Solar cell interconnects and method of fabricating same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9257584-B2
Application number	US-201414210497-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 14, 2014
Priority date	Mar 14, 2014
Publication date	Feb 9, 2016
Grant date	Feb 9, 2016

Abstract

A solar cell device and a method of fabricating the device is described. The solar cell is fabricated by providing a substructure comprising an absorber over a back contact having a P 1 line therein and scribing a P 2 line in the absorber by mechanical scribing and laser scribing after the mechanical scribing. The scribing can be performed with an integrated scriber, including a scribing tip and a light source mounted adjacent the scribing tip and operable concurrently with the scribing tip.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of fabricating a solar cell comprising:
providing a substructure comprising an absorber over a back contact having a P 1 line therein; and
scribing a P 2 line through said absorber by:
mechanical scribing; and
laser scribing after said mechanical scribing.

2. The method as in claim 1 , wherein said providing step comprises:
providing a substrate;
depositing said back contact over said substrate;
scribing said P 1 line through said back contact; and
depositing said absorber over said back contact and within said P 1 line.

3. The method as in claim 1 , wherein said scribing step comprises:
moving a scribing tip along an area of said substructure to cut a trench, wherein a light source follows said scribing tip; and
focusing a beam from said light source on residue within said trench.

4. The method as in claim 3 , wherein a width covered by said beam comprises at least 50% of a width covered by said scribing tip.

5. The method as in claim 3 , wherein a width covered by said beam comprises about 50% to 95% of a width covered by said scribing tip.

6. The method as in claim 1 , wherein said substructure further comprises an interface layer between said back contact and said absorber; and said scribing step further scribes said P 2 line through said interface layer.

7. The method as in claim 6 , wherein said scribing step comprises:
moving a scribing tip along an area of said substructure to cut a trench, wherein a light source follows said scribing tip; and
focusing a beam from said light source on a portion of said interface layer within said trench.

8. The method as in claim 1 , wherein said scribing step is performed with an integrated scriber comprising:
a scribing tip; and
a light source mounted adjacent said scribing tip and operable concurrently with said scribing tip.

9. The method as in claim 1 , wherein said scribing step further comprises collecting particles from said P 2 line.

10. The method as in claim 9 , wherein said scribing step comprises:
moving a scribing tip along an area of said substructure to cut a trench, wherein a light source follows said scribing tip and a particle collector follows said light source;
focusing a beam from said light source on residue within said trench; and
removing particles from said trench with said particle collector.

11. A method of fabricating a solar cell comprising:
providing a substructure comprising an absorber over a back contact having a P 1 line therein;
scribing a P 2 line through said absorber by:
mechanical scribing to cut a trench in the substructure and
laser scribing within the trench after said mechanical scribing; and

depositing a front contact over the absorber and within the trench, wherein the front contact directly connects with the back contact in the P 2 line.

12. The method as in claim 11 , wherein said scribing step further comprises removing absorber residue from within the trench.

13. The method as in claim 11 , wherein said scribing step further comprises removing an interface layer from within the trench.

14. The method as in claim 11 , wherein said substructure further comprises an interface layer between the back contact and absorber and said P 2 line is scribed though the interface layer.

15. The method as in claim 14 , wherein said interface layer comprises Mo(SeS) x .

16. A method of fabricating a solar cell comprising:
providing a substructure comprising an absorber over a back contact having a P 1 line therein; and
scribing a P 2 line through said absorber by:
mechanical scribing with a scribing tip; and
laser scribing with a light source after said mechanical scribing, wherein said scribing tip and light source are mounted on a movable base.

17. The method as in claim 16 , wherein said scribing tip and light source are applied to the substructure concurrently.

18. The method as in claim 16 , wherein a beam is applied from said light source having a wavelength ranging from about 1100 nm to about 1250 nm.

19. The method as in claim 16 , wherein a beam is applied from said light source having a power ranging from about 0.1 W to about 5 W.

20. The method as in claim 16 , wherein said movable base further comprises a particle collector mounted adjacent said light source; and the scribing step further comprises removing absorber residue with the particle collector.

Assignees

• Tsmc Solar Ltd

Inventors

• Tsai Chia-Hung

Classifications

• H10F19/33

  Patterning processes to connect the photovoltaic cells, e.g. laser cutting of conductive or active layers · CPC title

• H10F10/167

  comprising Group I-III-VI materials, e.g. CdS/CuInSe2 [CIS] heterojunction photovoltaic cells · CPC title

• H10F71/00

  Manufacture or treatment of devices covered by this subclass (patterning processes to connect thin photovoltaic cells in integrated devices, or assemblies of multiple devices, having photovoltaic cells H10F19/33; manufacture or treatment of encapsulations or containers for integrated devices, or assemblies of multiple devices, having photovoltaic cells H10F19/80; manufacture or treatment of integrated devices, or assemblies of multiple devices, comprising at least one element in which radiation controls the flow of current H10F39/00) · CPC title

• H10F19/35 Primary

  Structures for the connecting of adjacent photovoltaic cells, e.g. interconnections or insulating spacers · CPC title

• H10F19/90 Primary

  Structures for connecting between photovoltaic cells, e.g. interconnections or insulating spacers (between thin-film photovoltaic cells on a single substrate H10F19/35) · CPC title