Low-cost metallization process with excellent performance for high-efficiency passivated emitter and rear cell (PERC) is described. The fabrication processes of the high-efficiency silicon solar cell are too expensive and complicated to be commercialized widely. It is necessary to develop inexpensive metallization technique without degradation of the cell performance. In this paper, Ni/Cu contact system was used to fabricate low-cost high-efficiency solar cells instead of traditional solution that are based on evaporated Ti/Pd/Ag. The electroless plated Ni is utilized as the contact to silicon and the electroplated Cu served as the primary conductor layer. This metallization scheme has proven to be successful. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.