TW201503395A - Method, computer program, controller and binning apparatus for distributing wafers to bins - Google Patents

Abstract

A method for delivering wafers to a multitude of bins is provided. The method for delivering wafers to a multitude of bins includes configuring quality classes of the wafers dependent on at least one characteristic of the wafers; configuring priority groups including at least a high priority group and a low priority group; assigning each of the quality classes to one of the priority groups; assigning each of the multitude of bins to one of the priority groups; providing examination results for the wafers; classifying each of the wafers into one of the quality classes according to the examination result of the wafer; and delivering each of the wafers to one of the multitude of bins according to the priority group assigned to the quality class of the wafer. A computer program, a computer readable medium, a controller for a binning apparatus, and a binning apparatus (30) are also provided.

Description

Method, computer program, controller and method for distributing a wafer to a component tray Assembly device

Embodiments of the present invention relate to an assembly method, a method of manufacturing a solar cell, a method of improving an assembly apparatus, a computer program, a computer readable medium including the computer program, and a method for distributing a wafer to a component drawer Assembly device. The subject matter of this case relates in particular to a manufacturing process of a solar cell and a manufacturing apparatus of a solar cell. In particular, the subject matter of the present disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for the assembly of processed wafers, particularly for solar cells.

A solar cell is a photovoltaic device that converts sunlight into electrical energy. A typical solar cell (also referred to herein as a "battery") includes a substrate (which may also be referred to herein as a "wafer"). The wafer is typically made of tantalum. The wafer may have one or more p-n junctions formed in the wafer. Each p-n junction has a p-type region and an n-type region. When the p-n junction is exposed to sunlight, the sunlight is converted to electricity by the photovoltaic effect.

Solar arrays assembled from a large number of solar cells are usually also It is called a solar panel or a solar cell module. Solar panels are sold to end users (such as private homes) for installation on the roof for power generation private and/or power generation to the utility grid.

Solar cells with the worst performance substantially define the performance of the entire solar panel. Experience has also shown that customers prefer solar panels with the same color appearance on each wafer, rather than solar panels with different solar cell colors. In addition, some batteries may be more suitable, for example, for direct light incidence, while others are more suitable for indirect light incidence. This may also be true for other situations.

Accordingly, it is desirable in the art to distinguish the solar cells depending on the characteristics of the solar cell and collect those wafers having the same or very similar characteristics to separate from other wafers having different characteristics. It is also desirable that such a method of collecting wafers does not reduce the overall performance of solar cell fabrication in terms of wafers produced per hour.

In view of the above, the case is directed to the following.

According to one aspect, a method of transferring a wafer to a plurality of component bins is provided. The method for transferring a wafer to a plurality of component trays includes: configuring a quality level of the wafer depending on at least one characteristic of the wafer; configuring a priority order group such that the priority order group includes at least one high priority group and a low priority group; assigning each of the quality levels to one of the priority groups; assigning each of the plurality of component drawers to a priority order group of the priority order group Providing an inspection result of the wafer; each of the wafers is inspected according to the inspection result of the wafer Classifying one of the quality levels; and transmitting each of the wafers to one of the plurality of bins based on the prioritized set of the quality levels assigned to the wafer .

According to an aspect, a method of fabricating a solar cell is provided. The method includes: providing a wafer; depositing a conductive via on the wafer; and binning the wafer, as described herein.

According to an aspect, a controller for assembling a device is provided. The controller is configured to perform a method as described herein.

According to one aspect, an assembly apparatus for transferring a wafer to a plurality of component drawers is provided. The assembly apparatus includes one or more delivery systems for transporting wafers to a plurality of component drawers. The assembly apparatus further includes a controller for controlling the one or more delivery systems as described herein.

According to an aspect, a solar cell manufacturing apparatus is provided. The solar cell manufacturing apparatus includes: one or more deposition devices for depositing a conductive via on a wafer; one or more inspection devices for inspecting the wafer; and one or more assembly devices as described herein .

According to an aspect, a method for improving an assembly device is provided. The assembly device includes a controller. The method includes loading a computer program as described herein to a controller.

According to one aspect, a computer program is provided. The computer program includes computer code that is adapted to perform a method as described herein when the computer program is run on a computer.

According to one aspect, a computer readable medium is provided. The computer readable medium stores a computer program as described herein.

Further embodiments, aspects, details and advantages will become more apparent from the claims, the description and the drawings.

