Industrial type passivation on interdigitated back junction solar cells

Robbelein, Jo; Kerschaver, Emmanuel Van; Posthuma, Niels; Poortmans, Jef

doi:10.1109/pvsc.2009.5411127

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…The type of cells used for the first trials are interdigitated backcontact solar cells, with specifications as shown in Fig. 11, some more information on these cells can be found in [22].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Developing an Advanced Module for Back-Contact Solar Cells

Govaerts

Robbelein

González

et al. 2011

IEEE Trans. Compon., Packag. Manufact. Technol.

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Abstract-This paper proposes a novel concept for integrating ultrathin solar cells into modules. It is conceived as a method for fabricating solar panels starting from back-contact crystalline silicon solar cells. However, compared to the current state of the art in module manufacturing for back-contact solar cells, this novel concept aims at improvements in performance, reliability, and cost through the use of an alternative encapsulant, namely silicones as opposed to ethylene vinyl acetate, an alternative deposition technology, being wet coating as opposed to dry lamination; and alternative module-level metallization techniques, as opposed to cell-level tabbing-stringing or conductive foil interconnects. The process flow is proposed, and the materials and fabrication technologies are discussed. As the durability of the module, translated into the module's lifetime, is very important in the targeted application, namely solar cell modules, modeling and reliability testing results and considerations are presented to illustrate how the experimental development process may be guided by experience and theoretical derivations. Finally, feasibility is demonstrated in some first proofs of the concept, and an outlook is given pointing out the direction for further research.

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“…The type of cells used for the first trials are interdigitated backcontact solar cells, with specifications as shown in Fig. 11, some more information on these cells can be found in [22].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Developing an Advanced Module for Back-Contact Solar Cells

Govaerts

Robbelein

González

et al. 2011

IEEE Trans. Compon., Packag. Manufact. Technol.

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show abstract

“…The type of cells used for the first trials are IBC solar cells, made in-house (imec) and with specifications as shown in Figure 6, some more information on these cells can be found in [16]. The module was then metallized with the low-temperature Ag paste by means of "manual" screenprinting through a 25-µm PI (polyimide) "shadowmask", and tabs were contact welded to this metallization.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Performance of a new type of module based on back-contact solar cells

et al. 2010

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Imec has developed a new technology to integrate and interconnect back-contact solar cells into modules, based on embedding cells in silicone on top of a glass substrate. This technology aims at an improved optical performance and reliability (through the use of silicones and low-temperature metallization). One of the additional advantages is that the technology is suitable for integrating very thin cells into modules: whereas standalone interconnection of such fragile thin cells, e. g. tabbing and stringing, would significantly lower the throughput yield due to breakage, the cells are better protected if they are embedded inside silicone. The paper will first elaborate on the process flow, the background and motivation, advantages, drawbacks and limitations, and technical aspects of the developed technology. Then it will present the results of the measurements on the performance of functional solar cells processed into modules using this technology, discussing losses and loss mechanisms. Then, the approach towards determining the reliability of the module will be presented, indicating how imec aims at building up an ageing model, and elaborating the results on the failure mode and effect analysis, modeling, characterization and reliability testing

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“…Several proofs of concept of silicone bonding and encapsulation have been demonstrated and are depicted in Figure : on wafers as thin as 40 µm , on 100‐µm‐thin 2 × 2 cm 2 interdigitated back contact (IBC) cells , and on standard metal wrap‐through cells from Photovoltech , each time using silicones from Dow Corning. For the latter case, reliability tests have been carried out to evaluate the silicone encapsulation scheme (cells are interconnected by soldering): 1000 h of damp heat, 200 thermal cycles and 10 humidity freeze cycles according to the specifications in the IEC61215 standard were passed successfully (less than 5% degradation).…”

Section: Fabrication Of High‐quality Crystalline Si Layer On Glassmentioning

confidence: 99%

Crystalline thin‐foil silicon solar cells: where crystalline quality meets thin‐film processing

Dross

Baert

Bearda

et al. 2012

Progress in Photovoltaics

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Crystalline Si (c-Si) technology is dominating the photovoltaics market. These modules are nonetheless still relatively expensive, in particular because of the costly silicon wafers, which require large thickness mostly to ease handling. Thin-film technologies, on the other hand, use much less active material, exhibit a much lower production cost per unit area, but achieve an efficiency still limited on module level, which increases the total system costs. A meet-in-the-middle is possible and is the object of this paper. The development of c-Si thin-foil modules is presented: first, the fabrication of the active material on a glass module and then the processing of the Si foils into solar cells, directly on module level. The activity of IMEC in this area is put into perspective with regard to worldwide research results. It appears that great opportunities are offered to this cell concept, although some challenges still need to be tackled before cost-effective and reliable industrial production can be launched.

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Industrial type passivation on interdigitated back junction solar cells

Cited by 4 publications

References 5 publications

Developing an Advanced Module for Back-Contact Solar Cells

Developing an Advanced Module for Back-Contact Solar Cells

Performance of a new type of module based on back-contact solar cells

Crystalline thin‐foil silicon solar cells: where crystalline quality meets thin‐film processing

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