Investigation of Laser-fired Rear-side Point Contacts of Laser-crystallized Silicon Thin-film Solar Cells by Conductive Probe Atomic Force Microscopy

The influence of a subsequent ns laser-firing process on aluminium rear-side point contacts of laser-crystallized silicon thin-film solar cells was investigated by means of conductive probe atomic force microscopy. A significant increase in conductivity was observed in the laser-fired contact area. The spatial uniformity of this enhanced conductivity as well as changes in the aspect ratio of the induced pit allowed us to derive a suitable parameter window for firing a 100nm thin aluminium layer typically used in such thin film Si solar cells devices.