Therefore, for a more detailed description of the above detailed features of the present invention, a more specific description of the present invention briefly outlined above may be referred to the embodiments. The following is a drawing related to an embodiment of the present invention: FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic diagram of a solar cell manufacturing apparatus including an assembly apparatus according to an embodiment as described herein; FIG. 2 illustrates A schematic diagram of a solar cell manufacturing apparatus of the described embodiment, the solar cell manufacturing apparatus including an assembly apparatus; FIG. 3 illustrates a schematic top view of an exemplary assembly apparatus according to an embodiment as described herein; A schematic top view of an exemplary assembly apparatus of the embodiments described herein, wherein an exemplary priority group number is depicted in each of the component drawers; FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary test run split according to solar cell fabrication Schematic diagram of wafers distributed within various grades; FIG. 6 illustrates an illustrative side perspective view of an assembly apparatus in accordance with embodiments described herein; FIG. 7 illustrates an illustrative three-dimensional view of a component drawer in accordance with embodiments described herein; A legend illustrating binning logics in accordance with embodiments known in the art; and Figure 9 A legend of assembly logic in accordance with an embodiment as described herein.

Reference will now be made in detail to the various embodiments of the invention, In the description of the following drawings, the same element symbols represent the same elements. In the present case, only the differences of the various embodiments are described. The examples are provided by way of explanation of the invention and are not intended to limit the invention. Furthermore, the features illustrated or described as part of one embodiment can be used in a further embodiment or in combination with other embodiments for the further embodiments. The description is intended to include such modifications and changes.

Wafers used in the solar cell manufacturing industry are manufactured in a sequence of various process steps. In particular, a single (polycrystalline or single crystal) ingot is typically sawn into individual wafers. Typically, the wafer is made of tantalum. The wafer may have a thickness of 150 μm or less, or even a thickness of 100 μm or less. Typical dimensions of the wafer are in the range of 10 cm x 10 cm and 20 cm x 20 cm. As understood herein, the wafer can be square, optionally having a chamfer.

The wafer undergoes several doping, drilling, photolithography, and heating steps for fabricating solar cells that will be assembled together to form a solar panel. Although the industry seeks a manufacturing process that can produce identical and optimized solar wafers, the actual wafers obtained from the same manufacturing process are characterized by each other (such as the performance of the wafer when exposed to sunlight, wafers). The color, the physical integrity of the wafer, the suitability of the wafer for incident light, etc.) are different. This is due to differences in raw materials and deviations and disturbances in further process steps.

Therefore, a processed set of related characteristics can be performed on the processed wafer. The analysis, and depending on the results of the analysis, wafers with associated properties can be collected to separate from other wafers having different characteristics.

The collection of the wafers is generally done in a component drawer, which is here understood to be a unit configured to store several wafers in a cell. As understood herein, the component drawer may be a box, such as made of polystyrene, typically missing one or both side walls. In other words, the component drawer may be a box with only two or three side walls. An example of such a box is shown in Figure 7. The assembly device as described herein may be configured such that the component drawer is aligned with the bottom of the component drawer (see reference numeral 71 in Figure 7), the bottom of which may be at an angle to the horizontal plane, for example, An angle of 10° or more.

The terms "transfer wafer to component", "distribute wafer to component", "classify wafer", and "assemble" are understood to have the same meaning and are understood to move the wafer to a different assembly. The characteristics of the processed wafer must be within selectable intervals to classify the wafer into individual bins. Thus the wafer within each bin contains a large number of very similar wafers. "Similar" as used in this context must be understood to mean that the wafer characteristics for the assembly process analysis are the same or have marginal deviations.

Each bin has the maximum capacity. Once the maximum capacity of the individual bins is reached, the individual bins must be replaced with empty bins. This can be done manually or automatically. However, the inventors have found that known assembly methods can cause delays in overall production. For example, when the assembly method is performed such that each of the plurality of bins corresponds to a different quality level of the processed wafer depending on the characteristics of the wafer, if one of the bins is full and thus needs to be replaced with an empty bin, It may happen that the entire manufacturing must be aborted. As will be apparent from the description, even in the case of the embodiment of the present invention, even manual replacement of the component drawer (which may take several minutes) does not usually result in the suspension of the production process.

Fig. 1 schematically illustrates a solar cell manufacturing apparatus 1 for manufacturing a solar cell according to embodiments described herein. The wafer is processed in one or more processing devices 10. For example, the illustrative illustrated device 10 may be a combination of one or more of the following devices: a sawing device, a cleaning device, a doping device, a deposition device, a lithographic device, a flip device, an oven, an inspection device, Drilling devices, etc. In particular, device 10 can include a plurality of lithographic devices configured to lithographically etch one or more conductive material vias on the wafer. Notably, the processing device 10 can include one or more inspection devices for intermediate inspection of the process steps and/or further alignment of the processing steps.

