Industrial Silicon Solar Cells Research Articles

Development and Characterization of N2O-Plasma Oxide Layers for High-Temperature p-Type Passivating Contacts in Silicon Solar Cells.

Full-area passivating contacts based on SiOx/poly-Si stacks are key for the new generation of industrial silicon solar cells substituting the passivated emitter and rear cell (PERC) technology. Demonstrating a potential efficiency increase of 1 to 2% compared to PERC, the utilization of n-type wafers with an n-type contact at the back and a p-type diffused boron emitter has become the industry standard in 2024. In this work, variations of this technology are explored, considering p-type passivating contacts on p-type Si wafers formed via a rapid thermal processing (RTP) step. These contacts could be useful in conjunction with n-type contacts for realizing solar cells with passivating contacts on both sides. Here, a particular focus is set on investigating the influence of the applied thermal treatment on the interfacial silicon oxide (SiOx) layer. Thin SiOx layers formed via ultraviolet (UV)-O3 exposure are compared with layers obtained through a plasma treatment with nitrous oxide (N2O). This process is performed in the same plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) chamber used to grow the Si-based passivating layer, resulting in a streamlined process flow. For both oxide types, the influence of the RTP thermal budget on passivation quality and contact resistivity is investigated. Whereas the UV-O3 oxide shows a pronounced degradation when using high thermal budget annealing (T > 860 °C), the N2O-plasma oxide exhibits instead an excellent passivation quality under these conditions. Simultaneously, the contact resistivity achieved with the N2O-plasma oxide layer is comparable to that yielded by UV-O3-grown oxides. To unravel the mechanisms behind the improved performance obtained with the N2O-plasma oxide at high thermal budget, characterization by high-resolution (scanning) transmission electron microscopy (HR-(S)TEM), X-ray reflectometry (XRR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) is conducted on layer stacks featuring both N2O and UV-O3 oxides after RTP. A breakup of the UV-O3 oxide at high thermal budget is observed, whereas the N2O oxide is found to maintain its structural integrity along the interface. Furthermore, chemical analysis reveals that the N2O oxide is richer in oxygen and contains a higher amount of nitrogen compared to the UV-O3 oxide. These distinguishing characteristics can be directly linked to the enhanced stability exhibited by the N2O oxide under higher annealing temperatures and extended dwell times.

Hot carrier photocurrent induced by 0.92 eV photon energy radiation in a Si solar cell

Absorption of the below-bandgap solar radiation and direct pre-thermalizational impact of a hot carrier (HC) on the operation of a single-junction solar cell are ignored by the Shockley-Queisser theory. The detrimental effect of the HC is generally accepted only via the thermalization-caused heating of the lattice. Here, the authors demonstrate experimental evidence of the HC photocurrent induced by the below-bandgap 0.92 eV photon energy radiation in an industrial silicon solar cell. The carriers are heated both through direct free-carrier absorption and by residual photon energy remaining after the electron-hole pair generation. The polarity of the HC photocurrent opposes that of the conventional generation photocurrent, indicating that the total current across the p-n junction is contingent upon the interplay between these two currents. A model of current-voltage characteristics analysis allowing us to obtain a reasonable value of the HC temperature was also proposed. This work is remarkable in two ways: first, it contributes to an understanding of HC phenomena in photovoltaic devices, and second, it prompts discussion of the HC photocurrent as a new intrinsic loss mechanism in solar cells.

Silver‐lean metallization and hybrid contacts via plating on screen‐printed metal for silicon solar cells manufacturing

