CHAPTER 5: Reactive Inkjet Printing for Silicon Solar Cell Fabrication

A key challenge for crystalline silicon photovoltaics is the formation of electrical contacts to solar cells through the inorganic coatings that are required to minimise electrical carrier recombination occurring at the silicon wafer surfaces. Screen printing of silver paste is the most successful approach to date but the contact nature of screen-printing is undesirable, especially with thinner wafers. Consequently, inkjet printing as a non-contact patterning and metallisation process is of interest. This chapter reviews reactive inkjet printing methods that can minimise the use of highly corrosive etchants necessary in cell production to reduce environmental impact, achieve high resolution patterning and decrease the number of process steps.