imec and Kaneka are presenting their study results on silver-free heterojunction silicon solar cells at the 21st International Photovoltaic Science and Engineering Conference in Fukuoka, Japan. The conference is being held from November 28th to December 2nd.
Kaneka and imec developed the heterojunction silicon solar cells with the help of a copper electroplating technology. The results were achieved by using Kaneka’s copper electroplating technology, which was based on the existing copper electroplating technology of imec. More than 21% of conversion efficiency was obtained in 6 ” silicon substance with an electroplated copper contact grid over the crystalline conductive oxide layer.
At present, the silver screen printing technology is used for the attainment of the top grid electrode within the heterojunction silicon solar cells. The complication of attenuating the metal line and lessening resistivity in the sliver screen printing hinders the technology from attaining high efficiency. In the silver-free method, electroplated copper replaces the screen-printed silver. Creating top grid electrode in heterojunction silicon solar cells with copper-electroplating, an industry-proven and economical process, is the first result to be attained on this type of study in the world. This solution overwhelms the shortcomings of the silver screen printing and provides different advantages including minimizing fabrication costs and allowing higher efficiencies.
These results show how imec and Kaneka collaborated together to obtain high-efficient heterojunction silicon solar cells with the help of copper electroplating. Photovoltaics European Laboratory of Kaneka is situated at the imec campus in Leuven and it allows Kaneka and imec researchers to work together to improve Kaneka’s thin-film solar cells as well as create the next-generation heterojunction.
Source: http://www2.imec.be/be_en/home.html