AbstractAs PV manufacturing heads towards the multi‐TW scale, it is required to carefully evaluate a wide range of concepts including not only efficiency and cost but also material consumption to ensure sustainable manufacturing of PV technologies. The rapid growth of PV could significantly increase the demand for several materials required in solar cells such as silver, aluminium, copper and even silicon, thereby causing dramatic price fluctuations. Furthermore, the PV manufacturing capacity would be at risk of being limited by the supply of some scarce metals, e.g. with current industrial implementations – screen printing (SP) metallization, the capacities of PERC and TOPCon could be capped at 377 GW and 227 GW with 20% of global silver supply available to the PV industry. In addition, PV systems have ~25–30 years lifespan to ensure low LCOE and emissions. Recycling alone will not provide an immediate solution to overcome the limitation of material consumption in the exponentially growing PV market. It is expected that the Ag usage needs to be reduced to no more than 5 mg/W or even 2 mg/W for all solar cell technologies to allow a multi‐TW manufacturing scale without depleting the global silver supply. Therefore, further advancements in metallization technologies are critically and urgently required to significantly reduce the silver consumption of current screen‐printed contacts in industrial silicon solar cells. This paper firstly presents a roadmap towards the 5 mg/W and 2 mg/W silver consumption targets with various metallization technologies and screen‐printing designs. Subsequently, a hybrid plating on screen‐printed metallization design was proposed to improve the performance and reduce the silver consumption of screen‐printed contacts. The experimental results have demonstrated up to 1.08%abs improvements in fill factor and 0.3%abs gains in cell efficiency. In addition, up to 40%rel reductions in finger silver consumption have been achieved without any sacrifices in the electrical conductivity of such hybrid screen‐printed and plated fingers. This work proposes not only a roadmap but also a promising approach to significantly reduce the Ag demand and benefit sustainable production of industrial screen‐printed silicon solar cells in the TW era.

Inverted pyramid structures fabricated on monocrystalline silicon surface with a NaOH solution

Low-cost aqueous alkaline etching has been widely adopted for monocrystalline silicon surface texturing in current industrial silicon solar cells. However, conventional alkaline etching can only prepare upright pyramid structures on mono-crystalline silicon surfaces. This study demonstrates for the first time the use of ethylene glycol butyl ether (EGBE) to regulate aqueous anisotropic alkaline etching and prepare inverted pyramid structures on monocrystalline silicon surfaces. Acidic metal-catalyzed etching solutions are not the best choice for monocrystalline silicon due to their inherent disadvantages, such as noble metal pollution and relatively high costs. The one-step method to produce the inverted pyramid structures by using alkaline etch with EGBE additive is simple and inexpensive, does not generate noble metal pollution, and especially compatible with current industrial silicon solar cell production lines. With the use of a sodium hydroxide (NaOH) solution containing a low-cost additive, inverted pyramid structures can be prepared on mono-crystalline silicon surface in a short time. This method is suitable for various types of silicon wafers and has great potential for industrial solar cell applications.

MXene‐Interconnected Two‐Terminal, Mechanically‐Stacked Perovskite/Silicon Tandem Solar Cell with High Efficiency

AbstractTwo‐terminal, mechanically‐stacked perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells offer a feasible way to achieve power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of over 35%, provided that the state‐of‐the‐art industrial silicon solar cells and perovskite solar cells (PSCs) are fully compatible with one another. Herein, two‐terminal, mechanically‐stacked perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells are developed by mechanically interconnecting semitransparent PSCs and TOPCon solar cells with a MXene interlayer. The semitransparent PSCs are made from wide‐bandgap perovskite Cs0.15FA0.65MA0.20Pb(I0.80Br0.20)3 films. Furthermore, the co‐additives KPF6 and CH3NH3Cl(MACl) are employed to reduce grain boundaries and intragranular defects in the perovskite, boosting the PCE of the semitransparent PSCs to a record‐high value of 20.96% under reverse scan (RS) through a reduction in non‐radiative recombination probability. These optimized semitransparent PSCs are then employed in MXene‐interconnected two‐terminal, mechanically‐stacked tandem solar cells. The enhanced interfacial carrier transportation, with minimal influence on light transmission, imparted by the MXene flakes allows the tandem solar cells to achieve a stabilized PCE of 29.65%. The tandem cells also exhibit acceptable operational stability and are able to retain ≈93% and 92% of their initial PCEs after 120 min of continuous illumination or storage in ambient air for 1000 h, respectively.

