In the photovoltaic industry contacts to crystalline silicon are typically formed by firing of screen-printed metallization pastes. However, the stability of surface passivation layers during high temperature contact formation is a major challenge. Here, we investigate the thermal stability of the surface passivation by amorphous silicon nitride double layers (SiNy/SiNx). The SiNy passivation layer is silicon rich with refractive index larger than 3. Whereas the SiNx capping layer has a refractive index of 2.05. Compared to pure hydrogenated amorphous silicon, the nitrogen in the SiNy passivation layer improves the firing stability. We achieve an effective surface recombination velocity after a conventional co-firing process of (5.2 +/- 2) cm/s on p-type (1.5 Omega cm) FZ-silicon wafers at an injection density of 10(15) cm(-3). An analysis of the improved firing stability is presented based on FTIR and hydrogen effusion measurements. The incorporation of an SiNy/SiNx stack into the passivated rear of Cz silicon screen-printed solar cells results in an energy conversion efficiency of 18.3% compared to reference solar cells with conventional aluminum back surface field showing 17.9% efficiency. The short circuit current density increases by up to 0.8 mA/cm(2) compared to conventional solar cells due to the improved optical reflectance and rear side surface passivation. (C) 2011 Elsevier By. All rights reserved.