Furthermore, as schematically illustrated in FIG. 1, the wafer is analyzed in one or more inspection devices 20 after processing the wafer, specifically after completion of the solar cell and prior to assembly. For example, it is possible to provide one, two, three or more inspection devices, each of which is configured to inspect a particular characteristic of the wafer. The characteristics to be analyzed are usually chosen by the operator in accordance with the technical and economic needs of the production process. However, in the following, some examples of the characteristics to be analyzed should be exemplarily discussed. It should be noted that the term "processed wafer" includes, in particular, a fully fabricated solar cell.

For example, one or more of the inspection devices can be configured to check the physical integrity of the processed wafer, in particular, to check whether the wafer includes damaged portions or edges, cracks, cracks, and the like. Can also check if the wafer is There is lithographic residue, that is, whether there is a lithographic material deposited on the wafer where it should not be deposited.

One or more of the inspection devices may be configured to check the color of the solar cell. The color of the solar cell is primarily related for two reasons. One reason for this is that customers who use several solar cells assembled together to make solar panels prefer solar panels of the same appearance. In other words, solar cells in solar panels have solar panels of different colors that have drawbacks in the consumer market. Another reason is that the color, especially the black portion of the wafer, is related to the performance of the wafer and the suitability of the wafer in a typical sunny environment. Bright solar wafers are generally less efficient than black solar cells because bright solar cells reflect more light (and therefore less light) than black solar cells.

One or more of the inspection devices may be configured to inspect a reflection characteristic that depends on incident light. This check may be related to the decision of which solar cell is best suited to be installed in the world. For example, solar cells in the vicinity of the equator are exposed to a large amount of direct and almost direct sunlight throughout the year, while solar cells in the northern or southern hemisphere of the world are exposed to variable incident light throughout the year. Specifically, most of the time the angle of incidence is not vertical.

One or more of the inspection devices may be configured to check the performance of the solar cell. For example, the inspection device can include a solar simulator that is generally adapted to generate a beam of light according to a spectral distribution similar to natural sunlight. The energy produced can be measured. The performance of solar cells is of course one of the key factors in solar cells.

Various other inspection devices can be provided in accordance with the present disclosure. Also note The assembly method described herein is also applicable to wafers in the middle solar cell production stage. For example, the characteristics of the wafer can be examined after sawing, such as uniformity of the wafer surface, uniformity of wafer thickness, integrity of the wafer edge, and the like. The wafers can then be differentiated according to their characteristics for further processing. Additionally or alternatively, the wafer may be assembled as described herein during processing, such as during photolithography of one or more conductive vias on a wafer.

The solar cell has a front side and a back side, both sides are usually treated. In particular, at least one lithography process (possibly two or even more lithography processes) is typically performed on each of the back side and the front side. Thus, depending on the embodiment, the turning device can be provided in particular before, between or after one or more inspection devices 20. A flipping device is understood to mean a device that flips the wafer from one side to the other. For example, the wafer can be supported on the back side for some front side inspection in one or more inspection devices. Immediately, the wafer can be flipped with a flipping device to support the wafer on the front side. Therefore, one or more other inspection devices can inspect the back side.

According to an embodiment, the wafer is transferred from the inspection device 20 to the assembly device 30. Without being limited to embodiments in which the wafer is transferred from the inspection device 20 to the assembly device, the wafer may be moved within, before or after any of the devices described herein with a conveyor belt or a sequence of continuous conveyor belts.

Based on the inspection results, the wafers can be classified into different quality levels (or simply referred to herein as "levels") depending on the characteristics of the wafer. The wafers can be classified into n different levels, where n represents an integer generally greater than 24. For example, n can be 48. In particular, the inventors have found that the number of processed wafers is not evenly distributed over all quality levels, more specifically in production. The process typically results in a higher number of solar cells in some grades, while a lower number of solar cells are in other grades. This will be explained further below.

Without being limited to any embodiment, as explained, the quality level of the wafer is configured depending on at least one characteristic of the wafer. In addition, according to aspects of the present case, a priority group is configured. The priority order group includes at least one high priority group and one low priority group. In this document, "configuration quality level" or "configuration priority group" can be understood as "making the definition of quality level or priority group apply to the assembly process." "Configuration" specifically includes, for example, operator definition. Additionally or alternatively, "configuring" may include reading individual definitions from a database or other storage device, such as a random access device.

