WO2013102181A1 - Multi-level solar cell metallization - Google Patents

Multi-level solar cell metallization Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2013102181A1
WO2013102181A1 PCT/US2012/072249 US2012072249W WO2013102181A1 WO 2013102181 A1 WO2013102181 A1 WO 2013102181A1 US 2012072249 W US2012072249 W US 2012072249W WO 2013102181 A1 WO2013102181 A1 WO 2013102181A1
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WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
layer
metal
electrically conductive
backplane
emitter
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PCT/US2012/072249
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English (en)
French (fr)
Inventor
Mehrdad M. Moslehi
Pawan Kapur
Karl-Josef Kramer
Thom STALCUP
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Solexel, Inc.
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Priority to JP2014550535A priority Critical patent/JP6250552B2/ja
Publication of WO2013102181A1 publication Critical patent/WO2013102181A1/en
Priority to AU2014208227A priority patent/AU2014208227A1/en

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    • 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
    • H01L31/02—Details
    • H01L31/0224—Electrodes
    • H01L31/022408—Electrodes for devices characterised by at least one potential jump barrier or surface barrier
    • H01L31/022425—Electrodes for devices characterised by at least one potential jump barrier or surface barrier for solar cells
    • H01L31/022441—Electrode arrangements specially adapted for back-contact solar cells
    • H01L31/022458—Electrode arrangements specially adapted for back-contact solar cells for emitter wrap-through [EWT] type solar cells, e.g. interdigitated emitter-base back-contacts
    • 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
    • H01L31/0248—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 characterised by their semiconductor bodies
    • H01L31/0256—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 characterised by their semiconductor bodies characterised by the material
    • H01L31/0264—Inorganic materials
    • H01L31/028—Inorganic materials including, apart from doping material or other impurities, 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
    • H01L31/04—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 adapted as photovoltaic [PV] conversion devices
    • H01L31/06—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 adapted as photovoltaic [PV] conversion devices characterised by at least one potential-jump barrier or surface barrier
    • H01L31/068—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 adapted as photovoltaic [PV] conversion devices characterised by at least one potential-jump barrier or surface barrier the potential barriers being only of the PN homojunction type, e.g. bulk silicon PN homojunction solar cells or thin film polycrystalline silicon PN homojunction solar cells
    • H01L31/0682—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 adapted as photovoltaic [PV] conversion devices characterised by at least one potential-jump barrier or surface barrier the potential barriers being only of the PN homojunction type, e.g. bulk silicon PN homojunction solar cells or thin film polycrystalline silicon PN homojunction solar cells back-junction, i.e. rearside emitter, solar cells, e.g. interdigitated base-emitter regions back-junction cells
    • 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
    • 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

Definitions

  • the present disclosure relates in general to the fields of photovoltaics and semiconductor microelectronics. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to the methods, architectures, and apparatus related to high-efficiency back-contact crystalline silicon photovoltaic solar cells.
  • crystalline silicon both multi-crystalline and mono-crystalline silicon
  • PV photovoltaics
  • back-junction/back contacted monocrystalline semiconductor such as monocrystalline silicon
  • monocrystalline semiconductor such as monocrystalline silicon
  • the use of n-type base enables much higher minority carrier lifetime compared to p-type base, as well as no Light- Induced Degradation (LID).
  • the back-contact/back-junction cell with n-type base may use well-established silicon nitride frontside passivation and anti-reflection coating layer with positive fixed charges in the passivation layer (or layer stack) comprising silicon nitride providing for improved frontside surface passivation with reduced Frontside Surface Recombination Velocity (FSRV) enabled by field-assisted passivation.
  • backside metal may be made thicker and with a higher area coverage (e.g., well over 90%) to ensure very low series resistance (or very high metal interconnect electrical conductivity) without worrying about the trade-off with shading that is often a consideration for front contacted cells.
  • Back contacted/back junctions cells are, in particular, highly conducive to being combined with very thin (e.g., solar cell substrates for at least two distinct reasons.
  • high-efficiency back contacted/back junction cells have a stringent requirement of having minority carrier diffusion length (known as L eff ) at least 5x (by a factor of at least approximately 5) the thickness of the substrate (or the active crystalline semiconductor absorber).
  • L eff minority carrier diffusion length
  • a very thin (e.g., with crystalline semiconductor layer thickness less than about 80 microns and more preferably less than about 50 microns) solar cell substrate enables this requirement without demanding a very high bulk substrate lifetime or a very high quality material, thus, can be done in practice on a cheaper starting material having eliminated the most stringent substrate quality requirements.
  • back contacted cell architecture and related process flow may be catered to have all high temperature process steps (i.e., any cell process steps with process temperatures in the range of approximately 400°C to ⁇ 1150°C) on one side of the cell, the requirement for a carrier of the thin substrate when it is going through processing on the other sides are considerably eased.
  • a very thin substrate e.g., with crystalline semiconductor layer thickness less than about 80 microns and more preferably less than about 50 microns
  • a back- contacted/back-junction architecture may represent an ideal solar cell combination.
  • a back contact solar cell comprises a substrate having a light receiving frontside surface and a backside surface for forming patterned emitter and base regions.
  • a first electrically conductive metallization layer is patterned on the backside base and emitter regions.
  • An electrically insulating layer is formed on the first electrically conductive metallization layer and a second electrically conductive metallization layer is formed on the electrically insulating layer.
  • the second electrically conductive metallization layer is connected to the first electrically conductive metallization layer through conductive via plugs formed in the electrically insulating layer.
  • Fig. 1 is a diagram illustrating solar cell processing carrier combinations
  • Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional diagram of a back contact solar cell embodiment
  • Fig. 3 is a diagram illustrating ex-situ emitter process flow embodiments
  • Fig. 4 through 8 are back contact solar cell manufacturing process flows using an epitaxial substrate
  • Figs. 9A through L are cross-sectional diagrams after processing steps of a back contact solar cell
  • Figs. 10 through 21 are back contact solar cell manufacturing process flows using epitaxial substrate
  • Figs. 22 through 35 are back contact solar cell manufacturing process flows using a cleaved substrate
  • Figs. 36 through 45 are back contact solar cell manufacturing process flows using a bulk wafer
  • Fig. 46 is a back contact solar cell manufacturing process flow for a selective emitter
  • Fig. 47 is a cross-sectional diagram of a cell resulting from the flow of Fig. 46;
  • Fig. 48 is a back contact solar cell manufacturing process flow
  • Fig. 49 is a cross-sectional diagram of a cell resulting from the flow of Fig. 48;
  • Fig. 50 is a back contact solar cell manufacturing process flow
  • Fig. 51 is a cross-sectional diagram of a structure with retrograde resist sidewalls
  • Figs. 52 through 57 are top views of solar cell backplane embodiments after various processing steps
  • Figs. 58 and 59 are back contact solar cell manufacturing process flows for heterojunction cells
  • Fig. 60 is a cross-sectional diagram of a solar cell with a heterojunction architecture
  • Figs. 61A through C are back contact solar cell manufacturing process flows using an epitaxial substrate
  • Figs. 62A through G are top view and cross-sectional views of a back contact solar cells after backplane processing steps;
  • Figs. 63A through D are cross sectional diagrams of a pluto structure after certain processing steps;
  • Figs. 64A through F show various aspects, cross- sectional and top views and process flows, of a four-layer backplane oasis structure
  • Figs. 65A through D are top views of various cell backplane metal finger designs
  • Fig. 66 is a top view of backplane embodiment
  • Fig. 67 show cross-sectional diagrams of an oasis structure
  • Figs. 68A through C are cross-sectional diagrams of a hybrid structure
  • Figs. 69 and 70 show cross-sectional diagrams of a immersion contact bonding structure embodiments
  • Fig. 71 is a back contact solar cell manufacturing process flow
  • Figs. 72A shows process flows for manufacturing pluto backplane structures
  • Figs. 72B shows process flows for manufacturing oasis backplane structures
  • Figs. 73A through J show cross-sectional diagrams of a cell during fabrication steps of a pluto embodiment of back contact solar cell process flow
  • Figs. 74A through D show a top view (Fig. 74A) and cross-sectional diagrams of a cell during fabrication steps of a oasis embodiment of back contact solar cell process flow;
  • Fig. 75 shows cross-sectional diagrams of an oasis structure two step lamination using a predrilled dielectric sheet
  • Fig. 76 shows cross-sectional diagrams of an oasis structure single step lamination using a predrilled dielectric sheet
  • Figs. 77A through D are cross-sectional diagrams of a pluto-hybrid structure during back contact solar cell formation.
  • Figs. 78 through 80 are diagrams illustrating example multi-level metallization embodiments for interdigitated back contact solar cells
  • Figs. 81 through 83 are cross sectional diagrams of a back contact solar cells with a backside multi-level metallization designs
  • Fig. 84 is a graph showing design related calculation results for power loss as a function of metal 1 design
  • Fig. 85 is a graph showing the relative sensitivity of the number of M2 backplane orthogonal fingers to metallization pitch and Ml base-to-emitter metal width ratio;
  • Fig. 86 is a graph showing the thickness of on-cell aluminum metal (Ml) vs. the number of backplane orthogonal aluminum-metal-foil fingers pairs (M2) at absolute cell efficiency loss of 0.25% (60 mW); and
  • Fig. 87 is a graph showing the thickness of on-cell aluminum metal (Ml) vs. the number of backplane orthogonal aluminum-metal-foil fingers pairs (M2) at absolute cell efficiency loss of 0.50% (120 mW).
  • the disclosed subject matter provides various structures and manufacturing methods for high-efficiency back- junction/back contacted solar cells specifically using thin crystalline semiconductor absorbers such as monocrystalline silicon with the cell absorber layer (or substrate), preferably ranging in thickness from about less than one micron (1 ⁇ ) up to about one hundred microns (100 ⁇ ), and even more particularly ranging in thickness from about one micron (1 ⁇ ) to about fifty microns (50 ⁇ ).
  • the cell structures and manufacturing methods provided also apply to thicker crystalline semiconductor substrates or absorbers, ranging in thickness from about 100 ⁇ to about 200 ⁇ (which also includes the thickness range for more conventional CZ or FZ wafer thicknesses).
  • the crystalline solar cell substrates may be formed either using chemical- vapor-deposition (CVD) methods including epitaxial growth (such as atmospheric -pressure epitaxy) or other crystalline silicon material formation techniques
  • semiconductor solar cell substrates may be extended to other types of materials and to wafer based approaches, including kerfless cleavage methods such as the implantation-assisted wafer cleavage methods.
