Laser assisted patterning of hydrogenated amorphous silicon for interdigitated back contact silicon heterojunction solar cell

This work reports on the elaboration of a new industrial process based on laser selective ablation of dielectric layers for Interdigitated Back Contact Silicon Heterojunction (IBC Si-HJ) solar cells fabrication. Choice of the process is discussed and cells are processed to validate its performance. A pulsed green laser (515nm) with 10-20ns pulse duration is used for hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) layers patterning steps, whereas metallization is made by screen printed. High Open-Circuit Voltage (Voc=699mV) and Fill Factor (FF=78.5%) values are obtained simultaneously on IBC Si-HJ cells, indicating a high surface passivation level and reduced resistive losses. An efficiency of 19% on non textured 26 cm² solar cells has been reached with this new industrial process.