To lower the fabrication cost of silicon solar cells, a surface treatment using a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) instead of a wet cleaning technique was examined on electrode surfaces oil silicon solar cells. The fill factor obtained through measuring current-voltage characteristics was evaluated, and the treated surface state was characterized by energy-dispersive X-ray. It was found that the DBD effectively activated the electrode surface and the surface treatment on finger electrodes contributed greatly to improve the fill factor. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.