24.7% industrial tunnel oxide passivated contact solar cells prepared through tube PECVD integrating with plasma-assisted oxygen oxidation and in-situ doped polysilicon

Tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) solar cells have gradually dominated the industrial silicon solar cells. In this paper, we have adopted the tube plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) technology integrating with nano SiOx (Tox) and in-situ phosphorus-doped polysilicon (n + poly-Si), in which Tox is prepared by plasma-assisted oxygen (O2) oxidation. Passivation and contact performance of TOPCon solar cells have been investigated under different thicknesses of Tox, and the following simulation has confirmed the optimal electrical properties, i.e., the implied open-circuit voltage (iVOC) of the hydrogenated lifetime sample is promoted to more than 736.1 mV on the textured wafer, corresponding to a lowest single-sided saturation current density (J0) of 4.6 fA/cm2, and the contact resistivity of 1.55 mΩ cm2 extracted from the transmission line method. Characterizations are carried out to conform the rear stack passivation layers satisfy the requirement of the high-efficiency TOPCon solar cells. Finally, we have fabricated the large-sized TOPCon solar cells with an average efficiency of 24.5% and a maximum efficiency of 24.7%, respectively. The above work has demonstrated the tube PECVD technology integrating with plasma-assisted O2 oxidation and in-situ doped poly-Si has the potential for the mass-production TOPCon in industry.

Theoretical investigation of the temperature characteristics and output parameters of an industrial crystalline silicon solar cell with a microfluidic cooling system

Operating temperature is a key factor affecting the output power of a crystalline silicon solar cell (c-Si SC). Based on solving basic semiconductor equations, Maxwell equations and heat flow equations by finite difference method, this work has theoretically investigated the influences of microfluidic cooling system on the temperature distributions and output parameters of an industrial c-Si SC packaged as a module form, where the cooling system is installed the interface between the aluminum electrode and back ethylene vinyl acetate layer and the cooling medium flowing through microchannel is selected as water. Under the influences of the cooling system, the back surface temperature of the c-Si SC is fixed at about water temperature and the front surface temperature will decrease with the water temperature decreasing. The temperature distributions of c-Si active layer and aluminum layer decrease approximately linearly along the two layer’s thickness directions. The cooling effects of the cooling system are mainly determined by water temperature and when the filling factor of microchannel is larger than 0.1, its influences on the temperature distribution of the c-Si SC are small. In the environmental temperature range from −15 °C to 60 °C, the increase rates of Voc, FF and η per degree Celsius with the water temperature decreasing are about 0.0014 V, 0.036% and 0.05%, respectively.

Narrow Line Width Ni–Cu–Sn Front Contact Metallization Patterns for Low‐Cost High‐Efficiency Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells using Nano‐Imprint Lithography

An in‐house‐developed nanoimprint lithography system is designed and developed to demonstrate a commercially viable method for creating Ni–Cu–Sn‐based narrow linewidth finger patterns capable of effectively reducing shadow loss in the front contact metallization on industrial silicon solar cells. Finite element analysis simulation studies estimate that an optimal force of 138 MPa is required to generate damage‐free patterns during nanoimprinting process. The poly (methyl methacrylate) residual layer is removed using reactive ion etching, which enhances the adhesion strength of Ni–Cu–Sn metallization. A low ohmic contact layer at the Si/Ni interface develops after sintering at 420 °C and formation of NiSi layer is confirmed through X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis as a function of Ar+ ion etching time. An average cell efficiency of 18.10% is achieved for silicon solar cells with micropatterned Ni/Cu/Sn‐based narrow linewidth front contact grid design, which can exhibit ≈1% enhancement in cell efficiency compared to commercial Ag screen‐printed solar cells. The Ni/Cu/Sn‐based front contact metallization can improve the cell performance by ≈6% compared to the commercial Ag screen‐printed metallization by reducing shadow loss and thereby indicating its suitability toward deploying for cost‐effective industrial solar cell manufacturing.

Design, development and analysis of large-area industrial silicon solar cells featuring a full area polysilicon based passivating contact on the rear and selective passivating contacts on the front

We present SERIS’ biPoly™ technology platform on large-area (M2), n-type rear-junction silicon solar cells featuring selective poly-Si/SiOx based passivated contacts on the front side and full-area poly-Si/SiOx contacts on the rear. The selective poly-Si ‘fingers’ are formed using an industrial ink-jet masking process followed by wet-chemical etching. The metal contacts are formed by an industrial screen-printing process using high-temperature fire-though metal pastes. We obtain excellent passivation on the front and rear surfaces, resulting in iVoc values between 720 mV and 730 mV on unmetallized solar cells. After high-temperature metallization, we achieve 22% efficiency on solar cells with selective poly-Si fingers on the front. We further develop the model for biPoly™ solar cells and with the help of a detailed loss analysis and simulations, identify the various loss components to identify the device modifications required for efficiency improvements.

