Metal Nanoparticle Hole Contacts for Silicon Solar Cells

Recent years have seen the development of a broad range of novel contacting strategies for crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cells. This study is focused on the use of a sparse layer of platinum nanoparticles to enhance the hole contact characteristics of a c-Si / transparent conductive oxide hole contact. It is shown that the addition of the Pt nanoparticle layer results in a 2 order of magnitude reduction in contact resistivity on both lightly and heavily doped p-type surfaces with values of 3 and 0.2 mucm2, respectively. A high transparency can be maintained for such contacts from strict control of the nanoparticle deposition process with a predicted J. loss of just 0.15 mA/cm2 as a result of the Pt nanoparticle layer. Finally, the thermal and damp heat stability of the Pt nanoparticle contact is investigated, revealing promising initial results.