Project Ameliz: Patterning Techniques for Copper Electroplated Metallization on Heterojunction Solar Cells

For the current PV production about 2000 tons of silver are consumed per year, 10% of the entire world annual silver supply. The PV production is expected to grow significantly in the next decades in order to enable the energy transition to 100% renewables. Annual production volumes in the terawatt range are predicted already for 2030 and this may lead to higher silver price and put more pressure on the industry to replace silver by copper. Within the Ameliz project several patterning approaches for copper electrodeposition on heterojunction cells are developed: firstly, patterning by printing a metal seed grid with a dielectric layer as plating mask and secondly masking by a monolayer of self-assembling molecules. These molecules consist of a phosphonic acid group and a hydrocarbon chain. They are bonded to the ITO surface and form a monolayer of well-ordered, densely packed hydrophobic chains, which protects the ITO surface against plating solutions. Furthennore, methods for selective formation of a copper seed layer by electrografting and for improved adhesion by ITO reduction are being investigated.

Automated summary

The current PV production consumes about 2000 tons of silver annually, representing 10% of the world's silver supply. The expected growth in PV production in the next decades may lead to higher silver prices and pressure to replace silver with copper. The Ameliz project has developed various patterning methods for copper electrodeposition and is investigating methods for improving adhesion and selectively forming a copper seed layer.