NDLI: Investigation of the dependence of a screen-printed solar cell open circuit voltage on the al paste composition

Content Provider	IEEE Xplore Digital Library
Author	Ebong, A. Addo, E.
Copyright Year	2012
Description	Author affiliation: PVCH, LLC; Delaware Industrial Park, 20 Shea Way, Suite 201, Newark DE 19711, USA (Addo, E.) \|\| Energy Production and Infrastructure Center (EPIC), Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, The University of North Carolina, 9201 University City Blvd, Charlotte, 28223-001, USA (Ebong, A.)
Abstract	The back surface field (BSF) induced by a highly Al doped $p^{+}$ region is beneficial in reducing the back surface recombination velocity (BSRV) in a conventional industrial type silicon solar cell. The effectiveness of the BSF in controlling the BSRV depends on its thickness and uniformity. The Al-BSF thickness is said to depend on the screen-printed Al thickness while the annealing method, rapid or slow firing, controls the uniformity. However, even though screen-printed Al thickness of 25–30 µm is generally used in the industry and fired rapidly in the belt furnace, there is still a difference in open circuit voltage (V) and efficiency depending on the source of Al paste. In order to understand the source of variation in V, we fabricated large area (239 $cm^{2})$ Cz silicon solar cells on commercial 65 ohm/sq emitter using three Al pastes from three vendors, A, B and C. We used a commercial front Ag paste with a known firing profile to circumvent the influence of the front contacts on the cell performance. The best V for cells with Al pastes from vendors A, B and C were 636 mV, 635mV, and 637 mV, respectively. The SEM analysis revealed the average BSF thickness for vendors A, B, and C pastes as 7.3 µm, 5.9 µm and 6.9 µm, respectively. The long wavelength IQE and the LBIC analysis were similar for all the three pastes. This shows that, irrespective of the Al vendor, if the front side of the cell is similarly processed, and provided the BSF is uniform and greater than 4 µm, similar V can be achieved. Therefore, the Al pastes from different vendors are similar in performance provided the front side of the cell is processed with adequate control.
Starting Page	002149
Ending Page	002152
File Size	1314933
Page Count	4
File Format	PDF
ISBN	9781467300643
ISSN	01608371
e-ISBN	9781467300667
DOI	10.1109/PVSC.2012.6318022
Language	English
Publisher	Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
Publisher Date	2012-06-03
Publisher Place	USA
Access Restriction	Subscribed
Rights Holder	Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
Subject Keyword	Artificial intelligence Abstracts Voltage control Annealing Silicon Europe screen-printed solar cells Al BSF
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering Control and Systems Engineering Electrical and Electronic Engineering

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