Plated electrical contacts for solar modules

A plating method for manufacturing of electrical contacts on a solar module, the method comprising, in this order, the steps of

• (i) providing an array of silicon solar cells mounted onto a support substrate, the silicon solar cells separated from each other by a horizontal spacing, and having an exposed surface comprising at least one contact area on each silicon solar cell,
• (ii) depositing a plating resist onto the exposed surface of the array of silicon solar cells and the horizontal spacing between the solar cells,
• (iii) forming openings in the plating resist and thereby expose the at least one contact area on each silicon solar cell and at least one portion of the horizontal spacing between the silicon solar cells,
• (iv) forming a conductive seed layer on top of the plating resist and the openings formed in step (iii),
• (v) forming a copper or copper alloy layer on top of the conductive seed layer, and
• (vi) etching back those portions of the copper or copper alloy layer and the conductive seed layer sufficient to remove both the copper or copper alloy layer and the conductive seed layer from the plating resist leaving a copper or copper alloy layer in the openings formed in step (iii) and thereby forming a wiring between silicon solar cells and wiring reinforcement pillars.