Silicon Contact Defects Get Fired

Abstract

The large majority of installed photovoltaics today are based on silicon. Improvements in their performance and reductions in their manufacturing cost can have a direct global impact on the photovoltaic market, provided this can be realized with minimal disruption to existing manufacturing lines. Recently in Nature Energy, Ballif and colleagues demonstrate an easily integrated method based on a single firing thermal anneal to passivate rear contacts in silicon solar cells.