Further, without being limited to any embodiment, according to aspects of the present disclosure, quality levels are respectively assigned to one of the priority order groups, and each of a plurality of component bins is assigned to one of the priority order groups By. As understood herein, an assignment should be understood to make information about the assignment available to the assembly process. "Assignment" may specifically include having the operator enter an assignment definition. Additionally or alternatively, "assigning" may include reading an assignment definition from a database or other storage device, such as a random access device.

The configuration quality level and/or priority group is usually done before the assembly process, but this configuration can also be done or repeated during the assembly process. Additionally or alternatively, assigning the quality level to one of the priority order groups and/or assigning each of the plurality of component bins is typically done prior to the assembly process, but may also be during the assembly process Make or repeat this assignment.

FIG. 2 illustrates another example of a solar cell manufacturing apparatus. The exemplary illustrated supply device 90 provides to the processing device 110-119 (such as one or more doping devices, one or more lithographic devices, one or more drilling devices, one or more drying ovens, etc.) Unprocessed wafer or preprocessed wafer. As mentioned previously, the processing device may in particular comprise a turning device. The number of processing devices is not limited. The point between the processing devices 111 and 119 in Figure 2, and the point between the inspection devices 121 and 129, should be described as providing further processing/inspection devices if desired.

After processing, the wafer is transferred to inspection devices 120-129. The number of inspection devices can be three or more, or even five or more.

For example, in the illustration of Figure 2, the first inspection device 120 checks the physical integrity of the wafer. If the wafer is mostly damaged, the wafer is transferred by other inspection devices without further inspection. The assembly device 30 then places the damaged wafer in the trash can.

As another example, the second inspection device 121 can check the color of the wafer. The third inspection device 122 can include a solar simulator and inspect the performance of the wafer under certain lighting conditions. A fourth inspection device can be used to inspect other characteristics of the wafer. For illustrative purposes, a sequence of various inspection devices 120-129 is depicted in FIG. Obviously, this illustration should not limit the number of inspection devices to ten, and rather, any number suitable for the classification procedure can be selected.

In general, and not limited to the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2, information measured by each of the inspection devices 120-129 may be provided to the controller 200 by means of an input line 125. The input information can also be transmitted wirelessly. Controller therefore Information about the characteristics of the wafer being inspected is collected. This allows the controller to assign the wafer to the correct quality level. The quality level can generally be predefined by the operator of the solar cell manufacturing device.

According to the illustrated embodiment (not limited to the illustration of FIG. 2), the controller 200 can control the assembly device 30. The controller 200 can control the assembly device 30 by means of the output line 210. Control can also be done wirelessly. Not illustrated in the drawings, the controller 200 may be part of an assembly device. Alternatively, it is also possible for the assembly device to have an additional controller that receives information from the controller 200. The controller of the assembled device can then control the assembly process.

Figure 3 illustrates a detailed schematic top view of an embodiment of an assembly device. As shown, the assembly device has forty-eight component drawers 31 arranged in a 6x8 array, that is, six rows and eight columns. In general, and without limitation to the illustration of FIG. 3, the processed wafer can enter the assembly device, for example, by means of a conveyor belt as indicated by arrow 29. The wafer can be moved within the assembly device by, for example, a conveyor belt 50 until the wafer is held by a conveyor system, such as a robot.

According to the embodiment which should be illustrated in Figure 3, the delivery system comprises one or more robots. In the exemplary drawing of FIG. 3, four robots 35, 36, 37, and 38 are arranged in or above the assembly device to clamp the processed wafer and distribute each wafer into a plurality of component trays 31. One. The robot can be arranged above the conveyor belt 50. Each robot can have one or more arms (see Figure 6), and each robot is responsible for transferring the wafer to a particular set of bins. Typically, each robot is specifically responsible for transferring wafers to a particular set of bins. In particular, r represents the number of robots and b represents the number of component bins, each robot is configured to assign incoming wafer transfers to r different Assembly drawer.

The transfer time required for the transport system to transport the wafers to the various component drawers is different. For example, transferring a wafer to a bin closer to the conveyor belt may require less transfer time than transferring the wafer to a bin moving away from the conveyor. Thus, in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure, each of the bins has a defined transfer time that is considered in accordance with the assembly process of the embodiment of the subject matter.

