Selective deposition contact patterning using atomic layer deposition for the fabrication of crystalline silicon solar cells

•We propose a local contact formation process.•Local contact forms a screen print and an atomic layer deposited-Al2O3 film.•Ozone-based Al2O3 thin film was selectively deposited onto patterned silicon.•Selective deposition contact patterning method can increase cell-efficiency by 0.7%.

Selective deposition contact (SDC) patterning was applied to fabricate the rear side passivation of crystalline silicon (Si) solar cells. By this method, using screen printing for contact patterning and atomic layer deposition for the passivation of Si solar cells with Al2O3, we produced local contacts without photolithography or any laser-based processes. Passivated emitter and rear-contact solar cells passivated with ozone-based Al2O3 showed, for the SDC process, an up-to-0.7% absolute conversion-efficiency improvement. The results of this experiment indicate that the proposed method is feasible for conversion-efficiency improvement of industrial crystalline Si solar cells.