For the contacting of boron-doped emitters with screen-printed metallization in n-type silicon solar cells, usually a small amount of aluminum is added to the silver pastes. To date, low specific contact resistances rho(C) in the range of a few m Omega cm(2) have only been achieved with these so-called silver-aluminum (Ag-Al) pastes. Within this work, pc is experimentally determined for two Ag-Al pastes for three different boron-doped emitters on alkaline textured and passivated silicon surfaces. The investigated boron doping profiles feature almost identical rising curve progressions up to a depth of approximate to 60 nm (which corresponds to the depletion zone), with a maximum dopant concentration N-max approximate to 8 . 10(19) cm(-3). However, they have different junction depths between 570 nm and 980 nm. This work shows that the dopant concentrations with values well below Nmax following the depletion zone significantly affect the measured pc: the deeper the junction, the lower rho(C). This behavior is observed for both investigated Ag-Al pastes. For example, the mean rho(C) for paste Ag-Al1 decreases from rho(C) approximate to 4 m Omega(2) cm(2), determined on a 570 nm deep doping profile, to rho(C) approximate to 2 m Omega cm(2), determined on a 980 nm deep one. By using an analytical model to calculate rho(C) with dependence on e.g. dopant concentration, metal crystallite coverage fraction, and crystallite penetration depth, the lower rho(C) for deeper profiles can be explained by crystallites with penetration depths of several 100 nm. The calculations also reveal that the impact of the depletion zone is negligible with respect to rho(C) for crystallites deeper than approximate to 100 nm. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.