According to aspects of the present case, each quality level is assigned to a priority group. For example, the number of priority groups can be three, four, five, or six. In the following, five priority order groups (priority group 1 to priority group 5) are exemplarily referred to, but the number range of priority groups is not limited. In addition, hereinafter, for illustrative purposes, and should not be considered as limiting, priority group 1 should represent the highest priority order ("highest priority"), and priority group 2 should represent lower than priority group 1 Priority ("high priority"), and so on. Priority group 5 should represent the lowest priority ("lowest priority").

According to an embodiment, only those quality levels assigned to the highest priority group (such as priority order group 1) are very common (i.e., a large number of wafers fall into this level). Only those ranks assigned to high priority groups (such as priority group 2) are still common, but are less common than the rank of priority group 1, and are more common than the rank of priority group 3. Therefore, the lowest priority group, such as priority group 5, will only include fairly rare levels. The term "rare level/common" should mean that the production process results in a small/large amount of processed wafer having characteristics as defined by the corresponding quality level.

The quality level assigned to the priority group is usually in solar cell system The test was completed during the test run. The test run as understood herein is identical to the general manufacture of solar cells, the only difference being the test run save and evaluate the wafer's analysis results.

A short example will illustrate such a process. In particular, the examples use a small number of properties for purposes of illustration.

In the example, the operator of the solar cell production process defines three characteristics, namely, physical integrity, with two possible outcomes (yes or no); performance, with five possible outcomes (ie, at The five possible performance results of the standardized flash illumination situation of the Sunlight Simulator; and the color brightness of the solar cell, there are five possible outcomes depending on the brightness of the solar cell (ie, five luminance intervals). Therefore, since further discrimination is unnecessary in the case of wafer damage, this case corresponds to 1 (wafer damage) + 5x5 (wafer is not damaged and has different brightness and performance) = 26 levels. Or, according to the operator's definition, information can be read from the storage device.

The solar cell manufacturing apparatus is operated to produce a solar cell. Since the distribution of the wafers at each level may still not be known at this stage, the assembly is performed in a conventional manner, i.e., each level can be assigned to one of the component drawers. In the case where information about the wafers distributed in each level has been known, for example, from previous test runs, assembly can also be performed as disclosed herein. In summary, the robot controlling the assembly device operates accordingly.

In various embodiments, the inspection results are stored. In other embodiments, the detailed results of the analysis are offloaded, but the classification of the wafers to the respective levels after storage is collected and collected. This allows for the establishment of statistics on the distribution of the processed wafers within the corresponding levels. According to various aspects of this standard, this statistic is general operation The basis for assembly during the work.

The statistics will be explained below. Please note that the following statistics are for illustrative purposes only. Therefore, statistics can also be understood as calculating the number of wafers for each quality level.

In view of the results, the levels can be assigned to the following five priority groups:

Assign each bin to the priority group. The assignment is typically such that a higher priority group is assigned to a bin with a smaller transfer time and a lower priority group is assigned to a bin with a larger transfer time. As outlined, the assignment as described herein can be done by an operator or automatically. The assignment is typically performed based on a test run of the solar cell production process.

The number of bins can be greater than 20, or even greater than 40. Specifically, 24 component drawers or 48 component drawers can be provided. According to the present case, it is possible to define more quality levels than the component drawer. For example, the number of quality levels may be p times the number of bins, where p is greater than 1.0, and may even be greater than 1.5 or even equal to or greater than 2.0. For example, it is possible to define 36 quality levels in an assembly device having 24 component drawers. Another example is the definition of 96 quality levels in an assembly device with 48 component drawers.

Figure 4 illustrates an example with a 6 x 8 element array (see element symbol 31) and five priority order groups. In the following examples, four robots 35, 36, 37, and 38 are respectively configured to transfer wafers to four bin groups 51, 52, 53, and 54, respectively. Or for the case of one robot, another delivery system can be utilized. The term "component drawer" shall mean a large number of component drawers, each of which is serviced by a robot. The digits depicted in each of the bins illustrated in Figure 4 should represent the order of priority assigned to the respective bins in this example. In order to optimize the transfer time, priority group 1 is assigned to the bins near the conveyor 50 and the responsible robots 35-38. In the selected example, the robot 35 is responsible for the bin group 51, the robot 36 is responsible for the bin group 53, the robot 37 is responsible for the bin group 52, and the robot 38 is responsible for the bin group 54.

For example, referring to the component tray set 51 illustrated in the upper left corner of the top view of the assembled device illustrated in FIG. 4, the robot 35 can quickly access the three bins assigned as priority 1. In particular, one of the component drawers 51 having priority order 4 is positioned close to the conveyor belt, however the component drawer is remote from the robot 35, and collision with the robot 36 must be safely avoided, which causes the robot 35 to have priority in order of arrival. The component drawer of 4 must be bypassed. Further, in the illustrated tray group 51, the transfer time to the two bins assigned with priority order 5 is the largest. Therefore, these bins are assigned to the priority group 5.

