Editors: | F. Kongoli, A. G. Mamalis, K. Hokamoto |
Publisher: | Flogen Star OUTREACH |
Publication Year: | 2018 |
Pages: | 352 pages |
ISBN: | 978-1-987820-88-1 |
ISSN: | 2291-1227 (Metals and Materials Processing in a Clean Environment Series) |
One of the main problems of solar cells with Si working area and Ag front contact grid is contact degradation, because Ag has high diffusivity, which is also enhanced by the electric current [1]. Through time, electrical resistivity of such contact interface grows, resulting in low conversion efficiency.
New generation contacts include coating of silver grid with diffusion barrier material (Me) and covering the surface with Graphene monolayer (G) to overcome presumable lowering of contact conductivity.
In order to design a new generation of contacts, it is necessary to investigate the properties of Ag/Me and Me/G interfaces. In previous works, the diffusion properties of coatings were investigated in order to find the diffusion barrier for Ag. The aim of the current work is to investigate the electrical resistivity of Ag/Me interface. Simulations were conducted in Abinit software using the LDA Troullier-Martins pseudopotentials and PAW pseudopotentials. FCC lattice structure was chosen for all materials despite their stable lattice, representing the epitaxial growth of coating on the Ag conductive grid. Other important material properties were analyzed in literature [2, 3] and the combination of best properties resulted in the ideal material for applications in solar cell contacts coating.