MANUFACTURINGLASERS
Laser manufacturing: lessons learnt
The PV industry seeks to reduce costs while improving efficiencies to ensure a long term self sustaining industry. One area that could provide a key stepping stone in this process is manufacturing using lasers. Rick Slagle, Market Development Manager at JPSA Laser discusses how advanced laser techniques from semiconductor manufacturing is making the transition to solar PV production and provides an overview of the subsequent benefits.
22
n today’s society there is continuous demand for devices with lower energy consumption, higher efficiency and for alternative, cheaper and cleaner energy sources. Solar cells are used to convert solar energy to electricity by the photovoltaic effect. While typically they have been used for powering small electronic devices, photovoltaic arrays are particularly useful when electric power from the grid is unavailable such as in remote power systems, Earth-orbiting satellites and space probes, or remote radio telephones or water pumping applications. As a renewable source of energy, photovoltaic electricity is increasingly deployed in grid-tied electrical systems, as the race for cost parity with fossil fuel energy generation is on. Lasers have proven to be an invaluable tool for solar cell manufacturing [1]. For the solar industry, lasers found numerous applications from edge isolation for crystalline silicon wafers to scribing of thin-film solar cells, becoming critical to increase throughput and lower manufacturing costs.
I
For semiconductor manufacturing, a mature industry, a number of laser techniques are employed in production. Diode-pumped solid- state (DPSS) lasers are used in applications that cannot be performed by mechanical, chemical, or other laser fabrication methods as well as where they add value through increased throughput and/or improved process quality. Applications such as edge isolation, wafer scribing/dicing, via formation, laser doping and annealing for Semicon are being applied to crystalline silicon PV manufacture as well as research and development for the next generation of high efficiency cells.
Similarly, selective material removal for exposing underlying layers without thermal damage is vital in the production of thin film PV panels. Some of the most important applications of lasers along with experimental results will be reviewed to illustrate how laser methods can have a significant impact on the development and productivity of the photovoltaic industry.
www.solar-pv-management.com Issue II 2011
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48