  • Key attributes of various cell embodiments provided include substantially reduced semiconductor (e.g, silicon) material consumption, very low manufacturing cost, high cell efficiency, and relatively high energy yield, thus, improved solar photovoltaic module performance.
  • this stems from the combinations of the unique cell design architectures and manufacturing methods of this invention, which entail manufacturing back junction/back contacted solar cells using thin crystalline semiconductor layers, yielding very high conversion efficiency on thin crystalline semiconductor substrates, yielding very low cost.
  • the variety of disclosed embodiments may be applied to various crystalline semiconductor materials (such as silicon, gallium arsenide, germanium, etc.), preferred embodiments for monocrystalline silicon are provided (which also apply to the other monocrystalline
  • semiconductors including gallium arsenide, germanium, gallium nitride, etc.).
  • the disclosed subject matter provides innovations particularly pertaining to very thin crystalline solar cells (from about 1 micron up to 150 microns, and more preferably cell absorbers in the thickness range of about 1 micron to about 50 microns) with the back junction/back contact architecture.
  • novel very thin (thickness range of 1 micron to 150 microns) back contacted/back junction crystalline silicon cell structures are provided.
  • methods for manufacturing back contacted/back junction crystalline silicon cell structures are provided.
  • methods for supporting thin substrates [using Carriers) while they have being processed through the line and while they are deployed in the field are provided.
  • Various combinations of these three categories create a myriad set of structures, process flows, and thin cell support carriers. Fig.
  • FIG. 1 is a graphical flowchart showing the various thin film carrier combinations, comprising temporary Thin-Film Carrier 1 and permanent Thin-Film Carrier 2, disclosed herein.
  • Fig. 1 shows the two classes of carriers whose varied combination constitute the novel structures and methods for manufacturing very thin back contacted/back junction crystalline semiconductor solar cells and specific embodiments which are disclosed herein.
  • the two classes of carriers comprise first carrier and second carrier.
  • Options for different cell fabrication process flows once the carriers 1 and 2 are established are also provided herein, including in Fig. 3. Note that, it is possible to have any of the process flows paired with most carrier 1 and carrier 2 combinations
  • This disclosure provides various host carrier methods and structures used for supporting the thin semiconductor (such as thin monocrystalline silicon) cell.
  • TFSS thin film silicon substrate
  • Thin Carrier 1 and Thin Film carrier 2 are shown as Thin Carrier 1 and Thin Film carrier 2 in Fig. 1.
  • High manufacturing yield is a pre-requisite for commercially viable thin silicon solar technology.
  • Very thin solar cells (from about 1 micron up to 150 microns, and more preferably cell absorbers in the thickness range of about 5 microns to about 60 microns) discussed in this document are fully and continually supported throughout the cell handling and processing to maintain high manufacturing yield and for commercial viability. This means that thin cells are never processed or handled without either temporary or permanent support attachments (also called substrate carriers).
  • These thin semiconductor cells are also permanently supported (and reinforced) once assembled in the photovoltaic modules for installation and operation in the field to maintain mechanical resilience, reliability, and high yield during module lamination/packaging, field installation, and field operation.
  • TFSS in order to always support the thin semiconductor substrate throughout handling, processing, and final module packaging: one for processing each face of the solar cell.
  • the carriers must satisfy several important criteria: firstly, they should be cost- effective (i.e., very low cost per cell or very low cost per peak watt). Their combined amortized cost should be less than the cost of the silicon in the thin cell that they save (compared to the traditional wafer-based solar cells).
  • At least one of the carriers should be able to withstand relatively high temperature processing (particularly at temperatures in the range of approximately 300°C up to as much as 1150°C) required in manufacturing of high-efficiency solar cells, without any complications due to mismatch in coefficienct of thermal expansion (CTE) and/or due to undesirable impurities being introduced into the cell.
  • CTE coefficienct of thermal expansion
  • the process flow should be such that all the necessary high temperature processing steps are on this high-temperature-capable carrier (which will serve as temporary reusable carrier).
  • At least one of the carriers should preferably be able to withstand wet processing and final cell metallization required for manufacturing solar cells.
  • An example of a key wet processing step includes silicon front surface random pyramid texturing etch in diluted and heated alkaline (comprising KOH and/or NaOH and/or TMAH) solutions.
  • the carrier (which serves as temporary reusable carrier) should be such that the thin cell (Thin Film Semiconductor Substrate: TFSS) may be easily detached or lifted off from the carrier on demand with high yield and with the TFSS layer transferred to the other carrier in conjunction with the lift-off detachment process (attached on the side which was processed first, preferably the cell backside for back-contact cell) for processing of the second side.
  • TFSS Thi Film Semiconductor Substrate
  • the remaining process steps can be completed using, for example, various embodiments detailed below.
  • the high-temperature-capable temporary carrier and the high-temperature processing steps precede the permanent carrier as well as the wet processing and final cell metallization steps.
  • all the process steps performed on the TFSS while on the temporary carrier are preferably dry processing steps (no wet processing on the temporary carrier other than a wet porous silicon process step prior to the formation of the TFSS layer by CVD epitaxy).
  • the cell contact metallization is preferably performed after formation of the cell contacts and prior to the attachment of the permanent carrier and prior to the lift-off separation of the TFSS layer from the temporary reuable carrier or template.
  • Supporting Carrier # 1 (i.e., reusable template) for TFSS.
  • carrier 1 For the combination of TFSS with back contact/back junction architecture two choices for the first carrier are disclosed, henceforth carrier 1. These options are shown in Fig. 1 under carrier 1.
  • the cell “frontside” In the remaining document Sunnyside of the Back contact/back junction cell will be interchangeably referred to as the cell “frontside”, while the non-sunny side will be interchangeably called the cell “backside”.
  • the first disclosed option for carrier 1 is a relatively thick (preferably in the thickness range of about 0.2 mm to 2 mm) semiconductor (e.g., preferably mono-crystalline silicon for high- efficiency mono-crystalline silicon solar cells) wafer (with wafer area in the range of 150 cm up to over 2,000 cm ), which may also serve as a reusable template (hence amortizing cost over many template reuse cycles).
  • semiconductor e.g., preferably mono-crystalline silicon for high- efficiency mono-crystalline silicon solar cells
  • Large area thin solar cell substrates with desirable cell areas, for instance, square-shaped cell dimensions of 156 mm x 156 mm (this size may be scaled up to at least 210 mm x 210 mm or even larger sizes up to 300 mm x 300 mm and 450 mm x 450 mm) , are first manufactured using epitaxial semiconductor (epitaxial silicon) growth on top of a reusable crystalline semiconductor template, and are subsequently dislodged.
  • the reusable template can be substantially planar or in a different embodiment have pre-structured 3-dimensional pre-pattern. This document focuses on the substantially planar template, although various embodiments can be applied to the pre-structured templates with random structure or patterned regular structure 3D features.
  • the TFSS is released from the reusable template using a sacrificial release layer which in one preferred embodiment may be a porous silicon layer, preferably with at least with two different porosities (a higher porosity buried release layer and a lower porosity seed layer) or a graded porosity.
  • the reusable template since it is preferably a relatively thick (preferably in the range of about 0.2 mm to 2 mm) silicon wafer, is capable of withstanding relatively high processing temperatures (e.g., up to about 1150°C or even higher) without any CTE mismatch issues with the subsequent TFSS and without any contamination concerns, satisfying one of the key criteria for carrier 1, outlined above.
  • relatively high processing temperatures e.g., up to about 1150°C or even higher
  • the template can be in various sizes such as 156 mm , 165 mm, 200mm, 300mm or 450 mm (or any diametric or side dimensions in the range of about 100 mm to several hundred mm, at least up to 450 mm), shapes, such as round or square or polygon, and thicknesses capable of going through full or partial solar cell process without cracks or breakage, with template thickness of about at least 200 ⁇ (and as thick as about 2 mm or even thicker).
  • the second criterion for carrier 1, related to cost effectiveness is accomplished by reusing and amortizing the template cost over a plurality of TFSS fabrication cycles (as well as by using unpolished templates if necessary or desired).
  • this carrier also satisfies the aforementioned carrier criteria of being conducive to the high-yield detachment of the TFSS with high repeatability and consistency. This is accomplished by preceding the epitaxial growth of TFSS with formation of a porous silicon layer (serving as an epitaxial seed layer and subsequent release layer) between the template and the TFSS, preferably using a wet electrochemical etch process in a liquid comprising HF and IPA (or HF and acetic acid, or HF mixed with another suitable material).
  • the porosity of the porous silicon layer is catered and spatially adjusted in depth (by using a lower porosity top layer and a higher porosity buried bottom layer) to accomplish the dual purpose of i) transferring the crystallinity of template with high fidelity during the epitaxial process, and ii) yet be able to provide very high yield detachment and release on demand from the template.
  • the cell release may be accomplished using processes such as mechanical release (MR) or sonicated mechanical release in a liquid (SMR), or another suitable method, resulting in lift-off detachment of the TFSS layer after its attachment or lamination to the permanent carrier 2.
  • the second disclosed option for carrier 1 can be a reusable thick wafer or an ingot.
  • the detachment of the TFSS may be accomplished using a high-implantation-energy such as an MeV (mega-electron volt) proton (hydrogen ion) implant and separating thin slices from the host wafer or ingot.
  • MeV micro-electron volt
  • hydrogen ion hydrogen ion
  • the wafer/ingot with implant has the advantage of not needing porous silicon and epitaxial growth and the accompanying reactors (however, it has dependency on polysilicon feedstock and ingot growth). On the other hand it needs rather expensive MeV proton implantation capital equipment and high energy consumption to operate the implanters. The quality of silicon can be high depending on the cost of the ingot and it can potentially also allow wet processing.
  • a downside is that because the ingot may have ⁇ 111> orientation in order to eliminate the need for excessively high proton implanation doses, the wafer may rely on more-expensive and damage- producing dry texturing as opposed to the standard wet texturing.
  • the porous silicon/epi combination has the advantage that it is compatible with standard alkaline wet texturing and the substrate doping can be modulated/graded to whatever is conducive for high efficiency requirements. Also, very thin silicon cell substrates (down to about one micron) are possible using a porous silicon/epi manufacturing method and the doping profile can be engineered and adjusted during the epitaxial growth process (not possible for the thin silicon layers produced by proton implantation).
