A masked process for the industrial production of buried contact solar cells on multi-crystalline silicon

This paper reports on the development of a masked process for the production of buried contact solar cells on multi-crystalline silicon. The process results in high efficiencies, and only includes steps that would be feasible in an industrial environment. We report here on different mask candidates and on the importance of hydrogenation with the new process. Using the developed process, we produced 111 large area (12 x 12 cm(2)) cells and achieved an average cell efficiency of 16.2%. The best cell had an efficiency of 16.9%, a V-oc of 616 mV, a J(sc) of 35.0 mA/cm(2) and a fill factor of 78.3%. Copyright (C) 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.