This application relates generally to a solar cell and its method of manufacture. More specifically, this application relates to a method of manufacturing thin-film, series connected silicon solar cells using an ultraviolet scribing laser.
Thin film solar cells having monolithic series interconnections can be formed by using laser or mechanical structuring. Mechanical structuring can include photolithographic or chemical etching structuring. The structuring is useful to form large-area photovoltaic (PV) modules or “arrays”. These concepts allow the PV modules to be adapted to the desired output characteristics—VOC (open circuit voltage), ISC (short-circuit-current) and FF (fill factor—defined as the maximum power produced at the maximum power point, divided by the product of ISC and VOC, which is always less than 1). Thus, these features can be specifically tailored to the needs/applications of the user.
A method of manufacture using scribing lasers is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,292,092, incorporated herein by reference. This reference suggests using a continuously excited, neodymium, Yttrium Aluminum Garnet (CW Nd:YAG) laser for scribing a transparent conductive oxide (TCO) layer deposited on a non-conductive substrate. Two or more active layers are deposited on the TCO layer, and are also laser scribed. A back electrode layer is deposited on the active layers, and optionally scribed. The laser of the reference has a wavelength of about 1060 nanometers.
Similarly, referring to
The resulting “trench” cuts are scribed laser cuts made through and along a given layer material to expose an underlying material, with the objective of separating the scribed layer material into two or more portions, for example, as in defining and separating the layer material into separate individual solar cells on a given module. Thus, the scribed layer material portions can be electrically isolated from each other via the trenches if the underlying material is non-conductive.
Furthermore, in the case of LP-CVD (low pressure chemical vapor deposition) ZnO fabrication of the TCO layer, use of the 1064 nm lasers for the realization of functioning, large-area a-Si:H (amorphous hydrogenated silicon) anhydrous-based PV modules has not been commercially successful.
The slightly higher absorption of laser energy by the ZnO using a 1064 nm laser (1064 nm˜1.16 eV), due to free carrier absorption, could be an improvement compared to the lesser absorption using a laser wavelength of 532 nm (corresponding to 2.3 eV), because at the weaker absorption by ZnO at 532 nm, good scribe conditions were not achieved for scribing the ZnO TCO, with respect to isolation and quality of the borders of the scribe trenches. Thus, use of 532 nm lasers did not lead to a high fill factor of the module, as desired, and thus were not useful for scribing a ZnO TCO layer.
However,
Good electrical isolation is desired in order to achieve a high performance of the PV modules.
Accordingly, in case of ZnO as the front TCO layer, the challenge is to realize high quality border edges of the resulting trenches, thereby resulting in the desirable high FF with the desirable high isolation at the TCO scribe trenches. Because the structuring of ZnO using lasers at 1064 nm wavelength result in undesirable burn-outs, the use of ZnO for the TCO layer has been unsatisfactory, because the borders of the trench cuts through ZnO using the 1064 nm laser resulted in the irregular bulges or beads with a sharp texture, as discussed above, compared to as-grown textured LP-CVD ZnO.
A further disadvantage of the use of the 1064 nm laser scribing process was the low process speed of the cutting (scribing) velocities, which were typically below 10 m/min. An additional disadvantage was the wide trench width, which is typically larger than 20 μm, leading to wasted space. These disadvantages make the overall module less efficient than it could be.
The above described shortcomings are likely reasons why ZnO has not been successfully applied as a front TCO contact in the past. It would be beneficial to provide a manufacturing process that can help overcome one or more of the above described shortcomings to allow the economically successful use of ZnO as the TCO layer in thin-film solar cell PV modules.
Provided is a method for manufacturing a thin-film solar cell comprising the steps of:
Also provided is a method for manufacturing a thin-film solar cell comprising the steps of:
Still further provided is a solar module comprising a substrate and a first conducting layer including ZnO covering some portion of the substrate. The conducting layer has a plurality of first trenches scribed through to the underlying substrate to form a plurality of separate conducting layer portions from the conducting layer separated from each other by the plurality of first trenches.
