Silicon heterojunction solar cells with copper-plated grid electrodes: Status and comparison with silver thick-film techniques

Jonas Geissbuhler, Stefaan De Wolf, Antonin Faes, Nicolas Badel, Quentin Jeangros, Andrea Tomasi, Loris Barraud, Antoine Descoeudres, Matthieu Despeisse, Christophe Ballif

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

99 Scopus citations

Abstract

Copper electroplating is investigated and compared with common silver printing techniques for the front metallization of silicon heterojunction solar cells. We achieve smaller feature sizes by electroplating, significantly reducing optical shadowing losses and improving cell efficiency by 0.4% absolute. A detailed investigation of series resistance contributions reveals that, at maximum power point, a significant part of the lateral charge-carrier transport occurs inside the crystalline bulk, rather than exclusively in the front transparent conductive oxide. This impacts optimization for the front-grid design. Using advanced electron microscopy, we study the inner structure of copper-plated fingers and their interfaces. Finally, a cell efficiency of 22.4% is demonstrated with copper-plated front metallization.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number6819785
Pages (from-to)1055-1062
Number of pages8
JournalIEEE Journal of Photovoltaics
Volume4
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 2014
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Copper electroplating
  • heterojunction
  • metallization
  • silicon
  • solar cell

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
  • Condensed Matter Physics
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

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