Industrial Silicon Solar Cells

Abstract

The chapter will introduce industrial silicon solar cell manufacturing technologies with its current status. Commercial p-type and high efficiency n-type solar cell structures will be discussed and compared so that the reader can get a head-start in industrial solar cells. A brief over-view of various process steps from texturing to screen-printed metallization is presented. Texturing processes for mono-crystalline and multi-crystalline silicon wafers have been reviewed with the latest processes. An over-view of the thermal processes of diffusion and anti-reflective coating deposition has been presented. The well-established screen-printing process for solar cell metallization is introduced with the fast-firing step for sintering of the contacts. I-V testing of solar cells with various parameters for solar cell characterization is introduced. Latest developments in various processes and equipment manufacturing are also discussed along with the expected future trends.