How does a solar cell work?

Electroplating of front metal contacts is followed by removal of the plating resist. Then, the metal grid acts as a mask for subsequent cap etching. The solar cell’s front side is completed after antireflection coating (ARC) deposition.

How did GM and FP contribute to the development of solar cells?

G.M. performed utilized electroplating and mask removal processes. Together with J.B., she developed the galvanic processes used in this work. F.P. managed and supervised the fabrication of III–V//Si solar cell wafers and provided the team with essential input on processing of III–V-based solar cells.

Can mask and plate metallization transform photovoltaic processing?

Considering cost and scaling potential, mask and plate has the potential to transform the processing of any III–V-based photovoltaic device. In III–V solar cell manufacturing, mask and plate front metallization follows MOVPE growth and replaces both a photolithography and an evaporation process sequence.

How to improve solar cells with mask and plate front metallization?

A further improvement of III–V//Si solar cells with mask and plate front metallization can be achieved by simply reducing the shading finger width wf and busbar width. Mask and plate contacts with feature sizes of 10 µm are already available today (see Fig. 3 b).

Which metallization technique is used in photovoltaic industry?

As a dominant metallization technique of crystalline silicon solar cells, screen printing with silver paste has been generally used in photovoltaic industries.

Does copper nickel alloy plating improve contact resistance of silicon heterojunction solar cells?

Lee, S.H., Lee, D.W., Lim, Kj. et al. Copper–Nickel Alloy Plating to Improve the Contact Resistivity of Metal Grid on Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cells. Electron. Mater.