  • the second carrier in the specific context of back contacted/ back junction cells should preferably satisfy several criteria. An obvious one is that it must support the TFSS through the remaining process steps. Secondly, it should protect the prior processing on the side where it is attached (backside for our specific architecture), while the other side (frontside) is being processed. This requires that the second carrier preferably be relatively immune or resistant to the wet chemistry that is used during processing of the frontside (particularly and primarily the wet chemistry used to clean and texture the TFSS sunnyside). Thirdly, it may or may not have high-conductivity metallization layer (preferably comprising aluminum and/or copper) as its integral part.
  • high-conductivity metallization layer preferably comprising aluminum and/or copper
  • any of the several options outlined for carrier 2 in Fig.l may be used in conjunction with either of the two carrier 1 options, which are discussed above, that is, any carrier 2 embodiment be used with either the Reusable template/epi/porous silicon option or with the Ingot (or thick wafer)/Implant option.
  • Carrier 2 (the backplane) may be divided into two broad classes (Fig. 1):
  • the first category "Full Backside Process on Carrier 1” is where carrier 2 is attached only after all the required processing on the side where it attaches (backside) is completed on carrier 1. In a back contact/back junction cell this might entail finishing all non-sunny side (backside) processing steps including patterned dopant diffusions, contact opens, and full backside contact metallization. No further processing is required on this side, except in some cases, where electrical access to the final cell metallization is required.
  • the second category "Partial Backside Process on Carrier 2" is where carrier 2 is attached after only partial processing on the backside is finished. Although, this document focuses on the latter category with partial processing and discusses several sub-groups that are possible within this paradigm, it is understood that a variation entailing full processing per the first category is implicit and within the scope of this invention.
  • One of the driving forces behind the partial processing paradigm on the non-sunny side is to ensure that if potentially deleterious materials (including lifetime degrading materials), such as copper, are part of the backside processing, they do not contaminate carrier 1, which can be reused for carrying other TFSS (hence, preventing the risk of metallic cross contamination in the production line). This prevents cross contamination in the manufacturing line and the resulting efficiency degradation (hence enabling high-yield template reuse without the risk of cross contamination to the cells).
  • an idea behind partial processing on the non- sunny side is to introduce the potentially lifetime-degrading materials and processes (such as high-conductivity copper plating metalliation) after the TFSS is detached and released from carrier 1, hence, eliminating the risk of cross contamination.
  • Fig. 1 Three sub-categories of backplanes within the partial processing paradigm are shown in Fig. 1.
  • FSR front surface reinforcement
  • the TFSS is released from the template using a temporary carrier attached on the partially processed backside.
  • the frontside cell processes such as texture and passivation are carried out with the temporary backside carrier supporting the TFSS.
  • the temporary carrier is choose by the ease of release of the TFSS and may utilize known methods, such as electricity (ex. Mobile electrostatic chuck, MESC), mobile vacuum chuck, MOVAC, or a temporary adhesive which is released upon heating or upon UV exposure.
  • the remaining backside steps are performed by transferring the TFSS from the temporary backside support to the optically transparent permanent front side reinforcement (for example, a low-cost EVA encapsulant/glass combination), thus freeing up the backside for remaining processing (for example remaining metallization steps).
  • the front side reinforcement being that it does not degrade light transmission and coupling beyond the degradation usually incurred due to module level packaging.
  • EV A/glass based reinforcement or the like is preferred, although, other material sets are also possible (such as EVA with a clear front fluropolymer sheet made of ETFE).
  • the second and third subcategories, "Backplanes without Metallization” and “Backplanes with Metallization,” of backplanes with partial backside processing are characterized by backplanes which are permanent (in contrast with aforementioned FSR).
  • backplanes which are permanent in contrast with aforementioned FSR.
  • a difference between these two categories is that the "Backplanes without Metallization” do not have thick metallization integrated or embedded in their structure; rather, this metallization is put on toward the back-end after the frontside (sunny-side) is processed.
  • “Backplanes with Metallization” have a thick second level of metallization (for instance, a patterned metal foil) integrated into the backplane.
  • the thick metallization layer on the backplane connects to the thin metallization layer on the TFSS, forming the second layer of interconnects, and may also contain busbars.
  • This thick high-electrical-conductivity metallization layer (preferably made of aluminum and/or copper) decreases resistance for back-contacted cells.
  • the first case is called Back Surface Reinforcement or "BSR.”
  • BSR Back Surface Reinforcement
  • the TFSS is released from the template (the first carrier) using a permanent backside reinforcement.
  • the permanent backside reinforcement only partially covers the backside, thus allowing processing on the backside through the open areas, after front side processes are completed also with the BSR support.
  • a structural example of this is a backplane made in a grid pattern with a substantially large open area between the grids providing access to the backside for last several processing steps on the non-sunny backside.
  • the second embodiment of a permanent "Backplanes without Metallization” is a design known as acronym "PLUTO.”
  • a simple and cheap backplane material e.g., a relatively low-CTE Pre-preg material comprising a mixture of resin and fibers
  • the backplane attachment may be a direct bonding/lamination (if material has adhesive in it) or use an intermediate adhesive layer, for example a dielectric adhesive (DA) which may be printed using means such as screen printing (or applied using a spray coater or a roller coater).
  • DA dielectric adhesive
  • the pre-preg assembly/material choices should be such that they meet the following criteria: a.
  • the released TFSS/Pre-preg assembly should be relatively stress and crack-free with very little bow.
  • the backplane should maintain crack-free properties and should not induce stress cracks in the TFSS, while going through subsequent processing steps such as frontside texturing (e.g., using hot KOH) and PECVD passivation processes.
  • frontside texturing e.g., using hot KOH
  • PECVD passivation processes e.g., PECVD passivation processes.
  • the backplane should be relatively resistant to the chemicals used during frontside processing such as texturing and post-texture surface cleaning (and any possible pre- texture silicon etch).
  • access holes (100's to 1000's of holes) are drilled, preferably using a high-productivity laser drilling tool, through the backplane (such as a pre-preg material) and remaining cell metallization is finished, preferably either by plating or using a combination of screen printing of a patterned electrically conductive seed paste and attachment of a pre-patterned metal foil layer (comprising aluminum and/or copper).
  • These holes provide access to the underlying on-cell patterned metal which was formed while the TFSS was on the template (specific examples will be illustrated during the subsequent discussion on process flows).
  • the drilling of holes may be accomplished using a myriad of laser and mechanical methods, in a specific example this can be accomplished using a fast throughput C02 laser.
  • Requirements for the drilling technique include fast throughput, no damage to the TFSS or the underlying metal on the TFSS, a reliable way to clean the laser opened contacts (if necessary) to have low resistance electrical access to the underlying metal on the TFSS, and proper alignment of the holes to the underlying metal.
  • the rest of the metallization (comprising a second level of metal) may be finished using several method including plating (both electroless and/or electroplating), direct thick metal write techniques such as flame spray, attaching a cheap bread-board with metallization to the backplane, attaching metal foil fingers after screen printing of a patterned conductive seed paste, or having the metallization as part of the module assembly in approaches such as monolithic module assembly (MMA).
  • plating both electroless and/or electroplating
  • direct thick metal write techniques such as flame spray
  • attaching a cheap bread-board with metallization to the backplane attaching metal foil fingers after screen printing of a patterned conductive seed paste, or having the metallization as part of the module assembly in approaches such as monolithic module assembly (MMA).
  • MMA monolithic module assembly
  • a slight modification process includes an embodiment in which the pre-preg has pre- drilled holes prior to its attachment / lamination to the TFSS (to eliminate the risk of laser- drilling-induced damage to the TFSS) and is protected by another easily removable cheap thin material layer or sheet (such as a thin Mylar sheet or another suitable material).
  • the removable protective sheet will be preferably removed after completion of the sunnyside cell processing (including at the wet texture and PECVD passivation processes), and prior to completion of the final cell metallization (or prior to module assembly in the case of MM A).
  • the third embodiment, "Cu Plugs," of a permanent "Backplanes without Metallization" of Fig. 1 is a design with a slight modification of the aforementioned so-called PLUTO embodiment.
  • the backplane has an additional layer backing compared to PLUTO.
  • the backplane may consists of glass or other harder solid backsheet materials (e.g., anodized Al) with a pliant attachment material such as an encapsulant PV-FS Z68 (from DNP Solar), also called Z68 in short, or Ethylene Vinyl Acetate (EVA).
  • the backsheet may have pre-drilled holes, but the underlying attachment material serves as a sealant to protect the TFSS metal from being chemically attacked during frontside processing (such as during fronside wet alkaline texturing).
  • the sealant material is opened up through the pre-drilled holes in the backsheet (for example soda lime glass, SLG). This may be performed using a myriad of methods such as laser drilling or mechanical punching.
  • a continuous seed metal layer is deposited either using a direct write scheme such as metal ink/paste printing (using s stencil printer, screen printer, inkjet printer, or aerosol jet printer), or PVD (e.g., plasma sputtering), or electroless plating.
  • the metal is then thickened by plating and isolated between p and n type diffusion contact metals on top of the backsheet.
  • Various known plating and isolation processes may be used including, for example a screen print resist, then blanket plating of metal, then etch back the resist and use the plated metal as the mask to etch the underlying thin seed metal layer.
  • a patterned electrically conductive paste is formed by direct write on the backplane, such as with screen printing of a suitable paste (e.g., paste containing copper or nickel or another suitable conductor).
  • a suitable paste e.g., paste containing copper or nickel or another suitable conductor.
  • the final metallization is completed using direct plating (e.g., such as copper plating) on the patterned plating seed (hence, eliminating the need for sacrificial resist and resist strip and seed etch-back processes).
  • Another embodiment uses a single sided or a dry frontside texturing process so that the need to protect the partially processed backside is obviated and all access points can be pre- opened (using laser drilling or mechanical drilling or punching) either before attachment of the backplane or before processing the frontside.
  • the "Backplanes with Metallization” subcategory of backplanes are characterized by backplanes which are permanent and have integrated metallization.
  • Three embodiments of the "Backplanes with Metallization” are disclosed in detail in Fig. 1: Ahown with acronyms OASIS, SLG-based (soda lime glass), and "Metallization on non substrate side” (backplanes with metallization facing away from the TFSS).
  • the backplane-integrated metal faces the TFSS during its lamination/bonding to the TFSS, while in the third embodiment, "Metallization on non substrate side," the metallization of the backplane faces away from the TFSS.
  • the OASIS backplane embodiment has several components. First, it consists of a metallic backplate which may or may not also serve as the metallization layer.
  • This metallization layer which in a particular embodiment is patterned into inter-digitated fingers with busbars, may be made, for example, from Al foils or solderable aluminum foils.