Bi-polysilicon passivating contact technique for crystalline silicon solar cell

Polysilicon (poly-Si) passivating contacts overcome the direct metal–semiconductor contact drawback of traditional industrial crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cells by inserting a layer stack of poly-Si and silicon oxide layers at the rear full-area metal/c-Si interface, which is well-known as a tunnel oxide passivating contact (TOPCon). In conventional industrial TOPCon devices, the direct contact problem affects the emitter, which deteriorates the passivation quality and suppresses the open-circuit voltage (Voc). We herein introduce an innovative bi-poly-Si technique (Bi-TOPCon) featuring rear full-area passivated poly-Si and emitter locally passivated poly-Si to improve the passivation quality of the TOPCon device. The local emitter poly-Si is introduced using metal mask alignment, and its properties are optimised toward high passivation quality and low contact resistance. The Bi-TOPCon device shows a significant improvement in Voc (Voc > 700 mV). Bi-TOPCon is a promising technology for high-efficiency, next-generation industrial TOPCon devices.

Improvement in the Performance of P-Type Tunnel Oxide Passivated Contact Solar Cell With Selective Tunneling Junctions Underneath the Contacts on Front Side

Industrial silicon solar cells are now moving further from passivated emitter and rear contact (PERC) toward Tunnel Oxide Passivated contact (TOPCon) technology. The efficiency of the PERC solar cell is improved by TOPCon technology, in which the rear side is fully passivated by an oxide/poly-Si tunneling junction. The performance of a TOPCon solar cell may further be improved by the incorporation of selective tunneling junctions underneath the front contacts. Some fabrications have been reported on a similar structure for an n-type Si substrate but they have not achieved the expected results. Also, a detailed study has not been done yet. Using 3-D sentaurus technology computer aided design (TCAD) simulation software, a detailed analysis has been done on the modified structure through the optimization of the tunnel oxides, the interfaces, the n <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">++</sup> poly-Si layer, the selective (SiO <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> /n <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">++</sup> -poly-Si) tunneling junctions underneath the front contacts, etc., which has not been done earlier. It is seen that a thick n <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">++</sup> poly-Si layer causes parasitic absorption of light, whereas a very thin poly-Si layer cannot provide sufficient field for tunneling of carriers. A thicker tunnel oxide produces a high series resistance, whereas a very thin tunnel oxide cannot restrict the minority carriers to reach to the contacts. Therefore, an optimization is required and the optimization is done based on a fabricated bifacial p-TOPCon solar cell reported in the literature with an efficiency of 21.2% and bulk lifetime of 200 μs. After performing all the modifications in the fabricated reference cell and optimizing different parameters, the efficiency is improved by 3.5% in absolute. The efficiency is further improved to 25.4% with the bulk lifetime of 1 ms.

Photovoltaics literature survey (no. 182)

Photovoltaics literature survey (no. 182)

Efficiency Improvement of Industrial Silicon Solar Cells by the POCl3 Diffusion Process

To improve the efficiency of polycrystalline silicon solar cells, process optimization is a key technology in the photovoltaic industry. Despite the efficiency of this technique to be reproducible, economic, and simple, it presents a major inconvenience to have a heavily doped region near the surface which induces a high minority carrier recombination. To limit this effect, an optimization of diffused phosphorous profiles is required. A "low-high-low" temperature step of the POCl3 diffusion process was developed to improve the efficiency of industrial-type polycrystalline silicon solar cells. The low surface concentration of phosphorus doping of 4.54 × 1020 atoms/cm3 and junction depth of 0.31 μm at a dopant concentration of N = 1017 atoms/cm3 were obtained. The open-circuit voltage and fill factor of solar cells increased up to 1 mV and 0.30%, compared with the online low-temperature diffusion process, respectively. The efficiency of solar cells and the power of PV cells were increased by 0.1% and 1 W, respectively. This POCl3 diffusion process effectively improved the overall efficiency of industrial-type polycrystalline silicon solar cells in this solar field.

