The Investigation of Plating Technologies for Front Fingers of c-Si Solar Cells

Besides silicon wafers, the metallization of solar cells is the most expensive process in the mass production of solar cells nowadays. Therefore, the development of cost-effective metallization technologies is very important for the reduction of manufacturing cost. In this article, we will introduce two novel approaches for the metallization of c-Si solar cells: (i) electroless plated Ni and electroplated Cu; (ii) photoplated Ni and Cu. It is believed that high efficiency and low cost solar cells can be fabricated taking advantages of the improved metallization methods.