Inkjet Printing of Nickel and Silver Metal Solar Cell Contacts

Abstract

With about 125,000 terawatts of solar power striking the earth at any given moment, solar energy may be the only renewable energy resource with enough capacity to meet a major portion of our future energy needs. Thin-fi lm technologies and solution deposition processes seek to reduce manufacturing costs in order to compete with conventional coal-based electricity. Inkjet printing, as a derivative of the direct-write process, offers the potential for low-cost, material-effi cient deposition of the metals for photovoltaic contacts. Advances in contact metallizations are important because they can be employed on existing silicon technology and in future-generation devices. We report on the atmospheric, non-contact deposition of nickel (Ni) and silver (Ag) metal patterns on glass, Si, and ZnO substrates at 180–220°C from metal-organic precursor inks using a Dimatix inkjet printer. Near-bulk conductivity Ag contacts were successfully printed up to 4.5 μm thick and 130 μm wide on the silicon nitride antirefl ective coating of silicon solar cells. Thin, high-resolution Ni adhesion-layer lines were printed on glass and zinc oxide at 80 μm wide and 55 nm thick with a conductivity two orders of magnitude less than the bulk metal. Additionally, the ability to print multi-layered metallizations (Ag on Ni) on transparent conducting oxides was demonstrated and is promising for contacts in copper-indium-diselenide (CIS) solar cells. Future work will focus on further improving resolution, printing full contact devices, and investigating copper inks as a low-cost replacement for Ag contacts