Analysis of variation in recombination characteristics due to light and heat in industrial silicon solar cells

This work presents a comprehensive analysis of the variation in performance parameters of monocrystalline and multicrystalline silicon solar cells when subjected to illumination at elevated temperature. Higher degradation and better regeneration in performance parameters namely open circuit voltage (VOC), short circuit current density (JSC) and fill factor (FF) are observed for monocrystalline solar cells. Suns-VOC measurement clearly indicate that the recombination current densities within the space charge region (J02) and rest of the solar cells (J01) together play an important role in light and elevated temperature induced degradation (LeTID) and subsequent regeneration characteristics. During the degradation phase, both J01 and J02 changed significantly for monocrystalline and multicrystalline solar cells. During regeneration, even though J01 improved for both the types of solar cells, notable reduction in J02 was observed only for monocrystalline solar cells. FF loss analysis shows that the recombination in the space charge region is majorly responsible for degradation and regeneration in FF. In contrast to most of the previous studies, we report similar reduction in external quantum efficiency (EQE) at 984 nm, 877 nm and 658 nm and propose that the formation of defects related to LeTID are not only in the deep bulk, but are distributed throughout the bulk. Absence of any improvement in EQE after prolonged exposure to light and heat suggests that defect transformation and gettering are not sufficient enough to regenerate JSC in multicrystalline solar cells. EQE maps at 407 nm suggest that LeTID behavior of emitter is different from that of bulk.

Interdigitated Back Contact Technology as Final Evolution for Industrial Crystalline Single-Junction Silicon Solar Cell

We present our own Interdigitated Back Contact (IBC) technology, which was developed at ISC Konstanz and implemented in mass production with and at SPIC Solar in Xining, China, with production efficiencies of over 24%. To our knowledge, this is the highest efficiency achieved in the mass production of crystalline silicon solar cells without the use of charge-carrier-selective contacts. With an adapted screen-printing sequence, it is possible to achieve open-circuit voltages of over 700 mV. Advanced module technology has been developed for the IBC interconnection, which is ultimately simpler than for conventional double-sided contacted solar cells. In the next step, we will realize low-cost charge-carrier-selective contacts for both polarities in a simple sequence using processes developed and patented at ISC Konstanz. With the industrialisation of this process, it will be possible to achieve efficiencies well above 25% at low cost. We will show that with the replacement of silver screen-printed contacts by copper or aluminium metallisation, future IBC technology will be the end product for the PV market, as it is the best performing c-Si technology, leading to the lowest cost of electricity, even in utility-scale applications.

Commercial carbon nanotube as rear contacts for industrial p-type silicon solar cells with an efficiency exceeding 23%

Commercially available single wall carbon nanotube (SWCNT) soots are combined with an organic passivation scheme and shown to be an efficient rear contact and alternative to ALD-Al2O3/PECVD-SiNx/laser treatment in conventional passivated emitter and rear cell (PERC) solar cells. Both low carbonaceous purity 60–70% and 95% SWCNTs are tested and a power conversion efficiency of over 23% is demonstrated. The approach is simple, scalable and completely eliminates the metal-semiconductor contact known to cause high interfacial recombination in PERC technology. A low reverse saturation current density (J0) is achieved by varying the concentration and species of SWCNTs used and a full-area back surface field on an industrial sized (275.54 cm2) solar cell is obtained.

Detailed Study on the Role of Nature and Distribution of Pinholes and Oxide Layer on the Performance of Tunnel Oxide Passivated Contact (TOPCon) Solar Cell

Industrial silicon solar cells are now mostly based on aluminum back surface field (Al-BSF) or passivated emitter rear cell (PERC) technologies on p-type crystalline silicon wafers. Recently tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) solar cell on p-type Si wafers has attracted attention due to its demonstrated higher efficiency than either Al-BSF or PERC type solar cell. Numerical analysis using 3-D Sentaurus Technology Computer Aided Design (3-D-TCAD) software leads to the enhancement of the efficiency of the p- and n-type TOPCon solar cells by optimizing the size, nature, and number density of pinholes in the oxide layer; thickness of the oxide layer with and without pinholes and B doping concentration in the hole selective p+ poly-Si layer at the rear. Effects of both types of pinholes, either completely through (physical contact) or partially through (localized thinner oxide), are studied on cell performance. Simulation results show that pinholes in tunnel oxide have an advantage in lowering of series resistance and improvement of fill factor. To achieve optimum performance, the size, nature, and number density of pinholes and thickness of the oxide layer should be optimized. Considering both types of pinholes, the efficiency achieved is 25.3% for p-TOPCon and 26% for n-TOPCon. Also, the outputs of simulated p-TOPCon are compared with simulated p-PERC solar cell. The analysis shows that TOPCon solar cell on p-type wafer has significant ability to be adopted for industrial production.

