Effective Contact Formation Method on High-Sheet-Resistance Boron-Doped Emitter With Current Injection

Abstract

We investigate the effect of current injection during contact formation of an Ag-based screen-printed electrode to boron-doped emitters, which differ by their sheet resistances. The average contact resistivities between the metal electrode and silicon of all the boron-doped emitter samples are similar to 3 m Omega cm(2), regardless of the sheet resistance (75-145 Omega/sq), and the lowest values are below 1 m Omega cm(2) using the injection of a current density of 5 A/cm(2) during the metallization process. Additionally, the injection of current to a phosphorus-doped emitter in the opposite direction suppressed the formation of the Ag precipitates and crystallites and increased the contact resistivity of over 300 m Omega cm(2), which is comparable to that obtained when Ag paste is applied to a boron-doped emitter with no current injection. This finding indicates that electrons are essential for the reduction of Ag ions during high-temperature metallization process using the screen-printing technique and that the injection of current can control the contact formation and enhance the efficiency of solar cells. Finally, we suggest a suitable process for reducing the contact resistivity in manufacturing n-type Si solar cells.