SOLAR CELL DESIGN THAT MINIMIZES WELD ATTRITION AND GRIDLINE SHADOWING LOSSES

A solar cell design includes fabricating one or more gridlines (103) for extracting photo-current on a front surface of the solar cell (100), wherein each of the gridlines is a metal grid (104) and a cap layer (105), and at least a portion of the metal grid is deposited on the cap layer; and controlling an alignment of the metal grid relative to the cap layer, and a width of the cap layer relative to a width of the metal grid, so that a minimum cap edge offset distance value is about 1 µm or more. The alignment of the metal grid relative to the cap layer and the width of the cap layer relative to the width of the metal grid are controlled at areas on the front surface of the solar cell opposite where welding occurs on a back-side of the solar cell. The alignments and widths of the metal grid relative to the cap layer are controlled by a photomask.