Analyzing impact of background plating from alkaline Ni bath for Ni-Cu metallization

Abstract

Ni-Cu based front contacts for c-Si cells are plated on patterned SiN x and there could be undesirable background plating leading to shading and shunting losses. In this work, background plating from an alkaline Ni bath is analyzed by Suns-V oc and CoreScan studies. It has been observed that for plating interval of two minutes, pseudo fill-factor show variations till 67% and average R sh value was less than half of unprocessed cells. Decrease in R sh for plating interval of one minute was not as severe as for two minute plating.

Damage-free laser patterning of silicon nitride on textured crystalline silicon using an amorphous silicon etch mask for Ni/Cu plated silicon solar cells

“…Pinholes coupled with Light-Induced-Plating (LIP) lead to ghost plating-the deposition/growth of metal in non-contact locations. Ghost plating reduces finger conductivity, causes pattern loss, and shades the cell, all of which are undesirable in our application [15][16][17].…”