Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
  • H01L31/00—Semiconductor devices sensitive to infrared radiation, light, electromagnetic radiation of shorter wavelength or corpuscular radiation and specially adapted either for the conversion of the energy of such radiation into electrical energy or for the control of electrical energy by such radiation; Processes or apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment thereof or of parts thereof; Details thereof
  • H01L31/18—Processes or apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment of these devices or of parts thereof
  • H01L31/1804—Processes or apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment of these devices or of parts thereof comprising only elements of Group IV of the Periodic System
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
  • H01L31/00—Semiconductor devices sensitive to infrared radiation, light, electromagnetic radiation of shorter wavelength or corpuscular radiation and specially adapted either for the conversion of the energy of such radiation into electrical energy or for the control of electrical energy by such radiation; Processes or apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment thereof or of parts thereof; Details thereof
  • H01L31/18—Processes or apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment of these devices or of parts thereof
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
  • H01L31/00—Semiconductor devices sensitive to infrared radiation, light, electromagnetic radiation of shorter wavelength or corpuscular radiation and specially adapted either for the conversion of the energy of such radiation into electrical energy or for the control of electrical energy by such radiation; Processes or apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment thereof or of parts thereof; Details thereof
  • H01L31/18—Processes or apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment of these devices or of parts thereof
  • H01L31/20—Processes or apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment of these devices or of parts thereof such devices or parts thereof comprising amorphous semiconductor materials
  • H01L31/202—Processes or apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment of these devices or of parts thereof such devices or parts thereof comprising amorphous semiconductor materials including only elements of Group IV of the Periodic System
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
  • Y02E—REDUCTION OF GREENHOUSE GAS [GHG] EMISSIONS, RELATED TO ENERGY GENERATION, TRANSMISSION OR DISTRIBUTION
  • Y02E10/00—Energy generation through renewable energy sources
  • Y02E10/50—Photovoltaic [PV] energy
  • Y02E10/547—Monocrystalline silicon PV cells
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
  • Y02P—CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES IN THE PRODUCTION OR PROCESSING OF GOODS
  • Y02P70/00—Climate change mitigation technologies in the production process for final industrial or consumer products
  • Y02P70/50—Manufacturing or production processes characterised by the final manufactured product

