Copper as an Alternative Metallization Scheme for Photovoltaics

Abstract

Copper is an ideal replacement for silver in metallization of solar cells as it is 97% the conductivity but 1/100ththe cost. As the industry strives to scale production to a multi-terawatt scale, there simply is not enough silver to meet the industry need. In this talk, the replacement of silver with copper will be reviewed for a number of device architectures that are already commercial and ones that are nearing commercialization. The work will describe what the issues that need to be addressed and how the community can provide results. Examples of copper as a metallization will also be supplied.