According to aspects of the present disclosure, and not limited to the example of FIG. 4, the number of bins assigned to some priority order groups (specifically, high priority groups, such as priority order group 1 or priority order group 2) is greater than the corresponding priority order The number of levels within the group. Specifically, it is possible that the number of component trays assigned to the first priority order group is twice or more the number of quality levels assigned to the priority order group. According to various embodiments, all priority groups other than the lowest priority group have at least one more number of component drawers than the corresponding priority order group.

For example, in the example illustrated in the above table, it is possible to assign eight bins to the priority group 1 (where only four quality levels are assigned to this priority group). Furthermore, in this example it will be possible to assign six bins to the priority group 2 (where only four quality levels are assigned to this priority group).

According to other aspects of the present disclosure, the number of bins assigned to some priority order groups (specifically, low priority order groups) is less than the number of quality levels assigned to the corresponding priority order group. For example, a low priority group, such as priority group 5, may include at least 1.5 times, 2 times the number of bins, or More multiples of the level. This is because wafers of corresponding quality levels in the low priority group are typically distributed at very small ratios, as in the examples described above. For example, in the above example, it is possible to assign only 4 component drawers to the priority order group 5 (wherein the above example, 9 quality levels are assigned to this priority order group). Without being limited to any embodiment, it is possible that the lowest priority group includes a number that is two, three or more times the number of bins.

Figure 5 graphically illustrates the results of the test run. The y-axis, indicated by component symbol 401, indicates the relative distribution of wafers in this hierarchy; the x-axis, indicated by component symbol 400, indicates the corresponding level. In particular, graded component symbols are generally freely selectable and do not take into account the quality of the wafers in this hierarchy. As exemplarily illustrated in FIG. 5, the quality level c3 represents the quality that the maximum number of wafers has, followed by the levels c4, c15, and the like. Wafers distributed in various levels (such as levels c20 and c99) are marginalized in this test run, so they are illustrated on the axis.

Generally, and without limitation to any of the embodiments, assigning a quality level to a corresponding priority order group according to the present case may be performed based on a calculation result of the test run. It is possible to base the assignment on an absolute calculation result (ie, the wafer calculated for each quality level) or based on a relative calculation result (ie, the share of wafers in each quality level, where the total amount of shares is 100%).

Assigning a quality level to a priority group can be corrected during assembly device operation. For example, according to various embodiments, during normal operation of the solar cell fabrication, the distribution of wafers in each quality level is calculated and stored for ongoing evaluation. When the evaluation indicates a dramatic change in wafer distribution, it is possible to reassign the priority level to the quality level. Additionally or alternatively It is possible to reassign a particular bin to the quality level (wherein this is done non-dynamically anyway).

The priority group of the component drawer is usually pre-defined before assembly begins. Pre-definition can be done by the operator. Alternatively, the computer program can assign different priority groups to the bins using information about the transfer time of each robot to each bin.

According to aspects of the present invention, at least in some priority order groups (specifically, low priority order groups), which component tray receives which wafer is not defined before assembly begins. Instead, solar cell fabrication can begin, and a first grade of quality wafer thus defines the quality level of the bin to which the first wafer will be transferred. In addition, once the component drawer is full and replaced with an empty component drawer, it is possible to replace the previous assignment with a new one. The manner in which the quality level is assigned to the component during operation should be referred to herein as "dynamic tray assignment."

Dynamic component tray assignments are only performed within the bins of the same priority group. Dynamic component tray assignments can be used in particular for low priority groups. For a high priority group, the bin can be assigned to the quality level in a predetermined manner. Specifically, the operator can be manually assigned a quality level to the component drawer.

For example, in the example given in the above table, two bins having the shortest transfer time in the priority group 1 can be assigned to the quality level 8. Two other bins having the next shortest transfer time within one priority group can be assigned to quality level 23.

According to various embodiments of the present case, the quality of the highest priority group The levels are handled by different robots. For example, in the above example, the four levels of wafers of ranks 8, 14, 19, and 23 in priority group 1 are respectively clamped and transferred to the component drawer by four robots 35, 36, 37, and 38 (for example, a robot 35 is responsible for level 8; robot 36 is responsible for level 14; robot 37 is responsible for level 19; and robot 38 is responsible for level 23). This can additionally increase the speed of assembly operation.

