Native Oxide Barrier Layer for Selective Electroplated Metallization of Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cells

Hatt, Thibaud; Kluska, Sven; Yamin, M.; Bartsch, Jonas; Glatthaar, Markus

doi:10.1002/solr.201900006

Cited by 25 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…The layer thickness was increased homogenously to 7 μm (Figure B). As in theory, the aluminum areas stay free of copper deposition . To reach an electrical contact separation between n‐type and p‐type doped areas, the full‐faced aluminum layer is etched selectively by using highly diluted NaOH.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…A significant advantage of the ESP is the precise process control by current/voltage profile and by printing speed during this process, which allows the etching depth to be precisely adjusted. This approach can be used for several applications in the photovoltaics sector, such as IBC solar cells and silicon heterojunction (SHJ) solar cells . If the substrate is a polymer foil, applications for organic solar cells and flexible electronics are imaginable.…”

Section: Approach Theory and Experimental Detailsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the next processing step, the patterned layers act as a seed layer for plating to increase the layer thickness (Figure C). The uncovered aluminum areas in the trenches are passivated by its native aluminum oxide and will not be plated if a suitable plating process is applied . A commercial copper‐sulfate–based electrolyte from OMGroup is used.…”

Section: Approach Theory and Experimental Detailsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Selective seed layer patterning of PVD metal stacks by electrochemical screen printing for solar cell applications

Gensowski

Kamp

Efinger

et al. 2019

Progress in Photovoltaics

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A proof of principle for electrochemical screen printing (ESP) as a patterning process for thin metal stacks that can be employed, eg, in interdigitated back contact (IBC) or silicon heterojunction (SHJ) solar cells, is demonstrated. By using the ESP process, a 125 × 125-mm 2 interdigitated back contact grid was successfully patterned into a 100-nm physical vapor deposited (PVD) aluminum layer. Optimizations of the ESP process were performed to improve the patterning resolution. Rectangular trenches with a mean width of 36 ± 5 μm could be demonstrated on a 100-nm-thick aluminum layer. Up to now, ESP can be applied to PVD aluminum, copper, or stacks of both materials. Finally, metal stacks of aluminum and copper were structured, which allow a more homogeneous current distribution for the ESP process and additionally for the subsequent copper electroplating because of the second metal layer underneath the layer to be structured. The successful transfer from wafer substrate to polymer foils increases the application options of ESP technology enormously, where the topography of the surface to be structured affects the printing results. KEYWORDSAl/Cu stack, electrochemical etching, flexible circuit board, interdigitated back contact (IBC) solar cell, plating, screen printing, silicon, water-based printing pasteThis is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Approach Theory and Experimental Detailsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Approach Theory and Experimental Detailsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Selective seed layer patterning of PVD metal stacks by electrochemical screen printing for solar cell applications

Gensowski

Kamp

Efinger

et al. 2019

Progress in Photovoltaics

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…So far, a wide variety of copper plating routes have been developed on TCO, typically applied to silicon heterojunction (SHJ) solar cells, [26][27][28] which underlines the interest in finding a simple sequence. To prevent full-area Cu electrodeposition on TCO, a plating mask is generally applied, [26][27][28] as recently demonstrated with ALD Al 2 O 3 layers. [29,30] Therefore, our first experiment assessed the feasibility of an ALD Al Subsequently, two plating routes with different masking layers were evaluated on PSCs, as shown in Figure 1, based on etchant inkjet printing for patterning of the grid.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Electroplated Copper Metal Contacts on Perovskite Solar Cells

et al. 2021

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Electroplated copper contacts on small‐area single‐junction perovskite solar cells (PSCs) using an atomic layer deposited (ALD) Al2O3 masking layer on ITO are demonstrated for the first time. The photoconversion efficiency of ≈11% after manufacturing the Cu contacts confirms that PSCs can survive the wet‐chemical plating process. From the successful realization of plated contact fingers, the creation of an electrical contact between the Cu electrode and the ITO on the FA0.75Cs0.25Pb(I0.8Br0.2)3 perovskite absorber is inferred. Furthermore, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with energy‐dispersive X‐ray (EDX) analysis shows the formation of a compact interface between ITO and plated Cu. An additional plating approach, using self‐passivated aluminum as mask, allows to produce well‐defined 30 μm wide Cu contacts on the PSC. Such a plating process allows for plating a low‐resistive Cu grid simultaneously on both sides of a perovskite silicon heterojunction tandem solar cell with TCO, independent of substrate size.

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Curing conditions for low‐resistivity contacts on transparent conductive oxide layers for different solar cell applications

Gensowski,

Freund,

Much

et al. 2023

Progress in Photovoltaics

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The Cu (ln1‐xGax)Se2 (CIGS) solar cell technology is a potentially high‐efficient approach with unique properties compared with silicon photovoltaic, like flexible lightweight substrates and different colored designs. So far, the full potential of the transparent conductive oxide layers has not been exploited yet as no front contacts are applied, resulting in significant losses from the cell‐to‐module level. In this study, Ag front contacts are applied by parallel dispensing onto indium tin oxide layers of silicon heterojunction substrates and CIGS substrates. Subsequently, a thermally curing process is carried out to form the conductive contacts. The curing conditions are varied between 200°C ≥ Tc ≥ 100°C combined with 20 min ≥ tc ≥ 1.5 min. The study aims to determine the curing parameters enabling low‐resistivity contacts by using low‐temperature curing Ag paste and ultralow‐temperature curing Ag paste. The lateral electrode resistance and the contact resistivity of printed electrodes are measured. The results of simultaneous thermogravimetry‐differential scanning calorimetry (pastes) and microstructure analysis of printed electrodes are used to explain the electrical parameters of the printed electrodes. In general, higher curing temperatures and longer curing durations encourage the sintering and densification process of the applied electrodes resulting in low‐resistivity contacts. Contact resistivities below ρc,TLM < 5 mΩ·cm2 and lateral electrode resistance of Rlateral ≥ 17 Ω m−1 are obtained for different paste systems. However, optimal curing conditions of low‐temperature curing pastes can cause thermal damage to the CIGS device. Therefore, ultralow‐temperature curing pastes seem to be promising candidates for front contact metallization of CIGS substrates.

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Native Oxide Barrier Layer for Selective Electroplated Metallization of Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cells

Cited by 25 publications

References 26 publications

Selective seed layer patterning of PVD metal stacks by electrochemical screen printing for solar cell applications

Selective seed layer patterning of PVD metal stacks by electrochemical screen printing for solar cell applications

Electroplated Copper Metal Contacts on Perovskite Solar Cells

Curing conditions for low‐resistivity contacts on transparent conductive oxide layers for different solar cell applications

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