High-Efficiency Screen-Printed p-Si Interdigitated Back Contact Cells: Fabrication and Analytical Characterization

In this paper, we report on the fabrication and analytical characterization of the screen-printed p-Si interdigitated back contact (IBC) cells with the conversion efficiency of 20.08%, with open-circuit voltage of 645 mV, short-circuit current density of 40.15 mA/cm
²
, and fill factor of 77.51%. The cell performance has also been confirmed with the analytical calculation based on the electrical properties measured. It also shows that, with the proper emitter design, the open-circuit voltage of 680 mV and conversion efficiency of 22% are readily attainable for the screen-printed p-Si IBC cell. Compared with the screen-printed IBC cells, the passivated emitter and rear “contact” cell may perform equivalently well, provided that any improvement on S
_eff
of the front surface does not compromise the light absorption and emitter resistance of the cell.