Development of back-junction back-contact silicon solar cells based on industrial processes

We have presented simplified industrial processes to fabricate high performance back-junction back-contact (BJBC) silicon solar cells. Good optical surface structures (solar averaged reflectance 2.5%) and high implied open-circuit voltage (0.695 V) have been realized in the BJBC cell precursors through wet chemical processing, co-diffusion, P ion implantation and annealing oxidation, as well as laser patterning and plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition passivation processes. We have achieved a certified high efficiency of close to 22% on BJBC silicon solar cells with the size of 4.04 cm2 by using screen printing and co-firing technologies. The manufacturing process flow further successfully yields efficiency of around 21% BJBC silicon solar cells with enlarged sizes of 6 × 6 cm2. The present work has demonstrated that the commercialization of low-cost and high-efficiency BJBC solar cells is possible because we have used processes compatible with existing production lines. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.