  • the Al foils may be pre- coated or pre-plated with nickel and Sn (or a Sn solder alloy) to provide better adhesion of the conductive vias which connect the second level of interconnects to the first level of interconnects on the TFSS.
  • the backplate may be protected from chemical attack on the top by a suitable protective layer such as Z68, EVA or prepreg or another suitable polymeric / plastic cover sheet.
  • the connection of the Al foil metal to the underlying TFSS metal is made using selective conductive posts or vias in the dielectric layer which has gaps to accommodate the electrically conductive vias.
  • the conductive vias (henceforth conductive epoxy or CE) and the dielectric material (henceforth dielectric epoxy or DE) in the preferred embodiment are screen printed on either the TFSS or on the backplane.
  • CE material requirements include cost effectiveness, highly conductive, it may be screen printable in a preferred embodiment, and that it attaches with low contact resistance to both the overlying backplane metal and the underlying TFSS metal.
  • DE material requirements include cost effectiveness, that it is a non-electrically-conductive dielectric, it may be screen printable in a preferred embodiment, and it adheres well to both the overlying backplane material (both metal and the EVA orZ68 dielectric encapsulant) and the underlying TFSS materials consisting of both TFSS metal and dielectric.
  • the OASIS backplane may have a myriad of variations based on choices in the following categories: a.
  • Backplate material in the backplane examples include aluminum foils, Al foils coated with Sn, or glass (different kinds of glasses including the soda lime glass), or other polymeric materials.
  • the requirement is that the backplate material should give the strength and rigidity to the backplane to carry the TFSS. It should also be such that during subsequent thermal processes, it does not induce cracks in the TFSS because of thermal expansion coefficient mismatch.
  • Patterned Metallization material examples include Al foils which may be coated with other metals to make them conducive for low contact resistance attachment to the electrically conductive vias. In another example, these may be pre-coated Al foils.
  • the metallization material may be the same as the backplate material or it could be attached to the backplate material using adhesive. The thickness of the metallization is dictated by strength requirement if it is the same as the backplate and the resistance requirements.
  • Pattern Design of the metallization Options primarily consist of the number and hence the width of inter-digitated fingers that are used. The widest width and the least number of fingers that is used may be determined by the largest tolerable resistance (without degrading Fill Factor) on the TFSS metal line between conductive via posts.
  • a second consideration which falls under pattern design is whether the metal foils have additional functionality. For example, they can be designed to give a partial spring-like action, which may be accomplished, for example, either by having them physically separated within each finger or by partially cutting them in a snake-like pattern; however, various designs are possible.
  • the spring-like functionality is geared toward providing the metal foils to expand and contract freely such that they do not rupture the CE or the TFSS due to thermal expansion coefficient mismatch.
  • Method of depositing the CE and the DE materials in one preferred embodiment these are screen printed. This print can be either on the TFSS or on the backplane.
  • Orthogonal vs. Parallel Design Whether the backplane metallization (second level metal or M2) is parallel or orthogonal to the on-cell TFSS metallization (first level metal or Ml) is dictated by several considerations.
  • the orthogonal backplane M2 fingers orthogonal or cross-cut or perpendicular to Ml
  • M2 fingers orthogonal or cross-cut or perpendicular to Ml has an advantage that the width of the lines on the backplane (or the width of M2 fingers) can be independent, in general, and specifically, much wider than the Ml fingers. This helps in making this metallization much coarser and with less strongent alignment requirements than Ml. However, precaution needs to be taken to ensure that orthogonal lines do not short. Thus, the dielectric material has to have good coverage.
  • Parallel design restricts the pitch and dimensions of the backplane metal (M2) to be the same as the on-cell TFSS metal (Ml) design.
  • This design on the cell is in general fairly tight and, in turn, is dictated by several device considerations including reduced base resistance, reduced electrical shading, etc.
  • Access scheme of the foil busbars for the module connections may be through through-holes through the protective layer or may be a wrap around where the Al foils are wrapped around to the top of the backplane, and protected for example by a laminated polymer during processing of the frontside and contact access to the foils is enabled at the end of the process.
  • Fig. 2 is a diagram of a cross section of an SLG-based back contact solar cell embodiment.
  • the soda-lime glass or SLG based embodiment as disclosed herein is a subcategory of the so- called OASIS backplane, where the backplate material is a soda lime glass sheet - as shown in Fig. 2.
  • This is attached to the Sn-coated (or solder alloy coated) Al foil metallization using Z68 (or another suitable encapsulant) material.
  • the Al foils wrapped around the glass to have the busbars on top of the glass backplane, and thus are sealed with the protective z68 on the sides as well.
  • the "Metallization on non substrate side" back contact solar cell embodiment has the integrated metallization of the backplane on the side facing away from the TFSS. Specific examples in which these backplanes may be fit into process flows for forming back contact solar cells are outlined in the manufacturing methods below.
  • first and second (backplane) carriers for ensuring high processing/manufacturable yield for TFSS back junction/back contacted solar cells.
  • the following section deals with manufacturing methods and process flows for an entire TFSS based solar cell with these carriers. While depicting process flows, in several cases, the backplane is abstracted. This abstraction may be replaced by any of the several backplane options that were discussed in the above sections.
  • the combination of the backplane with specific flows may either be used with the template/Porous Silicon (PS) based carrier 1 or the Ingot (or Thick Wafer )/implant based carrier 1. Specific flows pertaining to these two cases will be shown. Fig.
  • PS template/Porous Silicon
  • FIG. 1 shows process flow options and their relations to carrier 1 and carrier 2; however again it should be noted that the process flows in Fig. 1 or the following process flows are descriptive examples and should not be used in a restricted sense. Further, these exemplary process flow embodiments should be interpreted as being able to be used with the myriad backplane options as well as any of the two carrier 1 options. A noted exception to this is that in-situ emitter based process flows may not be used with Ingot (or Thick Wafer)/implant carrier 1 option.
  • Ex-situ vs. In-situ Emitter The process flows shown Fig. 1 may be further categorized into two broad categories of process flows: Ex-situ emitter where the emitter is not formed as an integral part of the epitaxial growth process and is produced after the TFSS is manufactured using techniques such as atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition (APCVD) epitaxial growth. And in-situ emitter which is appropriate for the carrier 1 template/porous silicon option and is grown as part of the silicon epitaxial growth of the TFSS (hence, eliminating the need for subsequent formation of emitter).
  • APCVD atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition
  • in-situ emitter which is appropriate for the carrier 1 template/porous silicon option and is grown as part of the silicon epitaxial growth of the TFSS (hence, eliminating the need for subsequent formation of emitter).
  • This disclosure focuses on the embodiments with ex-situ emitter formation; however, in-situ emitter based flows may also be applicable in some instances by
  • ex-situ boron doped p+ emitter is formed after the in-situ phosphorous based n-type epitaxial substrate is grown using epitaxy.
  • the patterned ex-situ emitter is formed preferably using the combination of APCVD BSG (glass doped heavily with boron), laser ablation of BSG, followed by drive-in of the emitter.
  • the ex-situ emitter eliminates the risk of epitaxial auto-doping during high-volume
  • the ex-situ emitter eliminates the need for pulsed picoseconds laser ablation of silicon to isolate base with the emitter (or to form the patterned emitter and base regions).
  • Phosphorous based n-type base doping In general, this can be other n-type dopant material (for instance, arsenic or antimony or indium) as well as a p-type base such as, but not limited to that formed by boron or gallium doping.
  • carrier 1 either template of thick wafer/ingot
  • APCVD-based processes are preferably used in conjunction with furnace anneal to form the ex-situ emitter.
  • APCVD in general, has both boron silicate glass (BSG) and phosphorous silicate glass (PSG).
  • BSG boron silicate glass
  • PSG phosphorous silicate glass
  • other substitutes for APCVD PSG are also possible and discussed.
  • the ex-situ APCVD emitter may be replaced by epitaxial-based in-situ emitter followed by laser based silicon ablation to isolate the base from the emitter area.
  • iii. Pulsed pico-second based laser ablation pattern for emitter-base isolation, emitter and base contacts, and busbarless Al fingers on the cells.
  • the pattern may be defined by other lasers such as nanosecond (ns) laser.
  • the Al (or aluminum alloy such as Al-Si) fingers on the cell may be of ar bitrary design conducive for better cell performance. This includes, but is not limited to, several mini-cells (on a single substrate) with their own busbars connected at a level above the on-cell metallization levels, such as at the backplane.
  • An anneal step with optional oxidation which takes care of both driving and activation of the BSG dopant (and PSG, if present), as well as creating the thermal oxide based back surface passivation. In a preferred embodiment this is done in the same step, however, if need be, in general may be broken down into separate steps. In addition, this may be done either in a tube based or an in-line thermal processing furnace.
  • a metal 1 deposition step which may be a vacuum based deposition such as physical vapor deposition (PVD) such as plasma sputtering or evaporation or ion beam deposition, which is then followed by a laser ablation, such as a pulsed picosecond laser ablation step, for patterning said metal 1 layer.
  • PVD physical vapor deposition
  • a laser ablation such as a pulsed picosecond laser ablation step
  • the metal 1 (Ml) deposition step may entail the direct- write printing, using for instance ink jet, screen printing, stencil printing, or aerosol jet printing to deposit directly a patterned metal ink or paste on the processed TFSS backside.
  • the carrier 1 is a template/Porous Silicon (PS)
  • PS template/Porous Silicon
  • a preferred process method embodiment is to not use wet processing on it after (between epitaxial growth till completion of the lift-off separation of TFSS attached to carrier 2) because of the risk of TFSS lifting or bubbling prematurely.
  • the disclosed subject matter includes the general case where it is possible to do wet processing or semi-wet processing, for instance, through the use of etching vapors such as HF vapors to remove dielectric films such as the silicate glasses.
  • etching vapors such as HF vapors
  • Post-release wet etch for removing quasi mono-crystalline silicon (QMS) layer arising from the processed porous silicon layer. This also includes using wet processing to texture the front surface.
  • these wet steps are performed in a single step using KOH-based (or NAOH-based) etch chemistry. However, if needed, in general they can be broken down in two separate steps with both steps using KOH based chemistry or the QMS removal step using TMAH-based or a separate KOH-based (or NAOH-based) chemistry.
  • KOH may be advantageous for lower cost reasons).
  • wet texture instead of wet texture either use dry texture based on laser or plasma processing, or no texture and use other means to effectively couple-in broad-band sunlight - these "other' ' means may rely on dispersed nano- particles such as dielectric particles, or silver or gold particles.
