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Requirements of Electrical Contacts to Photovoltaic Solar Cells

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 February 2011

T. A. Gessert  and
T. J. Coutts
T. A. Gessert
Affiliation:
Solar Energy Research Institute, 1617 Cole Blvd., Golden, CO 80401 USA.
T. J. Coutts
Affiliation:
Solar Energy Research Institute, 1617 Cole Blvd., Golden, CO 80401 USA.
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Abstract

The importance of contacts to photovoltaic solar cells is often underrated mainly because the required values of specific contact resistance and metal resistivity are often thought to be relatively modest compared with those associated with very large scale integration (VLSI) applications. However, due to the adverse environmental conditions experienced by solar cells, and since many of the more efficient cells are economically advantageous only when operated under solar concentration, the requirements for solar cell contacts are sometimes more severe. For example, at one-sun operation, the upper limit in specific contact resistance is usually taken to be 10−2 Ω-cm2. However, at several hundred suns, this value should be reduced to less than 10−4 Ω-cm2. Additionally, since grid line fabrication often relies on economical plating processes, porosity and contamination issues can be expected to cause reliability and stability problems once the device is fabricated. It is shown that, in practice, these metal resistivity issues can be much more important than issues relating to specific contact resistance and that the problem is similar to that of providing stable, low resistance interconnects in VLSI. This paper is concerned with the design and fabrication of collector grids on the front of the solar cells and, although the discussion is fairly general, it will center on the particular material indium phosphide. This III-V material is currently of great importance for space application because of its resistance to the damaging radiation experienced in space.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 184: Symposium F – Degradation Mechanisms in III-V Compound Semiconductor Devices and Structures , 1990 , 237
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1990

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References

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