Inkjet Printed Nickel Silicide Applied As Front Contact Seed-Layer for Electrolessly Copper Plated Silicon Solar Cells

The use of high purity nickel silicon nano-inks represents a new approach to the design of conductive electrode structures, with potential to reduce electrode cost by up to 75% by reducing silver usage. In addition to reducing manufacturing costs, utilising nickel silicon inks would greatly improve product throughput. However, careful design and incorporation of a nickel barrier layer are required to prevent copper poisoning of the solar cell. Once proven, this technology could be readily incorporated into existing production facilities (the majority of solar cell process tooling remaining as standard), thereby providing a ready route to a mass market. The status of the Innovate UK funded Propress R&D project is reported and the specialised equipment, nano-inks and processes developed are described. An evaluation of the cell efficiencies obtained using this alternative cell processing technology is presented, alongside stability and performance data.