Recent improvements in the screenprinting technology and comparison with the buried contact technology by 2D-simulation

Abstract

Recently, a lot of progress has been made in the pilot-production of mono- and multicrystalline silicon solar cells by the screenprinting technology. For example, a process based on screenprinting combined with oxide passivation and a plasma-nitride ARC yields cell efficiencies approaching 17% on 100 cm 2 Cz Si Material. These results ask for a detailed comparison concerning the relative performance of state-of-the-art screenprinted cells compared to the state-of-the-art buried contact structure. This is done by means of 213-simulations using the simulation program SIMUL. It comes out that the efficiency difference between a buried contact technology and a screenprinting technology, both with selective emitter and good surface passivation, is only 0.5% absolute. The efficiency difference between screenprinted cells with a homogeneous emitter and buried contact cells with a selective emitter turns out to be between 1 and 1.5% absolute, depending on the surface passivation quality. Looking at the above-mentioned difference in efficiency, only detailed cost calculations for an industrial production scenario can reveal which process leads to the lowest cost per Wp.