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a method of manufacturing and assembling silicon photovoltaic cells on a metal substrate. It is known to produce photovoltaic cells in crystalline silicon on silicon wafers in the same way as integrated circuits. Such cells are relatively expensive and their surface is limited to a few tens of mm 2 . In addition, they cannot be placed in series directly on the base plate because it forms an electrode common to all the cells. They must first be separated by sawing, then assembled and electrically connected on an interconnection support, for example a printed circuit. The sawing is carried out after gluing the silicon wafer on a drum skin on which the cells remain fixed, which facilitates their handling during assembly.
• Photovoltaic cells can also be produced by depositing layers of amorphous silicon on an ad hoc substrate, for example made of glass. This method is interesting because it makes it possible to obtain larger surface cells in an economical manner. In addition, it is possible to assemble cells in series directly on the glass support. However, for certain applications, the glass is too fragile, especially if its thickness must be reduced to less than 1 mm. The support on a metal base, for example stainless steel, then represents a very valid alternative. However, the fact that the base is conductive, unlike glass, poses a number of delicate problems, especially with regard to the placing in series of the cells.
• the present invention aims to solve these problems. More specifically, the invention relates to a process for manufacturing and assembling unitary photovoltaic cells in silicon on a metal substrate, characterized in that it includes the operations of:
• the method according to the invention is characterized in that it includes the operations of:
• the method according to the invention is characterized in that it includes the operations of: - Production of a metal plate provided with cutouts completely freeing the bases of a plurality of unit cells, said bases then being pushed back into the metal plate in line with said cutouts;
• the method according to the invention is characterized in that it includes the operations of:
• the method according to the invention also has the following characteristics: - 4 -
• the transfer and fixing operation on the interconnection support includes the electrical connection of the metal base of the cells on said support by means of a conductive adhesive
• the metal plate cuts are made by stamping; the interconnection of the cells is carried out by strips comprising a plurality of parallel conductors electrically connecting contact zones of the cells to corresponding contact zones of the interconnection support by means of anisotropic conductive adhesive.
• FIG. 1 is a sectional view of two photovoltaic cells placed in series in a conventional manner
• FIG. 2 is a simplified sectional view of cells produced according to the invention.
• FIG. 9 shows a variant of the embodiment of FIG. 8.
• Figure 1 shows two silicon photovoltaic cells connected in series according to the current technique.
• a metal substrate generally made of stainless steel, is covered with an insulating layer 2, then with a metallization 3 serving to form the lower poles of the cells.
• a metallization 3 serving to form the lower poles of the cells.
• a stack of three layers of amorphous silicon PIN or PIN 4, 5 and 6 which form the cells themselves.
• the assembly is finally covered with a transparent or semi-transparent metallization 7 serving to form the upper poles of the cells while letting the light pass.
• the stainless steel substrate 1 can, in fact, have a few tenths of a millimeter in thickness, while the layers 2 to 7 have a thickness much less than a micron. According to the current technique, once the different layers have been deposited, unit cells are produced by selective elimination of layers 3 to 7 at the location 8 where the separation is to take place. Finally, the upper metallization 7 of each cell is electrically connected by a connection 9 to the lower metallization 3 of the next cell in order to ensure the series of the group of photovoltaic cells considered.
• the cells are separated by various methods, in particular by laser cutting or photolithography. These techniques will not be described here since they do not directly relate to the subject of the invention. However, it should be noted that all of these processes require a high number of operations which are sometimes very complex.
• the method according to the invention proposes a real simplification.
• the three layers of amorphous silicon PIN or NIP 4, 5 and 6 are then deposited directly on the metal substrate 1, advantageously in stainless steel, which has previously undergone a stamping, the reasons of which will appear later.
• the transparent or semi-transparent metallization layer 7 is then selectively deposited, by means well known to those skilled in the art, on areas having the shape and the size of the unit cells which it is desired to obtain.
• the non-covered portions of the layer 7 are designated by the reference 10.
• the insulating layer 2 and the metallization 3 used in the cells of the prior art are eliminated, which, of course, significantly reduces the manufacturing process. It is therefore the steel substrate 1 which directly acts as the lower pole of the cells.
• the present invention solves this problem by initially making by stamping, in the steel plate 1, cutouts which define the size and the shape of the unit cells to be produced. These cutouts are not complete, however, but leave a set of attachment points which hold the structure in place.
• FIG. 3 showing a stainless steel substrate 1 consisting of a strip which has, on each side, a series of regularly spaced indexing holes 11a and 11b and which, in the example shown, face each other in pairs, but this is not essential. These holes make it possible to stamp partial rectilinear cutouts 12 which, for the sake of clarity, are shown hatched. These cutouts delimit the bases 13a and 13b of two rows of rectangular cells maintained connected to the strip 1 at each of their angles by four attachment points 14 Each pair of indexing holes. 11 a and 11 b corresponds to two unit cell bases 13a and 13b. Thus, a strip comprising 30 indexing positions will include 60 unit cell bases.
• the strip 1 is stamped before the deposition of the amorphous silicon layers, and before the metallization 7 and the free portions thereof are produced.
• Figure 3 shows how to make a group of three pairs of cells designated by the references 15a1 -15b1, 15a2-15b2 and 15a3-15b3.
• punching we will then make, on the eight attachment points 14 between the group of cells concerned and the other cells of the strip 1, eight perforations 16 which detach the group from both the strip and the adjacent outer cell to the group.
• the same punching operation there are then produced, on the four attachment points 14 between the group of cells concerned and the strip 1 itself, four perforations 17 which detach the group only from the strip but leave them attached group cells.
• FIG. 5 shows that the group 18 of the six cells 15 is then transferred to an interconnection support or printed circuit 19 to which it is bonded by means of conductive adhesive, so that the lower poles of each cell (that is to say - say the bases 13a and 13b in steel) are electrically connected to corresponding contacts 20 of the printed circuit 19.
• the electrical junction between the zones 22 and the metallizations 7 is provided by anisotropic conduction adhesive, as is done to electrically connect the LCD displays. It is clear, however, that other connection methods can be used, for example by using simple wires fixed on either side by a drop of conductive glue. - 8 -
• FIG. 7 illustrates the way in which the method according to the invention can be applied to the production of groups of cells having particular aesthetic characteristics.
• the stamping of the steel base support makes it possible to obtain very varied shapes.
• a stainless steel substrate 25 has been shown in which eight cut-outs 26 have been made by stamping 26 forming a circle and separated by eight attachment points 27.
• the circle itself is separated into four zones defining a group of four cells 28a, 28b, 28c and 28d.
• the cutouts 29 separating the cells are advantageously made by means of a laser, which makes it possible to obtain much more slits. fine than by stamping.
• the whole is fixed on an interconnection printed circuit 30 with a diameter slightly greater than that of the circle formed by the four cells. This will then make the connections with their upper poles in the space provided between the circle and the printed circuit.
• the eight attachment points 27 will finally be perforated by punching in order to separate the group of cells from the rest of the base plate 25.
• the periphery of the assembly can advantageously be covered with a circle intended to hide the interconnections. It is seen that it is thus possible to produce according to the invention groups of cells of varied shape and having, if necessary, an improved aesthetic appearance.
• FIG. 8a shows a steel substrate 31 in which cutouts 32 have been made by stamping, making it possible to produce a set of cells 33 having the shape of a quarter of a circle and joined by attachment points 34.
• an intermediate support 35 shown in FIG. 8b, which is adapted to receive all of the cells.
• This support is formed, for example, of an epoxy resin plate, which has several rows of holes. Two rows of holes 36, arranged to be opposite the attachment points 34, are provided to allow the passage of punching punches for these points.
• the support also includes three other rows of holes 37 with glued edges, the usefulness of which will appear later.
• the assembly of FIG. 8a is placed on the intermediate support 35 where the cells 33 come into contact with the adhesive disposed around the holes 37, which ensures their immobilization.
• the attachment points 34 are then cut by punching through the holes 36 so as to eliminate the rest of the steel substrate 31.
• the cells 33 As shown in FIG. 8c, the cells 33, completely separated from each other, thus remain maintained on the intermediate support 35 from which they can then be taken up by a suitable positioning robot advantageously equipped with a suction head allowing them to be placed on their interconnection support according to any desired configuration. To facilitate this recovery, the cells 33 can be pushed from the rear by means of extractors passing through the holes 37.
• FIG. 9 illustrates another embodiment of the invention, which uses the above technique.
• the method is applied to the manufacture of the same cells as in the case of FIG. 8. For this reason, the same elements have been designated by the same references.

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• 1999
  • 1999-03-19 US US09/646,837 patent/US6642077B1/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 1999-03-19 EP EP99916849A patent/EP1066653A1/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 1999-03-19 WO PCT/EP1999/001886 patent/WO1999049524A1/fr active Application Filing
  • 1999-03-19 JP JP2000538394A patent/JP2002508598A/ja active Pending

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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