We report here the formation of an electrode through a selective electroless plating process. It consists of pre-treatment, selected Ni electroless plating, and Cu electroless chemical plating. Through the selective electrode formation technique using Pd/Ni/Cu, we established a high-efficiency and low-cost process for the manufacture of crystalline silicon solar cells. Measurements with a solar simulator showed that an open-circuit voltage of 0.684 V, short-circuit current density of 32.3 mA/cm 2 , form factor of 75.39%, and an efficiency of 18.21% was obtained for a monocrystalline silicon solar cell.
We investigated the role of Ni/Cu metallization and the characteristics of selective thin-film deposition on the Indium tin oxide (ITO), ZnO, SiNx and doped Si surfaces of a silicon solarcell electrode. We propose Ni/Cu metallization as an alternative to silver screen-printing. Our method, called the selective electrode formation (SEF) process, utilizes a low-cost, streamlined wet chemical process. Metallization was confirmed to occur on the Si electrode with adhesion through Pd activation. Ni, which hinders Cu diffusion, was then selectively deposited from a NaH2PO2 based nickel solution, and Cu, the main electrode material, was deposited from a HCHObased copper solution. Ni/Cu was deposited on the ZnO, ITO, or SiNx film. The deposition and the heat treatment of Ni and Cu were successfully performed on a substrate consisting of a patterned n + -doped wafer with POCl3 by maintaining the same steady process conditions as in process.
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