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Poor contact adhesion is one of the major concerns in the low cost Ni-Cu front contact

metallization for c-Si solar cells. It reduces the mechanical as well as electrical reliability

of the solar cell. Thermal annealing of the Ni seed layer is generally considered as crucial

step for contact adhesion and cell performance, however the deposition of Ni seed layer

itself requires proper investigation. The objective of this work is to improve the contact

adhesion by improving Ni seed layer characteristics. This has been achieved through

detailed process optimization of electroless Ni deposition using Palladium (Pd)

activation method and subsequent annealing. After optimizing the Pd activation

process with respect to its nucleation and growth characteristics, a very thin (∼20 nm)

conformal seed layer deposition has been obtained with excellent uniformity across

textured solar cell substrate. In addition, no interfacial void formation is observed after

seed layer annealing, even at 600 °C. This has resulted in significantly improved contact

adhesion of 23 MPa.

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