Abstract
This work presents a simple screen printing solar cell process based on firing the front contacts through a silicon nitride (SiN{sub x}) layer deposited by direct plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD). This processing sequence of only six steps results in an excellent front surface and bulk passivation. Efficiency improvements up to 1.5% compared to a state-of-the art processing sequence were obtained on Solarex multicrystalline material. Independently confirmed efficiencies of almost 16% were reached. First indications of the excellent passivation quality of SiN{sub x} deposited by direct PECVD on p-Si are given.