Influence of Silicon Substrate Surface Finish on the Screen‐Printed Silver Metallization of Polysilicon‐Based Passivating Contacts

Passivated contact based on a thin interfacial oxide and a highly doped polysilicon layer has emerged as the next evolutionary step to increase the efficiencies of industrial silicon solar cells. To take maximum advantage from this layer stack, it is vital to limit the losses at the metal polysilicon interface, which can be quantified as metal polysilicon recombination current density (J0met) and contact resistivity. In cell concepts, wherein a large variety of silicon substrate surface finish can be obtained, it is essential to know how the surface finish affects theJ0metand contact resistivity. Herein, commercially available fire through silver paste and the metal‐polysilicon recombination current densities and contact resistivity are used for three different silicon substrate surface finishes, namely: planar or saw damage etched (SDE), chemically polished in acidic solution and alkaline pyramidal textured. Contact resistivity values below 3 mΩ cm2withJ0metin order of the recombination current density of the doped region (J0pass) are obtained for samples with planar surface for both 150 and 200 nm n+polysilicon layer thicknesses. The results presented in this work show that the samples with flat substrate morphology outperform the samples with textured surfaces.

Accelerated reliability tests of n+ and p+ poly-Si passivated contacts

We report on the stability of encapsulated, low-pressure chemical vapor-deposited phosphorus ( n + poly-Si) doped and boron ( p + poly-Si) doped poly-Si/SiO x passivated contacts by exposing the samples to three different accelerated tests: damp heat test, thermal cycling and ultraviolet exposure, adhering closely to the IEC 61215 standard. Outdoor testing was also performed by exposing the samples in the outdoor testing field at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and preliminary data accumulated for 1000 h from February to April of 2021 is reported. We studied non-metallized, thermally-metallized, and screen-printed n + and p + poly-Si by monitoring the effective minority carrier lifetime at the implied maximum power point using a Sinton lifetime tester, and recorded photoluminescence images before and after the exposure. The samples were found to be stable under all test conditions, which is encouraging for incorporation of these contacts in next-generation industrial silicon solar cells. • Three accelerated tests performed on encapsulated LPCVD n + and p + poly-Si/SiO x , adhering closely to IEC 61215 standard. • Samples include non-metallized, thermally metallized, and screen-printed n + and p + poly-Si/SiO x . • Effective minority carrier lifetime and PL images of the sample monitored. • All samples found to be stable after the exposure to accelerated and outdoor tests.

A comprehensive investigation of the potential of metal assisted chemical etched (MACE) nano-textures over conventional micron-sized iso-textures for industrial silicon solar cell applications

We present a comprehensive comparative analysis of acid textured and MACE (Metal Assisted Chemical Etching) nano-textured multi crystalline silicon (mc-Si) solar cells processed in an industrial cell line in terms of performance parameters. The batch average open circuit voltage of nano-textured solar cells was marginally lower and the measures for improving the same are discussed. Batch average short circuit current (JSC) and fill factor (FF) were respectively 0.65 mA-cm−2 and 0.7% (absolute) higher for MACE nano-textured solar cells. Significantly lower surface reflectance in MACE nano-textured cells in the blue and near infrared regions are found to be the reason for the enhancement in JSC. The main component of FF gain is identified as the lower series resistance in MACE cells. The contact formation mechanism in screen printed mc-Si solar cells, investigated using scanning electron microscopy, revealed that the elevated portions at the boundaries of the textures act as favorable sites for silver crystallite precipitation. A larger areal density of such sites is observed on the MACE nano-textured surface than in case of acid textured solar cells, leading to a much lower series resistance. The results suggest the potential for the application of MACE in the more popular mono-crystalline silicon cell technology for further reduction of contact resistance. Alternatively, MACE may be used to obtain similar contact resistance with lower amount of silver paste, compared to iso- and pyramid textured solar cells.