Light assisted electrodeposition and silicidation of Ni for silicon photovoltaic cell metallization

Light assisted electrodeposition of Ni films was studied on crystalline Si photovoltaic cells. The nucleation, film uniformity and silicidation behaviour were studied at different locations across the busbar and were found to strongly depend on the plating solution, plating current and annealing conditions. The photovoltaic diode can be operated at forward bias or reverse bias during the light assisted electroplating depending on the plating current and light intensity. Suns-Voc of the solar cells was examined at different stages along the process to evaluate the impacts of silicidation on the cell performance. Detailed microscopic analysis was conducted for the metallization stack. The post-silicide degradation in Suns-Voc was correlated with local shunting due to non-optimized silicidation condition.