  • a post texture surface cleaning process is a critical step for back junction/back contacted cell. This cleaning step enables formation of a high quality front-surface passivation layer following the cleaning process.
  • a specific cleaning chemistry for this purpose may be based on HF/HC1 chemistry and/or ozonated HF chemistry, although more expensive alternates such as the so-called RCA clean can also be used.
  • Performing a diluted HF dip post texture clean and just before passivation is also critical to get lower front surface recombination velocities (hence, higher quality passivation).
  • an additional process step prior to the deposition of the passivation layer or layers such as a-Si or a-SiOx (amorphous silicon oxide) plus Silicon nitride is disclosed which is to use a reduced pressure or atmospheric pressure plasma or a stream of radicals (such as hydrogen radicals and/or ions) to remove both organic residue redeposited from the backplane material as well as native oxide.
  • Such processes may be preferably integrated in the initial stage of the passivation tool (such as the PECVD passivation) or alternatively be performed off-line.
  • Low temperature front surface passivation and ARC layer that meets the required device specifications.
  • this includes a passivation layer which is deposited at a temperature which can accommodate processing with the chosen backplane is adequate.
  • the allowable maximum temperature of passivation is dependent on the ability of backplane to withstand this without cracking TFSS, without degradation of the backplane material, and/or compromising the solar cell fill factor and other reliability related parameters.
  • a good passivation is expected at temperatures in the range at or above about 150°C for PECVD SiN.
  • One example is to use PECVD of thin amorphous silicon (deposited using PECVD at a substrate temperature in the range of about 150°C to 200°C) followed by a low temperature SiN deposition (preferably at the same temperature as amorphous silicon or amorphous silicon oxide). More generally, a good passivation must have a very low interface trap density with silicon and the polarity of charge which repels the minority carriers away from the front surface. For the n-type material, this embedded charge needs to be a stable positive charge.
  • a subsequent thermal anneal either in a forming gas, a neutral, or vacuum or other suitable ambient at a suitable time after the passivation may be beneficial for improving the passivation quality. Such thermal anneal may be performed at a temperature equal to or higher than the PECVD passivation temperature (up to about 300°C depending on the thermal stability and CTE-match of the backplane material).
  • Fig. 3 is a diagram showing for ex-situ emitter process flow embodiments in accordance with the disclosed subject matter. The process flows are divided into four categories Flow 1 through 4 which are distinguished by the differences in the way the base contact is made. All the flows shown in Fig. 3 may be used with either the template/porous silicon carrier 1 or with the bulk wafer Ingot/implant Carrier 1, and with any backplane option outlined in this diclosure.
  • This process flow uses APCVD PSG to make the base doping.
  • PSG layer is deposited and phosphorus is driven in either using a batch furnace anneal or using pulsed nanosecond laser hot ablation of the PSG layer (in the latter case, to dope the underlying TFSS and to ablate the PSG layer for base contact opening).
  • Flow Option 2 This process uses screen printed (or stencil printed) silicon nanoparticle phosphorous or silicon nanoparticle phosphorous ink applied by inkjet (or aerosol jet) printing. This will be followed by a thermal anneal.
  • Flow Option 3 This option uses screen printing of the phosphorous paste or phosphorous ink applied by inkjet printing. This is followed by thermal anneal in a batch furnace equipment to drive in the dopant.
  • This process uses Phosphorous Oxychloride POC13 as the starting phosphorous dopant material (process is preferably performed in a POC13 tube furnace). It requires post diffusion phosphorus glass wet etch or HF vapor etch.
  • Flow Option 1 APCVD PSG based base doping.
  • Fig. 4 is a process flow using hot laser ablation (preferably using pulsed ns laser processing) with selective emitters for manufacturing thin back junction/back contacted solar cells with two carriers (corresponding to flow option 1A1 in Fig. 3). The process starts with cleaning of a mother template crystalline silicon wafer.
  • this could be a 200mm diameter, 200 ⁇ to 1.2 mm thick semiconductor standard wafer. In another example, this can be a 165mm side full square, 200 ⁇ to 1.2 mm thick crystalline silicon wafer.
  • the template is cleaned using, for example, chemistries such as KOH, and acids such as HF, HC1 or combinations thereof
  • the cleaning can also be performed using any other chemical cleans known for cleaning metallic and organic impurities.
  • Another example is RCA clean; however, RCA clean is more expensive for solar cell manufacturing purposes.
  • the cleaning is followed by bilayer or multi-layer (at least two different porosities) porous silicon formation using electrochemical etching (preferably in HF/IPA).
  • the first layer (or the top layer) formed is a low porosity layer (for example, this can be a layer with a porosity in the range of, but not limited to, 15-40%).
  • the second layer (buried layer) with a higher porosity (for example, this can be a layer with a porosity in the range of, but not limited to, 45-70% porosity) which is formed underneath so that it is closer to the template and separates the lower porosity layer from the template.
  • a higher porosity for example, this can be a layer with a porosity in the range of, but not limited to, 45-70% porosity
  • the porous silicon formation process is followed by a drying step and then hydrogen pre-bake and epitaxial silicon growth, preferably in the thickness range of about 5 ⁇ to about 50 ⁇ . Both the hydrogen prebake and epitaxial growth process are preferably performed in the same An integral part of the growth process is the selection of the pre-bake condition.
  • the pre-bake process step preferably in-situ prebake in the epitaxial growth reactor
  • the pre-bake removes the native oxide and other potential surface contaminants
  • This facilitates better epitaxial growth and formation of high-quality in-situ-doped TFSS layer with high minority carrier lifetimes.
  • the epitaxial growth process is then followed by BSG deposition, preferably using an in-line atmospheric -pressure CVD (APCVD) reactor.
  • the BSG layer ultimately serves as the boron source for forming the emitter regions by thermal diffusion of boron from BSG into the underlying TFSS using thermal anneal.
  • 150nm thickness is shown in Fig. 4, this may be adjusted per requirements of the back mirror and emitter doping.
  • the BSG thickness may be in the range of about 50 nm up to 250 nm and the BSG layer may be capped with an undoped layer of oxide (with an undoped glass thickness in the range of about 10 nm to 100 nm).
  • the BSG layer deposition is followed by picoseconds (ps) pulsed laser ablation of the BSG layer, this laser ablation stops at silicon, thus does not damage the underlying silicon (negligible heat-affected zone compared to pulsed ns laser ablation).
  • the ablated area ultimately becomes the base part of the device - where the emitter will not be diffused and the doped base contact regions will be exposed.
  • this area fraction fraction of base openings
  • a thicker USG layer will prevent phosphorous diffusion, and will result in a true separated junction (where emitter and base diffusion regions do not touch) with no back surface field (henceforth, BSF).
  • a BSF layer can help increase the open circuit voltage of the device (Voc). If the underlying USG layer is thin (or not deposited at all), some phosphorous diffuses into the TFSS surface region during the thermal annealing step. This, in turn, results in both a BSF formation as well as a so-called abutted junction cell structure.
  • the phosphorous and Boron concentrations, respectively in the PSG and BSG layers, are controlled to yield the appropriate doping concentrations the in emitter and the base regions.
  • these dopant concentrations in the BSG and PSG layers may be in the range of about 2% up to 7%.
  • the device is then processed through a multi-functional furnace anneal step where there may be both an inert anneal in a nitrogen (or inert gas) ambient as well as an optional oxidizing anneal, optionally followed by a low-temperature in- situ gettering anneal (preferably performed in the temperature range of about 550°C to 650°C to getter metallic contaminants such as iron), optionally followed by a lower temperature in-situ forming gas anneal (in the temperature range of about 400°C to 500°C).
  • a multi-functional furnace anneal step where there may be both an inert anneal in a nitrogen (or inert gas) ambient as well as an optional oxidizing anneal, optionally followed by a low-temperature in- situ gettering anneal (preferably performed in the temperature range of about 550°C to 650°C to getter metallic contaminants such as
  • the goal is to optimize the conditions of these in-situ anneal steps within the same multi-functional furnace anneal process recipe such that a good quality back surface oxide passivation, desirable phosphorus and boron dopant drive-ins and dopant activation, gettering of metallic impurities and further improvement of the backside passivation properties are accomplished in a single tool.
  • It can also be advantageous to have a thin layer of aluminum oxide A1203 at the immediate back surface, as it tends to enable the incorporation of a negative charge, which in turn repels electrons, the emitter minority carriers, from that surface and is capable of providing very good surface passivations in that region.
  • Such A1203 layer can be deposited in situ and as a first step in the same APCVD tool used for deposition of the BSG layer. Flows incorporating A1203 are disclosed later in this disclosure.
  • the anneal step is followed by picosecond pulse laser ablation to open contacts (Other types of lasers such as pulsed ns lasers can also be used).
  • a special laser ablation processes called hot laser ablation can be used which performs the dual role of not only opening the contacts to both emitter and base but at the same time rapidly driving in the respective dopants into TFSS silicon surface in the contact open area.
  • base contacts are formed through the USG/PSG layer with phosphorous driven from PSG into silicon (where PSG is in contact with silicon), whereas, the emitter contacts are formed through
  • PVD physical vapor deposition
  • Al-Si layer such as with plasma sputtering or evaporation
  • This aluminum (Al) layer serves the function of both back surface reflector (BSR) in conjunction with the backside passivation dielectric stack as well as is instrumental in making a good electrical contact to the device base and emitter regions.
  • BSR back surface reflector
  • the contact resistance of Al (or Al doped with Si) PVD to both the doped emitter and the base contact regions is critical.
  • the PVD process may also be done either as a hot PVD (depositing the Al layer while the cell substrate is heated to a temperature in the approximate range of 150°C to 450°C, or a post PVD anneal may be performed between 150°C to 450°C if needed. This is to ensure better contact resistance (hence, higher fill factor) as well as take advantage of a better passivation in presence of Aluminum (Al anneal) and H2 from the APCVD layers (effectively performing a forming gas anneal to improve the backside passivation and to improve the cell Voc). Subsequently, other PVD metal layers may be deposited depending on the needs of the adhesion, reflectivity requirements and laser metal isolation requirements.
  • combination of NiV (or Ni) and Sn can also be sputtered as second and third layers on top of Al using PVD and in situ after sputter deposition of Al.
  • the function of this metal stack with a top layer of Sn will be to ensure that the adhesion of the backplane metal or M2 is not compromised (hence, improving the cell fill factor and long-term reliability).
  • the Al/NiV/Sn stack can be annealed below the melting point of Sn to give a solder like anneal between Sn and NiV. Subsequently, pulsed picoseconds laser is used to isolate and pattern both base and emitter metal areas. A typical design is interdigitated finger design.
