Objective
PROJECT OBJECTIVES
A common feature of all solar cells is the requirement of metal contacts to be applied to both the positive and negative surface of the device to carry the photo-generated current. The contacts must be robust, highly conducting, of low-cost and, above all, simple and efficient to fabricate. Copper plated contacts are used in the fabrication of high efficiency cells manufactured in the EU. Copper's high electrical conductivity is ideal for this application but the current deposition process by electroless plating is somewhat slow and inefficient. Accordingly, the technical objective of this project is to adapt the high-volume low-cost electrolytic plating technology used by the printed circuit board (PCB) industry and apply the techniques to the metallisation of silicon solar cells.
TECHNICAL APPROACH
The technical programme is divided into five tasks. The first phase of the project (task 1) is intended to answer some basic process and design questions regarding the electrolytic copper plating of solar cells. The proposed approach will be to assemble apparatus for single wafer plating in which the basic process can be verified.
In task 2 the design parameters from Task 1 will be used for the design but not the construction of prototype equipment suitable for demonstrating high through-put production feasibility of the process.
Support to tasks 1 and 2 will come from task 3 (Characterisation). Work will encompass metallurgical characterisation of the deposited film (mechanical, chemical, electrical conductivity, grain size, etc.), characterisation of the device (including contact resistance, contact adhesion, solderability, etc.) and characterisation of the PV cell and module performance together with environmental testing of the product. A cost benefit and environmental impact analysis will be carried out in task 4 to ensure the viability and industrial potential of this development.
Task 5 will study the necessary steps to commercially exploit the outcome of the project.
EXPECTED ACHIEVEMENTS AND EXPLOITATION
The principal achievements are expected to be:
A silicon solar cell (150 cm2) with efficiency (16.5 %) with contacts formed by electrolytic copper plating at a copper deposition rate some 20 times greater than the electroless plating process currently used in cell fabrication and a 50% reduction in plating costs
The design for a prototype unit for electrolytic copper batch plating of solar cells with an effective through-put of one cell every ten seconds.
The two industrial partners are well able to implement and commercially exploit the improvements from this project.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences physical sciences electromagnetism and electronics
- agricultural sciences agriculture, forestry, and fisheries agriculture grains and oilseeds
- natural sciences chemical sciences inorganic chemistry metalloids
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Programme(s)
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Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
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Funding Scheme
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Coordinator
TW167XA SUNBURY-ON-THAMES
United Kingdom
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.