Determination of Metallization-Induced Recombination Losses of Screen-Printed Silicon Solar Cell Contacts and Their Dependence on the Doping Profile

This paper presents an easy-to-implement, but rigorous method to determine the dark saturation current densities J
_01m
and J
_02m
under the metallized region of a silicon solar cell contact. The method is based on an autofitting procedure by the Griddler artificial intelligence finite-element simulation program to measured photoluminescence images of samples with especially designed test structures. It is found that a deeper p-n junction strongly reduces the recombination losses at the metal-silicon interface. By carefully tailoring the boron diffusion profile, the J
_01m
is reduced from 839.2 to 274.2 fA/cm
²
.