Patent ID: 8198528

Claim:
A method of fabricating a backside contact solar cell, the method comprising: texturing a surface of a silicon substrate on a front side of the backside contact solar cell to create a textured front side surface, the backside contact solar cell having diffusion regions and metal contacts electrically coupled to the diffusion regions on a backside opposite the front side, the front side facing the sun during normal operation to collect solar radiation; forming a passivation level comprising silicon dioxide over the textured front side surface; forming a high-k silicon nitride layer over the passivation level, the high-k silicon nitride layer being configured to block at least 10% of UV radiation coming into the silicon substrate from the front side; and forming a low-k silicon nitride layer over the high-k silicon nitride layer, the high-k silicon nitride layer being formed between the passivation level and the low-k silicon nitride layer.