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Effects of screen printing and sintering processing of front side silver grid line on the electrical performances of multi-crystalline silicon solar cells

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Abstract

In this paper, the influence of screen-printing technology, sintering temperature, and the belt speed of sintering furnace on electrical properties of solar cells were researched. It is found that the morphology and aspect ratio of grid line are strongly influenced by printing parameters including the snap-off distance, the squeegee pressure and the squeegee speed. A number of comparative experiments showed that the electrical performance of solar cells was the best when the snap-off distance is 1200 µm, the squeegee pressure is 75 N, and the squeegee speed is 220 mm/s. Meanwhile, the surface morphology of the front electrode grid line prepared with the above optimum technology parameter is smooth and dense, and possesses good aspect ratio. To better understand the contact quality, the influence of sintering peak temperature on the electrical performance of solar cells was deeply studied. The results show that when the peak temperature was 900 °C, the series resistance (Rs) possesses the minimum value and the open circuit voltage (Voc), fill factor (FF), and conversion efficiency (Eff) all possess the maximum values. The effect of belt speed of sintering furnace on the electrical performance of the cells was also investigated. It is found that the electrical performance parameters were the optimal at the belt speed of 245 in/min.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the financial supports of the National Hi-Tech Research and Development Program (863) Key Project of China (Nos. 2012AA050301-SQ2011GX01D01292), Key Project of Industrial Science and Technology of Shaanxi Province (Nos. 2016GY-090 and 2016GY-196), and Xi’an Industrial Technology Innovation Project-technology transfer promoting program (Nos. CXY1421, CX1242, and CXY1511-9).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Key Laboratory of Photoelectric Technology and Functional Materials (Culture Base), National Photoelectric Technology and Functional Materials and Application of International Science and Technology Cooperation Base, Institute of Photonics and Photon-Technology, Northwest University, Xi’an, 710069, People’s Republic of China

    Hanying Wang, Shenghua Ma & Jintao Bai

  2. College of Energy Engineering, Yulin University, Yulin, 719000, People’s Republic of China

    Hanying Wang

  3. Key Laboratory of Synthetic and Natural Functional Molecule Chemistry (Ministry of Education), College of Chemistry and Materials Science, Northwest University, Xi’an, 710069, People’s Republic of China

    Meiling Zhang, Feng Lan & Hui Wang

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  1. Hanying Wang
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  2. Shenghua Ma
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  3. Meiling Zhang
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  4. Feng Lan
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  5. Hui Wang
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Correspondence to Hui Wang or Jintao Bai.

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Wang, H., Ma, S., Zhang, M. et al. Effects of screen printing and sintering processing of front side silver grid line on the electrical performances of multi-crystalline silicon solar cells. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 28, 11934–11949 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-017-7003-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-017-7003-6

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