Improvement of electrical properties in screen-printed crystalline silicon solar cells by contact treatment of the grid edge

Seongtak Kim, Sungeun Park, Young Do Kim, Hyunpil Boo, Hyunho Kim, Soohyun Bae, Hyomin Park, Sung Ju Tark, Donghwan Kim

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    10 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    In this study, the influence of HF treatment of Ag pastes after a firing process was investigated. It was shown that the HF treatment can improve the fill factors and efficiencies of various cells including those with high initial specific contact resistances. SEM images showed that this improvement is due to the etching of the thin glass layer at the Ag-Si boundary, which exposes the Ag crystallites and colloids. These colloids electrically connect the bulk Ag to the Si through a direct contact, which reduces both the transfer length and the specific contact resistance. A model of the current path was proposed to explain the effect of HF treatment on the edge of the Ag grid.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)1333-1338
    Number of pages6
    JournalMetals and Materials International
    Volume19
    Issue number6
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2013 Nov

    Bibliographical note

    Funding Information:
    This work was supported by the Human Resources Development of the Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning (KETEP) grant funded by the Korea government Ministry of Knowledge Economy (No. 20104010100640). This work was also supported by the WC-300 of the Korea Evaluation Institute of Industrial Technology (KEIT) grant funded by the Korea government Ministry of Knowledge Economy (No. 10043264).

    Keywords

    • Ag paste
    • HF treatment
    • Si solar cells
    • electrical properties
    • scanning electron microscopy
    • screen-printing

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Condensed Matter Physics
    • Mechanics of Materials
    • Metals and Alloys
    • Materials Chemistry

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Improvement of electrical properties in screen-printed crystalline silicon solar cells by contact treatment of the grid edge'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this