Patent ID: 8492253

Claim:
A method of forming contacts for a back-contact solar cell, the method comprising: forming a thin dielectric layer on a substrate; forming a polysilicon layer on the thin dielectric layer; forming and patterning a solid-state p-type dopant source on the polysilicon layer, the patterning exposing regions of the polysilicon layer between a plurality of regions of the solid-state p-type dopant source; forming an n-type dopant source layer over the exposed regions of the polysilicon layer and the plurality of regions of the solid-state p-type dopant source, the forming comprising at least partially driving dopants from the n-type dopant source layer into the exposed regions of the polysilicon layer to form a plurality of n-type dopant-containing polysilicon regions between the plurality of regions of the solid-state p-type dopant source; and, subsequently, heating the substrate to provide a plurality of n-type doped polysilicon regions among a plurality of p-type doped polysilicon regions and, prior to the heating, removing the plurality of regions of the solid-state p-type dopant source.