Abstract
In this work, nickel thin films were deposited on texture silicon by electroless plated deposition. The electroless-deposited Ni layers were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), and sheet resistance measurement. The results indicate that the dominant phase was Ni2Si and NiSi in samples annealed at 300–800 °C. Sheet resistance values were found to correlate well with the surface morphology obtained by SEM and the results of XRD diffraction. The Cu/Ni contact system was used to fabricate solar cells by using two different activating baths. The open circuit voltage (Voc) of the Cu/Ni samples, before and after annealing, was measured under air mass (AM) 1.5 conditions to determine solar cell properties. The results show that open circuit voltage of a solar cell can be enhanced when the activation solution incorporated hydrofluoric acid (HF). This is mainly attributed to the native silicon oxide layer that can be decreased and/or removed by HF with the corresponding reduction of series resistance.
Highlights
Sustainability has become a major keyword in the 21st century
The elemental scanning electron microscopy (SEM)/energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS) analysis shows the presence of silicon, nickel, and phosphorus, suggesting the success of electroless nickel plating
The process of electroless Ni plating on a textured silicon surface was performed using using a chemical bath, which consisted of a Ni source in the form of metal salt, NiSO4·6H2O (nickel a chemical bath, which consisted of a Ni source in the form of metal salt, NiSO4 ·6H2 O, sulfate), and NaH2PO2·H2O
Summary
The sustainable development of renewable energy resources to meet growing energy requirements is the most critical challenge of the modern world. Among the various renewable energy sources, solar cells are the most required due to their safe, clean, and pollution-free application. Silicon (Si) solar cells have attracted growing attention due to the reduced costs of raw materials and large-scale production. These mass-produced solar cells are usually based on crystalline Si wafers. In 1975, screen-printing was applied to solar cells for the formation of front and rear contacts [1]. The front contact and rear side of screen-printed contacts are considered to be a standard technology for metallization in solar cell manufacturing. The processes simplicity and lower processing time leads to the high-throughput production of c-Si solar cells
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