  • no busbars and only interdigitated fingers are defined on the cell for Ml. This minimizes electrical shading under the busbar and increases cell efficiency.
  • busbars as well as with other designs such as mini-cells can be defined with the metal ablation laser process.
  • the specific dimensions including pitch of emitter/base lines is dictated by several device design considerations including, but not limited to, base and emitter diffusion resistance. PVD could entail vacuum sputtering, vacuum evaporation, ion-beam deposition (IBD), atmospheric arc spray and other thermal physical vapor coating methods.
  • screen printing of resist, followed by etch can also be used to isolate base and emitter patterns. However, there is a risk in this approach due to performing wet processing on template (for metal etching and resist stripping wet steps).
  • a base and an emitter metal is screen printed (this may be a single screen print process using a single aluminum paste material) and fired to make metallization contact to the emitter and base diffusion regions, where the base and emitter diffusions are created using several possible techniques, one of which is described above and several others will be detailed subsequently.
  • the screen printed metal or metals can be either co-fired or sequentially fired, and may be the same for base and emitter or be dissimilar. Further, the screen printed metals may be fritted, lightly fritted, or frit-less (such as a suitable fritless aluminum paste). Specific examples of this process may entail screen printing a frit-less Al metal paste on both emitter and base and co-firing using the same process step.
  • the Ml metal pattern will depend on the underlying cell design; however, in general, it can include segmented metal lines to reduce wafer level stress and to reduce the risk of microcrack formation in TFSS.
  • Another example of this process could entail screen printing and firing Ag for the phosphorous contact, while screen printing and firing Al for the base contact.
  • screen printed lines or fingers can be continuous or segmented.
  • the PSG may be deposited selectively in the base area, thus, creating pockets of base contact doping.
  • the Ag metal may be fired through the doping sources (PSG in this case) to create contacts within the base pockets.
  • PSG doping sources
  • This approach can have efficiency advantage by ensuring much smaller base contact minority carrier recombination, hence improving both Voc and Jsc of the solar cell. It also obviates the need for opening base contact using laser process.
  • This segmented metal design is possible only because of the versatility of the backplane.
  • the backplane allows a vertical draw of current while summing it at the backplane layer.
  • a continuous metal can be screen printed (for example Al) on top of Ag segments at the same time that the emitter metal is printed. Care has to be taken to ensure that this metal (Al) does not penetrate through the PSG oxide which may be avoided using the right choice of the metal paste.
  • the next step is to screen print conductive material (as an example, an epoxy material) on to the patterned metal lines on a cell.
  • a dielectric adhesive layer may also be printed to protect the cell from shunting. This is understood to be an option, if necessary, for all the process flows discussed subsequently that involve a conductive adhesive (although, not explicitly shown in the process flow Figures).
  • This is followed by alignment, attachment and lamination of the backplane to the metal lines.
  • the screen print of the conductive and/or dielectric material may be performed on the backplane metal.
  • the backplane assembly with the conductive material may be aligned and attached to the metal lines on the template.
  • the advantage of printing conductive epoxy on the backplane is that there is no screen print step on the template, which ensures a complete contact free processing on the template and increases mechanical yield. The challenge is that the alignment becomes more stringent.
  • a thick interconnect stack made with patterned Al foil of thickness preferably between 50 ⁇ to 300 ⁇ , helps conduct the electrical current laterally without much resistive losses.
  • the conductive foil is attached to the backplane which may be either glass or plastic using a PV qualified, compliant encapsulant material, for example, but not limited to Z68.
  • the Al foil, Z68, and the backplane material (for example glass or plastics) is referred to as the backplane assembly.
  • the assembly is attached to the template using the aforementioned conductive epoxy such that the interdigitated pre-patterned foil pattern attaches face down on to the template.
  • the dimension of the Al foil patterns may be different.
  • the Al foil lines are parallel to the patterned lines on the template.
  • the backplane Al lines are orthogonal to the metal lines on the template.
  • the orthogonal configuration may be advantageous as it allows the backplane lines or fingers (M2 fingers) to be wider and less in number, making its manufacturing manageable and also reduce its cost.
  • the parallel lines have to conform to the pitch/dimensions of the on-template metal lines, which, in turn, are restricted by device design.
  • this pitch is further limited because of a high sheet resistance of the base for a thin cell.
  • Several precautions are suggested to ensure that there is no shorting between the orthogonal lines at the crossing junctions where no contacts to Ml are desired. This may be ensured by flowing the Z68 or another suitable dielectric encapsulant material under the Al foil during lamination. The flow can be enhanced if the Al foil is perforated.
  • Another way to avoid the risk of shunting with the orthogonal configuration is to dummy print dielectric (non-conductive) posts in the negative checkerboard pattern. This ensures that at the cross-points, where the contacts are not desired, the over-running Al foils are supported by the non-conductive posts, and consequently, it does not sag to touch the on-template metal line.
  • the current still needs to be drawn out to the top of the backplane from the face down side.
  • Two general schemes for this firstly, to wrap the Al foil around the edge of the backplane on to the other side (henceforth, Wrap-around Busbars). Risks with this scheme include difficulty in protecting the wrapped foil during some of the subsequent steps.
  • the second scheme a few through holes are drilled and current is accessed at these locations from the underlying foil. Several ways to create these holes are disclosed herein.
  • a second configuration of the backplane does not have any Al foil.
  • the backplane assembly consists of only the backplane material (most likely a polymeric or plastic material, or possibly glass) and Z68 or like material.
  • a polymeric or plastic material sheet may be advantageous over rigid glass because it is easier/cheaper to drill more holes through it, and it also makes the resulting solar cells flexible or semi-flexible (hence, also enabling lower cost flexible module packaging of the cells).
  • the challenge with polymeric or plastic backplane is that the subsequent steps with plastic may require capping the temperature to a lower values (for instance, no more than ⁇ 150°C up to 300°C) as it has a higher CTE mismatch with silicon compared to glass (unless made with embedded low-CTE fibers or particles).
  • the holes are drilled only through the backplane, but not through Z68.
  • the Z68 cover protects the underlying device.
  • Z68 is opened and the module assembly is used to directly draw current from the underlying cell. This renders the cell cost to be dramatically cheaper, while requiring a somewhat more complex assembly process in the module.
  • Backplane assembly is attached to the cell/template (Fig. 4) and is laminated and cured. This is followed by a laser trench to define cell boundary and release boundary.
  • a mechanical release is performed using available techniques such as mechanical release (MR) or sonicated mechanical release (SMR).
  • MR mechanical release
  • SMR sonicated mechanical release
  • the template is cleaned and send back for reuse for porous silicon and epi for the next Reuse.
  • the TFSS attached to the backplane assembly (which is the second and the permanent carrier) is now cleaned on the QMS (or porous silicon) side and textured.
  • this may be performed in one shot using hot KOH based chemistries such as KOH/SCD or KOH/IPA combination (wherein KOH may be replaced with NaOH).
  • KOH/SCD hot KOH based chemistries
  • KOH/IPA combination wherein KOH may be replaced with NaOH
  • post texture clean which in one case can be done using HF/HCl combination.
  • the TFSS is taken for its final process step on the sunny- side which is deposition of the (hydrogenated) SiNx ARC and passivation layer.
  • the maximum temperature of this process is limited to a low value which may be in the range of 150°C to 300°C depending on the choice of the backplane material.
  • a method by which a satisfactory passivation may be achieved at low temperature for back contacted cells is discussed in an earlier passivation. It suffices to mention that this will involve excellent cleaning post texture and deposition of a thin (e.g., 3 nm to 10 nm) amorphous silicon (a-Si) or amorphous silicon oxide layer before SiN.
  • the SiN preferably has to be rich in positive charges to repel the positively charged minority carrier holes away from the surface and reduce surface recombination
  • the final step in the process flow of Fig. 4 is to open the access holes in the Z68 material through the already existing holes in the backplane. This is for vertically drawing out (or in) the emitter and base current from the Al foil.
  • the through-access holes in Z68 are created using hot solder material which burns through the Z68 material, making contact to the underlying Al foil. Subsequently, the solder can be used for module assembly.
  • the Z68 (or another suitable encapsulant) material can be exposed to a quick radiation (potentially IR), which pulls it back and opens the access point to Sn or solder alloy.
  • the holes are drilled either only in Z68 or in both glass and Z68 at the end using laser.
  • the holes are drilled through both Z68 and glass at the time of backplane assembly, but the underlying device is now protected through from the texture bath using the single sided texture tools or by a temporarily tagging Z68 on top of the holes.
  • Fig. 5 is a representativeselective emitter and hot ablation process flow of this invention similar to that depicted in Fig. 4 except using direct metal write techniques (corresponding to flow option 1A1 in Fig. 3).
  • Direct write techniques can eliminate the need for the PVD metal deposition and the subsequent laser metal isolation steps.
  • the PVD metal deposition followed by laser metal isolation may be replaced by any of the numerous direct metal write techniques. These may include, but are not limited to screen printing of one or more metal pastes, inkjet/aerosol printing of one or more metal based inks and laser transfer printing. These direct metal write techniques may subsequently be followed by higher temperature anneals.
  • Fig. 6 and Fig. 7 are two selective emitter and hot ablation process flows paralleling Figs. 4 and Fig. 5, respectively, with a difference that the flows detailed in Figs. 6 and 7 allows formation of an in-situ front surface field (FSF) during epitaxial silicon growth by eliminating texture on the front side.
  • FSF in-situ front surface field
  • Figs. 6 and 7 correspond to flow option 1A2 in Fig. 3.
  • An advantage of the FSF is that it helps reduce base resistance, increase Voc by reducing the front surface recombination velocity (reduced FSRV).
  • An idea behind this no texture flow is to protect the in-situ-doped front surface field.
  • QMS removal small amount of silicon removal from the front
  • the flow moves directly to passivation without performing texture.
  • the function of texture in terms or light trapping is accomplished by an additional subsequent step following the front passivation.
  • These steps entail depositing , in one instance spray coating, a suitable dielectric or
  • Fig. 6 shows PVD metal stack deposition while Fig. 7 shows direct write metal techniques.
  • Fig. 6 depicts the process flow with PVD metal deposition which has an in-situ front surface field achieved using a textureless process. Light trapping is achieved using particulate layer on the front side of the cell.
  • Fig. 7 depicts direct metal write instead of the PVD metal plus laser isolation methods shown in Fig. 6.