The above solar module also comprises one or more active layers covering some portion of the conducting layer, where one or more active layers has a plurality of second trenches scribed through to the underlying conducting layer to form a plurality of separate active layer portions from the one or more active layers separated from each other by the plurality of second trenches, and wherein each of the plurality of separate active layer portions covers a portion of a corresponding one of the plurality of separate conducting layer portions.
The above solar module also comprises a plurality of separate second conducting layers each covering some portion of a corresponding one of the separate active layer portions. A plurality of series connected solar cells on the substrate each include one of the separate second conducting layers, the corresponding one of the separate active layer portions and the corresponding one of the separate first conducting layer portions. The resulting solar cells are series connected by electrically connecting the second conducting layer of one of the solar cells to the first conducting layer portion of an adjacent one of the solar cells.
The features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art to which the present invention relates upon reading the following description with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
Generally, as shown in
The substrate and first conducting layers are typically transparent to allow light to reach the active layer(s) through them, because the semiconducting active layers are transparent enough to let light bass. Furthermore, a back reflector can be applied so that the light is forced to pass a second time through the active layers to be eventually absorbed to enhance efficiency. Alternatively, the second conducting layer could be made transparent to allow light to reach the active layer from that side.
Furthermore, the second conducting layer of one cell is typically electrically connected to the first conducting layer of an adjacent cell by overlapping the second layer on the first layer, in order to series connect the individual solar cells, resulting in a series connected PV module.
Specifically, in the method according to a current embodiment of the invention, a transparent ZnO TCO layer is chosen for the first conducting layer 22, which is deposited on a transparent substrate 21, such as by using an LP-CVD process. Alternatively, a sputtering process might be used to deposit the TCO layer. The transparent substrate of the current embodiment is glass, but other transparent materials such as a highly transparent UV-stable plastic could alternatively be utilized, for example. Then, the ZnO TCO layer is laser scribed using an ultraviolet laser beam through to the substrate 21, forming the trench 25 and differentiating the TCO layers of the separate individual solar cells from each other on the solar module.
One or more active layers are used to form the p-i-n-junction, typically including differently doped and/or undoped silicon layers. For the current embodiment, these active layers are deposited on the ZnO TCO layer, such as by a LP-CVD or PECVD process. This may result in the TCO trench 25 being filled with one or more of the active layers, as shown in
In the current embodiment, an electrode layer as the additional conducting layer 24 is then applied over the active layer(s) to form the individual outer electrodes of the individual solar cells. The back electrode can be comprised of the TCO or a fully reflective like aluminum or other suitable material. The outer electrodes can be applied using a LP-CVD process (for the current embodiment), although alternative processes, such as sputtering, could also be used. For alternate embodiments, the electrode layers could be individually and separately formed for each cell. However, for the current embodiment, the electrode layer 24 can be applied over the active layers of the entire module, and then laser scribed through to expose the active layer(s) 23, resulting in the trench cut 26 and separating the overall electrode layer into separate electrode layers for each of the separate, individual solar cells.
In the current embodiment, the electrode layer of one cell is overlapped with, and connected to, the TCO layer of an adjacent cell, resulting in a series-connected electrical contact. In this manner, the individual solar cells are thereby series connected to increase the voltage of the resulting PV module.
Alternative structures could be utilized to result in parallel connections, or the cells could be electrically isolated from each other, if desired for alternative embodiments.
The proper arrangements of the three scribe trenches 25, 26, and 27, as shown in
In order to achieve a better quality trench cut of the TCO layer, especially when using ZnO as the TCO layer as in the current embodiment, a new type of laser for performing the scribe operation to form trench 25 is proposed as part of a manufacturing method. Because the ZnO of the current embodiment TCO layer has a much stronger absorption below the 400 nm wavelength than at the 1064 nm wavelength, an ultraviolet Nd:YVO4 laser (for example, a Coherent AVIA 355-X 10 Watt laser) operating at a wavelength of 355 nm (˜3.5 eV) is applied for the TCO scribing step (see the characteristics of the laser given below).
