Highly efficient passivated emitter and rear cells (PERC cells) were fabricated using low cost laser ablation (LA) for pilot production. The laser source for the LA system had a wavelength of 532 nm and pulse width of 20 ns. To minimize the damage created during the LA process, the laser power density was optimized at 2.8 J/cm(2). Nevertheless, some damage occurred, such as dislocation and the formation of amorphous silicon, and was analyzed using energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), Raman spectroscopy, and Sinton's quasi-steady-state photo-conductance (QSSPC). The measured laser damage depth was approximately 2.5 mu m. Since the local contact depth (eutectic alloy+back surface field (BSF)) was over 10 mu m when the cell fabrication was completed, this laser damage depth of 2.5 mu m was not problematic. After optimizing the geometry of the local contacts, the measured efficiency of the laserablated PERC solar cell was 19.78%. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.