  • Fig. 8 is an embodiment of a process flow corresponding to flow option IB in Fig. 3. This flow is similar to the flow outlined in Fig. 1 with variations discussed above, except for one difference - the flow in Fig. 8 uses cold ablation (preferably using pulsed ps laser) instead of hot ablation.
  • the backend steps are similar to Flow Option 1A in Fig. 4 with a few modifications of the initial on-template steps.
  • the process of cold ablation may modify a few steps on the template.
  • the flow is identical up to laser ablation of the BSG layer to isolate emitter and base diffusion areas.
  • This laser step is followed by deposition of APCVD USG layer only instead of a USG/PSG/(USG) stack (as may be used in the case of hot ablation process). Subsequently, USG layer is ablated using laser ablation process to create phosphorous doping opening. This is followed by the PSG/USG (with USG cap on top of PSG) stack deposition. Now, the thermal oxidizing anneal and drive is performed. This ensures the formation of the emitter junction, formation of the base doping in silicon, and back surface passivation with thermal oxide. The next step is to open emitter and base contacts using cold pulsed ps laser ablation.
  • hot ablation holds at least two advantages. First, it reduces the number of steps by two which can provide cost savings. Second, it requires only aligning the base contact to the emitter/base isolation area while the cold ablation requires aligning first the USG open area to the emitter/base isolation area and then aligning the base contact to the USG open area. For a given alignment capability and contact sizes, cold ablation will require starting with wider emitter/base isolation area. Subsequent process steps shown in the flow Fig. 8 are similar to the flows previously depicted.
  • Figs. 9A-L are cross-sectional diagrams depicting major fabrication steps of the cold ablation flow of Fig. 8. (corresponding to flow option IB in Fig. 3).
  • Fig. 9A shows the
  • Fig. 9B shows the USG/BSG laser ablate steps
  • Fig. 9C shows the USG deposition steps
  • Fig. 9D shows the USG/PSG/(USG) deposition steps
  • Fig. 9E shows the oxidizing anneal/dopant drive-in deposition steps
  • Fig. 9F shows the laser cold ablate and contact open steps
  • Fig. 9G shows the PVD Al (or Al/NiV/Sn or another suitable stack comprising an underlayer of Al and an overlayer of a suitable solder alloy) deposition steps
  • Fig. 9H shows the laser metal ablate plus epoxy print steps
  • Fig. 91 shows the backplane attachment steps
  • Fig. 9J shows the cell/template release steps
  • Fig. 9K shows the QMS (remnant of porous silicon residues on the TFSS) removal and texturing steps
  • Fig. 9L shows the low temperature front surface passivation steps.
  • Fig. 3 flow Option 2 Silicon nanoparticle phosphorous based base doping.
  • Fig. 10 outlines a process flow for silicon nanoparticle phosphorous based base doping (paste or ink). The backend of the process flow starting with Al PVD as well as the front end of the flow consisting of template clean/porous silicon/epi/ APCVD BSG/USG depositions, and laser ablation of BSG stack are previously disclosed, see Fig. 4 and Fig. 8.
  • option 2 A and 2B use hot ablation and option 2C uses cold ablation.
  • Figs. 10, 11, and 12 depict the entire process flow for option 2A, 2B, and 2C of Fig. 3, respectively.
  • Fig. 10 representing option 2A shows that post BSG laser ablation, an oxidizing anneal is performed in a thermal furnace anneal tool.
  • This is a multi-functional process and has at least a dual purpose of forming the emitter by driving boron from BSG into silicon as well as forming a thermal oxide layer in the area where BSG was ablated which serves as a passivation for what will ultimately become the base region.
  • This is followed by hot laser ablation of the emitter area to form selective emitter similar to the process described in flow option 1A.
  • cold ablation is used in the base area to open oxide for base doping contact.
  • silicon nanoparticle based phosphorous paste is screen printed or is dispensed using other ways such as injecting, in the base contact open areas. Subsequently, the paste is annealed to drive the base doping. This is followed by identical process flow to option 1 (along with all its variations) starting at PVD Al.
  • Fig. 11 shows flow option 2B with hot ablation and silicon nanoparticle phosphorous paste or ink using two APCVD tools.
  • option 2B post BSG laser ablation, APCVD is used to deposit USG (instead of thermal oxide in option 2A).
  • APCVD is used to deposit USG (instead of thermal oxide in option 2A).
  • hot ablation of the emitter and cold ablation of USG for base contact open.
  • screen printing or inkjetting of phosphorous based silicon nanoparticles paste or ink
  • a thermal anneal to form base contact as well as the selective emitter.
  • Subsequent processing may be identical with variations to flow option 1.
  • Option 2C is the cold ablation flow.
  • Fig. 12 shows flow option 2C with cold ablation with silicon nanoparticle paste for phosphorous doping.
  • post BSG laser ablation APCVD is used to deposit USG just as in option 2B.
  • base and emitter contact open using cold ablation is followed by base and emitter contact open using cold ablation.
  • nanoparticle phosphorous paste is applied in the base area (again by either screen printing of a paste or inkjet printing of an ink) and is annealed. The annealing action drives the emitter and forms the base doping area.
  • Subsequent processing may be similar to that previously disclosed.
  • Flow Option 3 of Fig. 3 Phosphorous paste based base doping.
  • the difference compared to previous flows is that the base contact is formed using the commercially available phosphorous pastes. All process steps before up to laser ablation of BSG stack and after and including Al PVD may remain the same as option 1.
  • Fig. 13 (flow option 3 A) and Fig. 14 (flow option 3B) use hot ablation while Fig. 15 (option 3C) is cold ablation process.
  • Fig. 13 (flow option 3A) uses one APCVD
  • Fig. 14 (flow option 3B) and Fig. 15 (option 3C) use two APCVD tools.
  • post BSG ablation there is an oxidizing anneal for emitter formation as well as for base area passivation using thermal oxide - similar to flow option 2A.
  • laser ablation is used to open only base contacts with cold ablation - different from flow option 2A.
  • This step is followed by screen printing (or any other way of dispensing phosphorous paste for direct write, such as inkjet printing), followed by an annealing to drive the base contact phosphorous diffusion regions.
  • hot ablation of the emitter and cold ablation of base area is performed to make selective emitter and base contacts. All steps following this starting from PVD Al are previously disclosed.
  • Option 3B has APCVD USG deposition after BSG ablation, followed by pulsed ps laser (or pulsed fs laser which can be used instead of pulsed ps laser whenever cold ablation is required in any of the process flows of this invention) cold laser ablation of USG to open base contacts.
  • pulsed ps laser or pulsed fs laser which can be used instead of pulsed ps laser whenever cold ablation is required in any of the process flows of this invention
  • cold laser ablation of USG to open base contacts Just as in option 3A, this is followed by screen printing of phosphorous paste and drive and anneal of phosphorous base contact as well as emitter areas. This is followed by hot ablation of emitter and cold ablation of the base to reopen the contact in the base through the phosphorous paste. All steps starting Al PVD following this are previously disclosed.
  • Option 3C uses APCVD USG after BSG ablation. This is followed by ablation of USG for base opening, followed by screen printing of phosphorous paste, followed by an oxidizing anneal and/or anneal to form emitter, base doping, as well as a passivation. This is followed by cold ablation of emitter and base areas to open contacts. Subsequently, starting Al PVD all steps are previously disclosed.
  • Figs. 16, 17, and 18 are a set of flows using furnace POC13 (phosphorus oxychloride) doping for base doping. As shown, all steps up to including BSG laser ablation as well as all steps post and including Al PVD may be the same as previously disclosed.
  • Fig. 16 (flow option 4A) and Fig. 17 (flow option 4B) use hot ablation while Fig. 18 (option 4C) is cold ablation process.
  • Fig. 16 (flow option 3 A) uses one APCVD
  • Fig. 17 (flow option 3B) and Fig. 18 (option 3C) use two APCVD tools.
  • laser ablation of BSG stack is followed by an oxidizing anneal in a batch furnace which drives the emitter at the same time and forms a passivating thermal oxide in the base region. This is followed by cold ablation of thermal oxide for base contact open which is followed by POC13 furnace doping to form base contact diffusion regions.
  • hot ablation is used for emitter contact open, and cold ablation to go through the POC13-formed glass in the base area. It is also conceivable that the laser is used to ablate all POC13-formed glass, which may be desirable from the back mirror perspective. This is followed by Al PVD as previously disclosed.
  • APCVD oxide is deposited instead of thermal oxide anneal. This is followed by cold laser ablation of USG material to form base contacts. This is followed by POC13 doping, which takes care of both forming base diffusions as well as driving the emitter regions into silicon. Subsequently, hot ablation is used for emitter contact opening and drive to form selective emitter, where cold ablation is used to go through the POC13 glass material and open base contacts. This is followed by the standard process starting at PVD Al.
  • APCVD of USG is used to create blocking of POC13. This is followed by cold ablation of USG for base contact open and POC1 3 process. The POC13 process not only forms base contacts, but also simultaneously diffuses the emitter. This is followed by a cold ablation of both emitter and base contact opens. The remaining process flow remains as before.
  • Minimum cell process flow This section describes a variation of the process flows described as option 1 above (using PSG for making base contact). In this variation, several steps are combined and the CE print step is eliminated to use a reduced number of tools for creating the high-efficiency, back contact thin cell.
  • a defining attribute of these minimum steps flows is that the screen printing of conductive epoxy is eliminated by using a low-temperature solder alloy (e.g., 58 Bi-42 Sn with 138°C solder melting point, or Bi-45 Sn-0.33 Ag with a melting point of 140 - 145°C), formed both as an overlayer on top of the cell Al metal/mirror as well as on the backplane metal fingers with a pre-formed pin grid array on the metal fingers. Once the backplane is aligned and placed on the cell, the backplane pin grid array is solder attached to the cell during the thermal lamination process.
  • a low-temperature solder alloy e.g., 58 Bi-42 Sn with 138°C solder melting point,
  • a hot ablation direct writing process depicts a first embodiment of a minimum steps process flow with the following noted attributes: two APCVD process steps used, has a texturing process, uses PSG and hot ablation to form base diffusion, selective emitter formed using laser, has a direct metal write process such as screen print, inkjet, aerosol print, laser transfer print, and direct solder bonding without CE screen print.
  • Fig. 20 a cold ablation direct writing process, depicts a second embodiment of the minimum process flow. It retains the common attributes of Fig. 19 of solder attachment as well as direct metal write to eliminate a few process steps. However, it differs from the Fig. 19 flow in that it does not rely on hot ablation and has three APCVD steps.