In the case where a priority group (i.e., a high priority group) has more component drawers than the level, some of the component drawers will remain empty until the other component drawer is completely filled with the wafer. Once this happens, the controller can start the following two actions. First, the other bins of this class can then be passed to the new bin that has been vacant until now. Secondly, the filled bin is manually removed or replaced by an appropriate alarm to the operator and the filled bin is replaced with an empty bin to trigger the replacement of the filled bin. The controller can store which bins are empty, so that if the same priority group (but possibly a different grade) of another bin is filled and needs to be replaced, the bin can be refilled. Thereby, the operation of the assembly device can be continued during the replacement of the filled component drawer.

According to the present case, there may be some priority group, specifically an intermediate priority order group, such as priority group 3 or priority group 4, the number of bins assigned to the priority group is assigned to the priority group The number of quality levels is one or two. Let n represent the number of bins of this priority group, and m represents the number of quality levels of this prioritized group, then m of the n bins can be used differently during the operation of the assembly device Quality grade wafer loading. Remaining (n-m) component drawers Leave it empty until one of the other m bins is full. Once this occurs, the controller can learn to subsequently transmit the corresponding quality level to one of the vacant bins. The controller can begin to replace the filled component drawer. This replacement can be done manually or automatically as described. Given the relatively low distribution rate of the wafers in the intermediate priority group, it is unlikely that the other bin will be completely filled in the time required to replace the other bins. Therefore, the operation of the assembly device can be continued without stopping.

Nevertheless, when this happens, when n = m + 1, the production must be aborted until the replacement of the component drawer is completed. However, when n = m + 2, the controller can use the second spare bin and the operation of the assembly device does not need to be suspended.

In the case of low priority groups, this quality level of wafer production is quite small. It is therefore possible that the quality level assigned to a priority group is more than the component assigned to the priority group. In operation, the component trays of this priority group are not assigned in advance, i.e., prior to assembly operation. More specifically, as described, the first wafer of a quality level produced in this priority group now defines the level of the bin. It is possible to operate the assembly device in this manner until, for example, all of the component drawers in this priority group except one of the component drawers (or possibly two component drawers) receive their first wafer. When this occurs, according to various embodiments, the controller has begun to replace one of these non-vacant bins with an empty bin. Thus, even if another wafer of the same grade arrives during the replacement, the wafer has been transferred to an empty bin (or one of the two empty bins). Therefore, this mode of operation also allows the operation to not be suspended, and the same A space and a component drawer hold the logic of low priority quality level processing.

Therefore, once a quality level bin in the high priority group is filled, the bin will be replaced. However, contrary to the prior art, it is not necessary to stop production, but the robot transfers the same level of wafers to another empty bin of the same priority group. Also, since the level assigned to some priority order groups in the aspect is more than the number of components assigned to these priority order groups (at least in the lowest priority order group, ie, the priority order group 5 in the described example) So it is still possible to classify as many different levels as possible (for example, 48 levels).

Figure 6 illustrates an example of an assembly device 30 in a schematic side view. The assembly device includes a robot 60 that can be mounted to the upper portion 70 of the assembly device 30, such as in the example of FIG. The robot is typically positioned on a conveyor belt (as previously discussed). However, in the view of Fig. 6, the bin 31 obscures the line of sight looking toward the conveyor.

Without being limited to the example of Figure 6, the assembly device can be configured to receive a k x 1 array of bins, where k is, for example, 8, 9, 10 or even more, and/or l is for example 6, 7, 8, or even more many. In the example of Figure 6, k is 10 (this is why the illustrated side view allows viewing of 10 adjacent bins).

An assembly device as described herein includes one or more robots. The term "robot" is understood to mean any actuating unit configured to hold a wafer and move the wafer. Specifically, the assembly device may include two, three, four or more robots. The more robots you use, the faster the assembly. All robots can be controlled with the same controller.

The robot may include one or more robot arms, such as the legend in Figure 6. Robot arm 65 in the middle. Additionally, the robot can include a terminal actuator, such as the end effector 68 illustrated in Figure 6, for holding the wafer. In particular, the terminal actuator may be a Bernoulli gripper.

Figures 8 and 9 will illustrate a comparison of the underlying logic of the present case (Figure 9) with the underlying logic of the known assembly method (Figure 8). It is known in the art to assign each quality level 80 to the bins 31. It is also known that this assignment is done dynamically (ie, during operation).

