simulation modeling of the electromagnetic eld distribution analysis, comparison of particle synthesis and post processing methods, and post-processing of silver tracks formed by large silver crystal structures using electroless silver deposition. See

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“…Method B is a modified TLM with four-point probes, 16 where the first two probes for voltage high and current high, respectively, are anchored at the first electrode and the other two probes for voltage low and current low, respectively, move together sequentially from the second to the last silver electrode. Method C is the TPP method, [17][18][19] where the first two probes of voltage high and current high, respectively, are anchored at the first silver electrode, the third probe for current low is anchored at the last silver electrode, and the last probe for voltage low moves sequentially from the second to the last silver electrode. Fig.…”

Section: The Influence Of Measuring Methods and Conditions On Resistamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For the characterization of the contact resistivity of silver electrodes, diverse resistance measurement methods, such as the circular transmission line method (the circular transfer length method and abbreviated as CTLM), [12][13][14] the linear transmission line method (the transfer length method and abbreviated as TLM), 15,16 and the threepoint probe (TPP) method [17][18][19] have been introduced. In general, a specimen for CTLM or TLM requires either a set of concentric circular silver electrodes with different gaps or a set of linear silver electrodes with different spacings, respectively.…”

Section: 11mentioning

confidence: 99%

Uncertainty analysis in contact resistivity measurements of crystalline silicon solar cells

Shin

Yoo

Seo

2015

Int. J. of Precis. Eng. and Manuf.-Green Tech.

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The achievement of obtaining low contact resistivity between silver electrodes and the emitter layer of a crystalline silicon solar cell has been a constant issue for the silver paste developers in crystalline silicon solar cell industries. However, it has been found that there are factors that significantly distort the accurate characterization of contact resistivity. One group of such factors have been identified to be not related with the physical traits of silver paste nor the size of a crystalline silicon solar cell wafer. These factors include mathematical formulations to calculate contact resistivity, the preparation method for specimens, probing methods, current source settings, and environmental conditions. On the other hand, the other group of such factors are directly related with the formulation method and composition of silver paste, and the size of a crystalline silicon solar cell wafer where specimens for the resistance measurements are prepared. Through this study, the impact of each factor on resistance measurement using a three-point probe method for the calculation of contact resistivity is analyzed.

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The electrical and microstructural properties of electroplated screen-printed Ag metal contacts in crystalline silicon solar cells

Cited by 19 publications

References 26 publications

Review of Ni-Cu Based Front Side Metallization for c-Si Solar Cells

Review of Ni-Cu Based Front Side Metallization for c-Si Solar Cells

Seeds triggered massive synthesis and multi-step room temperature post-processing of silver nanoink—application for paper electronics

Uncertainty analysis in contact resistivity measurements of crystalline silicon solar cells

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