Back End Monolithic Serial Interconnection Technology for CIGS with Shunt-free Laser Scribing and Inkjet Printing

Gevaerts, Veronique S.; Biezemans, Anne; Mannetje, Hero H. lt; Linden, Hans; Bosman, Johan

doi:10.1109/pvsc.2018.8548280

Cited by 3 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…The back‐end interconnection approach we have implemented for amorphous silicon thin film modules is also applicable for other thin film technologies like CIGS, cadmium‐telluride or perovskites. The approach has already been implemented for CIGS, 25,26 where a transparent conductor was used due to the substrate concept. Comparing our results with literature, the most obvious difference is the high fill factor of over 70% we achieved, whereas in literature values around 60% and well below are usually found 10,25–29 .…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The approach has already been implemented for CIGS, 25,26 where a transparent conductor was used due to the substrate concept. Comparing our results with literature, the most obvious difference is the high fill factor of over 70% we achieved, whereas in literature values around 60% and well below are usually found 10,25–29 . Despite these results reported in literature, to our knowledge there is no production on industry level of customized modules regarding shape and colour and no post‐interconnection process after the deposition of all contact and active layers.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Comparing our results with literature, the most obvious difference is the high fill factor of over 70% we achieved, whereas in literature values around 60% and well below are usually found. 10,[25][26][27][28][29] Despite these results reported in literature, to our knowledge there is no production on industry level of customized modules regarding shape and colour and no postinterconnection process after the deposition of all contact and active layers. Up to now the serial interconnection using laser scribes after single deposition steps remains the standard for thin film solar modules.…”

Section: Back-end Interconnectionmentioning

confidence: 98%

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Flexible design of building integrated thin‐film photovoltaics

Neugebohrn¹,

Haas

Gerber

et al. 2022

Progress in Photovoltaics

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The high cost of building integrated photovoltaics is one of the main reasons preventing a more widespread application. We propose a panel-on-demand concept for flexible design of building integrated thin-film photovoltaics to address this issue.The concept is based on the use of semi-finished PV modules (standard mass products) with subsequent refinement into BIPV PV modules. In this study, we demonstrate the three processes necessary to realize this concept. First, a prototype tool to cut thin film photovoltaic elements on glass substrates based on laser perforation was developed.Damage to the processed samples did not exceed a distance of 50 μm from laser cuts.Second, oxide/metal/oxide-electrodes with integrated colour were applied on Cu (In, Ga)Se 2 cells and standard monolithic interconnection structuring was used to produce modules sized 30 Â 30 cm 2 in red, green and blue with strong colours. Third, A backend interconnection process was developed for amorphous silicon thin film cells, which allows for the structuring of modules from elements of custom shape. The panel-ondemand strategy may allow for a streamlined production of customized modules and a lower cost for aesthetically pleasing, fully building integrated solar modules.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Back-end Interconnectionmentioning

confidence: 98%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Flexible design of building integrated thin‐film photovoltaics

Neugebohrn¹,

Haas

Gerber

et al. 2022

Progress in Photovoltaics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…A slight variation of the traditional interconnect of thin films is presented in [Gevaerts, 2018]. In this case, the aim is to separate the stack growth processes from the patterning ones as to optimize the latter without affecting the former.…”

Section: Alternative Architectures For Interconnection Of Cellsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this case, the aim is to separate the stack growth processes from the patterning ones as to optimize the latter without affecting the former. As indicated in [Gevaerts, 2018], the cell is grown until the (undoped) intermediate ZnO layer; then, laser patterning of P1 is performed until Mo is removed and the trench is then filled with an insulator via inkjet printing. After this, the procedure continues as usual with the laser scribing of P2, then sputtering of TCO and finally removal of material in P3.…”

Section: Alternative Architectures For Interconnection Of Cellsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterization and simulation of CIGS thin-film solar cells and interconnects

Lorbada¹

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Prospects of photovoltaic solar energy have improved in the recent years, due to the aim of global actors to increase the ratio of green energy produced. In the market of photovoltaics, thin-film solar cells based on Cu(In,Ga)(Se,S)2 material, (the cells under study in this thesis do not include Sulphur, and the material is known in short as CIGS) are a well-established technology that conjugates the advantages of thin-film devices with abundant and non-toxic materials, in contrast with other thin-film technologies based on toxic cadmium and the somewhat scarce tellurium. Another promising characteristic of this technology is found in the recent achievements in efficiency that put CIGS devices on par with multi-crystalline silicon solar cells. However, this technology presents some issues regarding its performance that may disadvantage it with respect to the other well-stablished technologies. Although the efficiency of the best laboratory scale solar cell based on CIGS is now close to that of multi-crystalline Si, there is still room for improvement of absorber and interface properties; the efficiency of commercial modules is also still behind that of the best lab-scale device due to performance losses introduced by the interconnection between cells. Moreover, this material also suffers from a somewhat poorer stability against certain operation conditions that are typically found in PV installations such as light-soaking or reversebiasing of cells due to shading for instance. The most devastating condition is known as potential induced degradation, which affects the performance dramatically and might result in warranty breaching for the manufacturer, reducing the economic attractiveness of this technology.The poorer performance and stability of CIGS technology can only be addressed with a good understanding of the electronic properties of the devices. The aim of this work is to provide knowledge on certain issues that affect the performance and stability of CIGS solar cells. The first issue is the impact of the interconnection between cells on the performance of the device. The scribing process that divides the module in cells results in three trenches (named as P1, P2 and P3) with different purposes. The first trench (P1) separates the back-contact of two adjacent cells, the second trench (P2) connects the front contact of a cell with the back-contact of the next adjacent cell and the third trench (P3) separates the front contact of two adjacent cells. Nonetheless, the P1 trench is typically filled with absorber material (CIGS), which does not provide a perfect isolation and may result in a significant shunt. The impact of the P1 shunt is studied in this thesis with 2D simulations and the characterization of devices (I-V, imaging techniques and C-V) with interconnection, considering the properties of the absorber, and an equivalent circuit model, based on a Junction Field-Effect Transistor is proposed to represent the behavior of the P1 shunt. Metastable changes in the absorber (that are typical of CIGS devices...

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