The subject matter, as illustrated in Figure 9, differs substantially from known methods by introducing a priority order group 82 and assigning both quality level 80 and component drawer 31 to respective priority order groups 82. The assignment to the priority group forms the basis of the assembly process, as explained in detail earlier herein.

Accordingly, embodiments of the subject matter of the present disclosure provide an assembly method, a method of producing a solar cell, a method of improving an assembly apparatus, a computer program, a computer readable medium including the computer program, and a permitting faster Assembled and thus faster assembled solar cell assembly devices. Furthermore, the number of quality levels that can be assigned to the bin can be equal to or even greater than the number of bins, if desired.

While the foregoing is directed to embodiments of the present invention, the invention may

Claims (20)

A method of transferring a wafer to a plurality of component trays, comprising the steps of: configuring a quality level of the wafer depending on at least one characteristic of the wafer; configuring a priority order group such that the priority order group includes at least one high priority group and one low a priority group; assigning each of the quality levels to one of the priority groups; assigning each of the plurality of components to one of the priority groups; providing the a result of the inspection of the wafer; classifying each of the wafers into one of the quality levels according to the inspection result of the wafer; and according to the priority order of the quality level assigned to the wafer Grouping, transferring each of the wafers to one of the plurality of bins. The method of claim 1, wherein the number of bins assigned to the high priority group is greater than the number of quality levels assigned to the high priority group. The method of claim 2, wherein the number of bins assigned to the high priority group is at least twice the number of quality levels assigned to the high priority group. A method as recited in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the number of bins assigned to the low priority group is less than the quality assigned to the low priority group, etc. The number of levels. The method of claim 4, wherein the number of quality levels assigned to the low priority group is at least twice the number of bins assigned to the low priority group. A method as recited in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the prioritized group further comprises at least one intermediate priority group. The method as recited in any one of the preceding claims, further comprising the steps of: providing an inspection result of at least 100 wafers; and calculating a number of wafers of each quality level; wherein the quality level is assigned based on the calculation result Each of the ones to the one of the priority groups. The method of claim 7, wherein the quality level having a higher number of wafers is assigned to a higher priority order or a priority order group of the same priority order as compared to a quality level having a lower number of wafers. A method as recited in any one of the preceding claims, wherein at least a portion of the inspection results of the wafer are stored and used to match a priority level assignment of the quality level. A computer program comprising computer program code, wherein when the computer program is run on a computer, the computer program code is adapted to perform a method of configuring a quality level of the wafer depending on at least one characteristic of the wafer; configuring a priority order group Having the prioritization group include at least one high priority group and one low priority group; assigning each of the quality levels to one of the priority groups; assigning the plurality of components Each of the plurality of priority groups; receiving an inspection result of the wafer; classifying each of the wafers into one of the quality levels according to an inspection result of the wafer; And controlling the transfer of each of the wafers to one of the plurality of bins in accordance with the prioritized set of the quality levels assigned to the wafer. A computer readable medium storing the computer program as described in claim 10. A controller (200) for assembling a device (30) for transferring a wafer to a plurality of bins (31) configured to perform the following method: dependent on the wafer Configuring a quality level of the wafer by at least one characteristic; configuring a priority order group, wherein the priority order group includes at least one high priority a sequence group and a low priority group; assigning each of the quality levels to one of the priority groups; assigning each of the plurality of bins to one of the priority groups Receiving an inspection result of the wafer; classifying each of the wafers into one of the quality levels according to an inspection result of the wafer; and according to the quality level assigned to the wafer The set of prioritizations controls the transfer of each of the wafers to one of the plurality of bins. An assembly device (30) for transporting a wafer to a plurality of component drawers, comprising: at least one transport system for transporting a wafer to a plurality of component drawers; and a controller as claimed in claim 12, wherein said controller is configured For controlling at least one delivery system. The assembly device of claim 13, wherein the delivery system is a robot. The assembly device of claim 14, wherein the assembly device comprises at least four robots for transferring wafers to a plurality of bins. An assembly apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 13-15, comprising a conveyor belt for transporting wafers. The assembly device of claim 16, wherein at least one of the delivery systems is arranged above the conveyor belt. The assembly device of any of claims 13-17, wherein only the bins directly adjacent to the conveyor are assigned to the high priority group. The assembly device of any of claims 13-18, wherein the assembly device is configured to receive one of at least 24 component drawers and at least 48 assembly drawers. A solar cell manufacturing apparatus (1) comprising: at least one deposition apparatus (10) for depositing a conductive path on a wafer; at least one inspection apparatus (20) for inspecting a wafer; and at least one assembly apparatus (30), As described in any of claims 13-19.