Novel method for the interconnection of thin-film silicon solar cells on glass

Interconnection remains one of the key challenges involved in making thin-film crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cells. Because c-Si thin-films have a much higher lateral conductance than amorphous and microcrystalline (a-Si, μc-Si) silicon films, there is no need for full-area front and rear contacts. Such full-area contacts are usually made from transparent conductive oxide (TCO) which is relatively expensive. The high lateral conductance of c-Si thin-films opens up a lot of scope for innovation and potential further cost savings from the contacting scheme. In this paper we present a novel method for the interconnection of thin-film c-Si solar cells on glass substrates. The method involves laser scribing and localized overdoping of silicon, and a self-aligning maskless photolithography process (SAMPL).