A method for fabricating a solar cell comprising a semiconductor substrate is proposed where electrical contacting is made on the back side of the semiconductor substrate. The back side of the semiconductor substrate has locally doped regions. The adjacent regions exhibit different doping from the region. The two regions are initially coated with electrically conductive material over the entire area. So that the conductive material does not short-circuit the solar cell, the two regions are covered with a thin electrically insulating layer at least at the region boundaries.The electrically conductive layer is separated by applying an etch barrier layer over the entire surface which is then removed free from masking and selectively e.g. by laser ablation, locally above the insulating layer. The conductive layer is locally removed in the area of the openings of the etch barrier layer by subsequent action of an etching solution.