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

doi:10.1007/s12540-013-6032-9

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 journal › Article › peer-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 language	English
Pages (from-to)	1333-1338
Number of pages	6
Journal	Metals and Materials International
Volume	19
Issue number	6
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s12540-013-6032-9
Publication status	Published - 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

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10.1007/s12540-013-6032-9

Cite this

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

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.",

keywords = "Ag paste, HF treatment, Si solar cells, electrical properties, scanning electron microscopy, screen-printing",

author = "Seongtak Kim and Sungeun Park and Kim, {Young Do} and Hyunpil Boo and Hyunho Kim and Soohyun Bae and Hyomin Park and Tark, {Sung Ju} and Donghwan Kim",

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).",

year = "2013",

month = nov,

doi = "10.1007/s12540-013-6032-9",

language = "English",

volume = "19",

pages = "1333--1338",

journal = "Metals and Materials International",

issn = "1598-9623",

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T1 - Improvement of electrical properties in screen-printed crystalline silicon solar cells by contact treatment of the grid edge

AU - Kim, Seongtak

AU - Park, Sungeun

AU - Kim, Young Do

AU - Boo, Hyunpil

AU - Kim, Hyunho

AU - Bae, Soohyun

AU - Park, Hyomin

AU - Tark, Sung Ju

AU - Kim, Donghwan

N1 - 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).

PY - 2013/11

Y1 - 2013/11

N2 - 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.

AB - 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.

KW - Ag paste

KW - HF treatment

KW - Si solar cells

KW - electrical properties

KW - scanning electron microscopy

KW - screen-printing

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DO - 10.1007/s12540-013-6032-9

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:84888401595

SN - 1598-9623

VL - 19

SP - 1333

EP - 1338

JO - Metals and Materials International

JF - Metals and Materials International

IS - 6

ER -

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

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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