Electrical performance for in-situ doping of phosphorous in silver paste screen-printed contact on p-type silicon solar cell Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • This study addresses the challenge of enhancing the efficiency of silicon solar cells by investigating the electrical performance of phosphorus-doped silver (Ag-P) pastes used in screen-printed contacts on p-type silicon wafers. Conventional silver (Ag) pastes serve as conductive contacts but lack the ability to simultaneously doped the emitter region, leading to complex fabrication processes and limiting cell efficiency. To overcome this, we explore an in-situ approach using Ag-based paste and phosphoric acid (H3PO4), which combines emitter doping and contact formation, thereby simplifying fabrication while enhancing performance. In this study, both un-doped and phosphorus-doped Ag pastes were screen-printed onto planar, textured, and silicon dioxide-passivated silicon wafers, followed by annealing at 900°C by using a round quartz tube furnace with 45s in and 45s out with a holding time of the 40s. Electrical performance was measured through light-current-voltage (LIV) and quantum efficiency analyses. According to the short circuit current density (JSC) for only Ag-based paste screen-printed on only one-sided (A) and both-sided (B) indicates a higher JSC value of 9.63 mA/cm2 for A meanwhile, sample B gains 7.54 mA/cm2. For comparison, the JSC values for screen-printed Ag-P on only one side (A) and both sides (B) are 10.4 mA/cm² and 10.4 mA/cm², respectively. Thus, the overall efficiency of Ag-P screen-printed on a one-sided Si wafer was 1.65% higher than that of the rest of the samples. However, the internal quantum efficiency (IQE) and external quantum efficiency (EQE) for Ag-P screen-printed on Si wafer display higher percentages between 80-83% and 63-73% at a wavelength range of 650 to 900 nm than the rest of the samples. The QE measurements reveal that Ag-P paste effectively mitigates surface recombination losses, resulting in higher efficiency and improved charge carrier collection. These findings indicate that Ag-P paste offers a viable alternative to conventional screen-printed contacts by enhancing both device performance and electrical efficiency through integrated doping and contact formation. This work suggests that Ag-P paste could play a vital role in advancing high-performance silicon solar cell technologies.

authors

  • Mohd Sinin, Nurul Aqidah
  • Mohd Rais, Ahmad Rujhan
  • Mohd Ahir, Zon Fazlila
  • Sopian, Kamaruzzaman
  • Ibrahim, Mohd Adib

publication date

  • 2025

number of pages

  • 10

start page

  • 802

end page

  • 812

volume

  • 14

issue

  • 4