Cu metallization for crystalline Si solar cells was investigated using either Ti or Ti/TiN diffusion barriers. The resistivity and the specific contact resistance change were measured for both Ti(30nm)/Cu(100nm) and Ti(30nm)/TiN(30nm)/Cu(100nm) contact structures under various annealing conditions. As the annealing temperature increased, the efficiency of the cells increased mainly due to the increase in fill-factor and I-SC, which was correlated with the series resistance (R-S) of the metal layer. The solar cells with Ti/TiN/Cu contacts generally showed the higher efficiencies than those with Ti/Cu, because in Ti/Cu contacts Cu diffused through Ti and increased R-S. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.