PULSED LASER PROCESSING FOR HIGH EFFICIENCY SILICON WAFER SOLAR CELLS

Abstract

Laser technology has become one of the commonly applied techniques for high-efficiency silicon wafer solar cell fabrication. In order to incorporate laser processing technology in high efficiency solar cell fabrication, laser induced material damage has to be minimized or even eliminated. This thesis presents the optimisation of laser ablation of dielectrics from silicon substrates by nano- and pico-second pulsed lasers in the fabrication of aluminium local back surface field (Al-LBSF) solar cells. The work predominantly focuses on laser induced damage to the silicon and post-laser methods that mitigate the impact of laser induced defects on the final solar cell performance. Finally optimised laser conditions were used to fabricate Al-LBSF solar cells which showed a significant performance increase compared to conventional Al back surface field solar cells.