Direct-Write Contacts for Solar Cells

We report on our project to develop inkjet printable contacts for solar cells. Ag, Cu, and Ni metallizations were inkjet printed with near vacuum deposition quality. Thick, highly conducting lines of Ag and Cu demonstrating good adhesion to glass, Si, and PCB have been printed at 100-200 C in air and N2, respectively. Ag grids were inkjet-printed on Si solar cells and fired through silicon nitride AR layer at 850 C resulting in 8% cells. Next-generation multicomponent inks (including etching agents) have also been developed with improved fire-through contacts leading to higher cell efficiencies. The approach developed can be easily extended to other conductors such as Pt, Pd, and Au, etc. In addition, PEDOT-PSS polymer-based conductors were inkjet-printed with the conductivity as good or better than those of polymer-based conductors