By using such a short wavelength ultraviolet laser beam on the ZnO TCO layer of the current embodiment, much or most of the laser beam is efficiently absorbed by the ZnO film. This is shown by the experimentally derived plot of
Using such an ultraviolet laser to form the PV series connected module of the current embodiment results in more efficient melting and evaporation of the ZnO TCO layer in the trench cut down to the bare glass substrate. In fact, such an ultraviolet laser beam doesn't just melt the ZnO material, as often occurred using the prior art lasers (thus forming the undesirable beads and bulges), but the new laser technique actually vaporizes much or all of the ZnO material in contact with the laser beam, resulting in a cleaner cut (reducing or eliminating the undesirable beads and bulges). Therefore, using a high-energy (short wave) ultraviolet laser beam at the appropriate wavelength (to optimize the desired absorption of the laser energy) achieves a high effectivity, and results in a higher FF with proper isolation of the individual cells. Similarly, for materials other than ZnO, choosing the appropriate laser wavelength for high absorption could also provide similar results.
Accordingly, a very good isolation at a high scribe velocity (greater than 10 m/min) may be achieved by using such a short wavelength laser beam for scribing the TCO layer. Experiments have shown that scribe velocities of >20 or even >40 m/min. are possible, with good results. It goes without saying, that higher laser power could allow the method to exceed even these values, but on the other hand this would probably require a resulting increased demand on the precision of the laser beam guidance.
Advantages of using the new laser for scribing the TCO layer are the high quality of the borders of the resulting trench cut: scribing with the 355 nm UV-laser results in borders which are smooth and soft and which run softly down to the glass, minimizing undesirable beads and bulges. There are few or no effects of creating bulges at the edges of the trench (see
Note that
Consequently, these smooth trench edges have the potential in increasing the FF of modules based on ZnO front layer TCO, compared to conventional processes, such as using the 1064 nm laser, for example. Higher FF's, on the other hand, allow for larger segment width and therefore reduced scribe losses and, hence, to principally higher module efficiencies.
Furthermore, a short wavelength light can be focused to a smaller width than a laser operating at longer wavelength. Due to the smaller wavelength of the 355 nm laser of the invention, compared to 1064 nm laser, a smaller trench cut down to 14-15 μm width can be realized with the UV laser, whereas with a 1064 nm laser, trench cut width are in general larger than 20 or 25 μm. The smaller trench cut width at the resulting high isolation allows for a closer positioning of the three scribe lines, as shown in
Known methods for scribing the active and/or electrode layers can be utilized, such as the methods disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,292,092, incorporated herein by reference. For the current embodiment, these layers can be scribed using a 532 nm laser.
Furthermore, the resulting high scribe velocities of the manufacturing process according to the invention allow for a higher throughput, and therefore could result in a substantial cost reduction of the laser patterning process in the manufacturing of large-area thin film silicon solar cell modules. The higher scribe velocities also help reduce the roughness of the resulting trenches, because the material “next to” the laser beam cut has simply no time to form a bead. For this reason as well, undesirable beads and bulges is reduced.
Acceptable laser parameters for scribing a TCO trench on a film-covered side of a glass substrate coated with ZnO as the TCO layer include a laser power of 8 Watts or more and a scribe velocity of 25 m/min or more. A focusing lens with a focal length of 63 mm can be utilized for focusing the TCO scribing laser.
Example Application:
Specifications of an applied UV-laser (Coherent AVIA 355-X used successfully according to the invention are:
ZnO layers for the sample were about 2 μm thick deposited on glass by LP-CVD process.
Laserscribing or layer structuring processes for coated substrates with ZnO deposited by other methods (sputtering, etc.) or other TCO materials with similar absorption characteristics to ZnO could also benefit from the described process of the invention as well.
The invention has been described hereinabove using specific examples and embodiments; however, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various alternatives may be used and equivalents may be substituted for elements and/or steps described herein, without deviating from the scope of the invention. Modifications may be necessary to adapt the invention to a particular situation or to particular needs without departing from the scope of the invention. It is intended that the invention not be limited to the particular implementations and embodiments described herein, but that the claims be given their broadest interpretation to cover all embodiments, literal or equivalent, disclosed or not, covered thereby.
This application claims the benefit of provisional application Ser. No. 60/576,142, filed on Jun. 2, 2004, incorporated herein by reference.
Number | Date | Country | |
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60576142 | Jun 2004 | US |