NOVELTY - The method comprises forming an anti-reflection coating (330) on a silicon substrate, applying a silver-containing thick-film paste on the anti-reflection coating to form fingers (351) of the silver-containing thick-film paste on a portion of the anti-reflection coating, firing the fingers of the silver-containing thick-film paste in air at a temperature of 600-975 degrees C to form silver-containing fingers that fire through the anti-reflection coating and contact the silicon substrate, and forming base metal buss bars (380) on a portion of the coating and the silver-containing fingers.    USE - The method is useful for making a photovoltaic device such as a solar cell (claimed).    ADVANTAGE - The method is capable of simply, conveniently and effectively making the photovoltaic device in an environmentally friendly manner with improved energy conversion efficiency and without damage.    DETAILED DESCRIPTION - The method comprises forming an anti-reflection coating (330) on a silicon substrate, applying a silver-containing thick-film paste on the anti-reflection coating to form fingers (351) of the silver-containing thick-film paste on a portion of the anti-reflection coating, firing the fingers of the silver-containing thick-film paste in air at a temperature of 600-975 degrees C to form silver-containing fingers that fire through the anti-reflection coating and contact the silicon substrate, and forming base metal buss bars (380) on a portion of the anti-reflection coating and the silver-containing fingers. The step of forming base metal buss bars on a portion of the anti-reflection coating and silver-containing fingers comprises applying a thick-film paste containing base metal particles onto a portion of the anti-reflection coating and silver-containing fingers, firing the thick-film paste containing base metal particles at a temperature (300-600 degrees C) that is less than or equal to the temperature at which the silver-containing thick-film paste is fired and curing the thick-film paste containing base metal particles at a temperature of 125-250 degrees C. The step of firing the silver-containing thick film paste is conducted at a first firing temperature. The step of firing the thick-film paste containing base metal particles is conducted at a second firing temperature. The firing of the thick-film paste containing base metal particles is conducted separate from and after the firing of the silver-containing thick-film paste. The second firing temperature is lower than the first firing temperature. The thick-film paste containing base metal particles is fired in a nitrogen atmosphere having a partial pressure of oxygen of less than 10-4 atmospheres. The silver-containing thick-film paste and the thick-film paste containing base metal particles are fired at the same time in an oxygen-containing atmosphere, and during firing the base metal particles of the thick-film paste containing base metal particles are protected with a flux. The thick-film paste containing base metal particles is comprised of 60-95 wt.% of base metal particles, 0-10 wt.% of glass frit and 4-40 wt.% of organic medium. The base metal buss bars are formed on a portion of the anti-reflection coating and the silver-containing fingers by screen printing, plating, extrusion, sputtering, evaporation or inkjet processes. An INDEPENDENT CLAIM is included for a photovoltaic cell.    DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING(S) - The diagram shows a schematic plan view of a photovoltaic cell.    Antireflection coating (330)    Fingers of the silver-containing thick-film paste (351)    Base metal buss bars. (380)