  • Non Epi Bulk thin substrate process flows Two types of carrier 1 examples were disclosed.
  • the first type of carrier 1 uses a template and the second type of carrier 1 is a thicker wafer or ingot from which thin CZ or FZ slices are cleaved or exfoliated using a myriad of available techniques, including hydrogen ion implantation.
  • the following section describes the cell level process flows utilizing backplane innovation in conjunction with the wafer cleaving approach to obtain a thin silicon substrate.
  • Proton implant based cleaving produces ⁇ 111> textured substrates, which would preferably require dry texturing.
  • the embodiments show proton implant cleavage/slicing of ultrathin substrates (e.g., about 1 ⁇ to 80 ⁇ thick substrates separated/cleaved from much thicker reusable wafers, e.g., wafers or bricks which are several mm or several cm thick) .
  • ultrathin substrates e.g., about 1 ⁇ to 80 ⁇ thick substrates separated/cleaved from much thicker reusable wafers, e.g., wafers or bricks which are several mm or several cm thick
  • Fig. 21 shows the first process flow using a wafer cleaving approach to obtain a thin silicon substrate.
  • the process flow parallels the flow 1A1 described in Fig. 4 (which uses a reusable template for carrier 1) except for the initial steps which are used to create the substrate.
  • the specific attributes of this flow are: uses two APCVD processes (base contact diffusion formed using APCVD PSG and hot laser ablation), cell front-surface texturing which may be performed on planar or pre-textured templates with or without in-situ Front-Surface Field (FSF) phosphorus doping, metal deposition which may be performed using vacuum sputtering, vacuum evaporation, atmospheric arc / thermal spray coating, etc.
  • the first step is to start with a reusable, thick wafer.
  • Fig. 21 first the wafer is implanted with MeV proton implants, with the implant energy setting the substrate thickness. Following this step of substrate creation, the steps shown are similar to the flow shown in Fig. 4 until the backplane attachment step. After backplane attachment the wafer is released from the thick wafer from the cleave created by the implant. This is followed by a dry texturing process, which may be performed either using the laser or a dry plasma process, since it is a ⁇ 111> surface. An optional post texture clean may subsequently be performed - previous embodiments using a reusable template did not necessarily require a dry texture process also. As shown in Fig. 21, after dry texturing passivation and backplane access steps are performed.
  • Figs. 22 through 35 show several variations and examples of the process flow outlined in Fig. 21 for back contact thin crystalline solar cells using proton implanted and cleaved thin silicon cells.
  • the variations mirror similar flows described using the Reusable PS/Epitaxial TFSS on template process flows.
  • Four categories of process flows are similar to the flow options in Fig. 3 - these four categories are distinguished from each other on the bases of the method used to create the base diffusion area.
  • the first category including the flow of Fig. 21, uses PSG layer to create the base diffusion areas; the second category uses silicon nano particles; the third category uses phosphorous paste; and the forth category uses POC1 process to create base diffusion regions.
  • Figs. 22 through 26 show flows belonging to the PSG based doping category. Each of these process flows may be characterized by the following attributes listed directly thereafter.
  • Fig. 22 corresponds to flow option 1A1 of Fig. 3, and may be characterized by the following attributes:
  • Thin substrate formed by slicing / cleaving from reusable thick wafer or brick or ingot piece e.g., after MeV proton implant
  • the thin substrates are typically (111) oriented substrates (to facilitate cleavage with reasonable proton implantation doses), requiring dry laser or plasma texturing
  • Metal deposition may be performed using a direct write process such as screen printing, laser transfer printing, inkjet printing, aerosol printing.
  • Fig. 23 corresponds to flow option 1 A2 of Fig. 3, and may be characterized by the following attributes:
  • Metal deposition may be performed using plasma sputtering, vacuum evaporation,
  • Fig. 24 corresponds to flow option 1A2 of Fig. 3, and may be characterized by the following attributes:
  • Metal deposition may be performed using a direct write process such as screen printing, laser transfer printing, inkjet printing, aerosol printing, etc.
  • Fig. 25 corresponds to flow option IB of Fig. 3, and may be characterized by the following attributes:
  • Metal deposition may be performed using plasma sputtering, vacuum evaporation,
  • Fig. 26 corresponds to flow option IB of Fig. 3, and may be characterized by the following attributes:
  • Fig. 27 corresponds to flow option 2A of Fig. 3, and may be characterized by the following attributes:
  • Thin substrate formed by slicing / cleaving from reusable thick wafer or ingot piece e.g., after MeV proton implant
  • the thin substrates are typically (111) substrates, requiring dry laser or plasma texturing
  • Fig. 28 corresponds to flow option 2B of Fig. 3, and may be characterized by the following attributes:
  • Fig. 29 corresponds to flow option 2C of Fig. 3, and may be characterized by the following attributes:
  • Fig. 30 corresponds to flow option 3A of Fig. 3, and may be characterized by the following attributes:
  • Fig. 31 corresponds to flow option 3B of Fig. 3, and may be characterized by the following attributes:
  • Fig. 32 corresponds to flow option 3C of Fig. 3, and may be characterized by the following attributes:
  • Fig. 33 corresponds to flow option 4A of Fig. 3, and may be characterized by the following attributes:
  • Fig. 34 corresponds to flow option 4B of Fig. 3, and may be characterized by the following attributes:
  • Fig. 35 corresponds to flow option 4C of Fig. 3, and may be characterized by the following attributes:
  • Subcategories are distinguished by the method which is used to deposit and pattern metal on the cell.
  • PVD along with laser based metal isolation processes are used to obtain patterned base and emitter metals.
  • a direct patterned metal write technique is used in lieu of the PVD/ laser isolation steps.
  • Full process flows of the five main categories are detailed in the figures and descriptions; however, the categories may be defined according to the following characteristics:
  • CZ/FZ Option I PSG based front surface field (FSF) which is formed before texture.
  • CZ/FZ Option II POC13 based FSF which is formed before texture. The process has no POC13 glass deglaze step.
  • CZ/FZ Option III POC13 based FSF with the POC13 glass deglaze.
  • CZ/FZ Option IV PSG based FSF formed after texture.
  • Fig. 36 corresponds to CZ/FZ Option I, and may be characterized by the following attributes: • Includes selective emitter without added process steps (using hot ablation process)
  • Metal deposition may be performed using plasma sputtering, vacuum evaporation,
  • Fig. 37 corresponds to CZ/FZ Option I, and may be characterized by the following attributes:
  • Metal deposition may be performed using a direct write process such as laser transfer printing, inkjet printing, aerosol printing, etc.
  • Fig. 38 corresponds to CZ/FZ Option II, and may be characterized by the following attributes:
  • Metal deposition may be done using vacuum sputtering, vacuum evaporation,
  • Fig. 39 corresponds to CZ/FZ Option II with main attributes similar to Fig. 38 except the direct write for metal, and may be characterized by the following attributes:
  • Metal deposition may be performed using a direct write process such as screen printing, laser transfer printing, inkjet printing, aerosol printing, etc.
  • Fig. 40 corresponds to CZ/FZ Option III, and may be characterized by the following attributes:
  • Metal deposition may be performed using plasma sputtering, vacuum evaporation, atmospheric arc / thermal spray coating, etc.
  • Fig. 41 corresponds to CZ/FZ Option III, and may be characterized by the following attributes:
  • Metal deposition may be performed using a direct write process such as screen printing, laser transfer printing, inkjet printing, aerosol printing, etc.
  • Fig. 42 corresponds to CZ/FZ Option IV, and may be characterized by the following attributes:
  • Metal deposition may be performed using plasma sputtering, vacuum evaporation, atmospheric arc / thermal spray coating, etc.
  • Fig. 43 corresponds to CZ/FZ Option IV, and may be characterized by the following attributes: • Includes selective emitter without added process steps (using hot ablation process)
  • Metal deposition may be performed using a direct write process such as screen printing, laser transfer printing, inkjet printing, aerosol printing, etc.
  • Fig. 44 corresponds to CZ/FZ Option V, and may be characterized by the following attributes:
  • Metal deposition may be performed using plasma sputtering, vacuum evaporation, atmospheric arc / thermal spray coating, etc.
  • Fig. 45 corresponds to CZ/FZ Option V, and may be characterized by the following attributes:
  • No FSF Metal deposition may be performed using a direct write process such as screen printing, laser transfer printing, inkjet printing, aerosol printing, etc.
  • Fig. 46 shows a cell process flow to generate selective emitter structure (with lighter emitter junction doping and heavier emitter contact doping concentrations) using an additional BSG layer and picosecond laser ablation patterning.
  • Fig. 47 is a diagram showing the cross section of the resulting cell structure from the flow of Fig. 46, the cell containing a selective emitter formed by two BSG depositions with different diffused sheet resistances.
  • porous silicon bilayer or layer structure is formed.
  • a lightly n-type doped epitaxial film in- situ base doping typically in the range of about 14 -3 18 -3
  • the base phosphorus doping concentration may be varied based on a pre-specified profile during the epitaxial growth process (again, preferably in the range of about 5xl0 14 cm “3 to
  • the doping is optionally done using more than one doping level to implement optimized doping, for instance, to achieve both high Voc (high minority carrier lifetime) and high fill factor (reduced parasitic base resistance).
  • optimized doping may consist of a front surface field where a higher doping close to the sunny side surface of the device is implemented.
  • it may also be advantageous to have a lower doping in that regime which in turn can also lead to a better front surface recombination velocity but from a different effect. That effect is believed to be due to the band lineup at the surface with respect to the band position of interface states and which renders such interface states less severe.
  • a first BSG layer is deposited with a rather low concentration of boron to later provide a lightly doped emitter in the bulk of the back surface region.
  • This process is followed by laser ablation (preferably picosecond laser) of the area where the emitter contact is to be formed.
  • laser ablation preferably picosecond laser
  • This and the subsequent structuring processes can advantageously contain parallel lines across the structure. Areas of emitter contacts and base contacts are aligned in an alternating interdigitated pattern. In certain zones, namely in the zones where later in the process the busbars are located on the metal 2 layer (second metal deposition), it may be advantageous to deviate from the linear, parallel, interdigitated base and emitter contact pattern. This deviation is employed to drastically reduce the electrical shading that is otherwise experienced underneath each busbar.
  • the second BSG layer is deposited with a comparatively higher concentration of boron, such as to provide the highly doped emitter contact region (e.g., with p++ doping).
  • the area for the base contact is laser ablated, preferably using a picosecond laser.
  • a PSG layer is deposited, to serve as the precursor for the phosphorus doped base contact.
  • the dopants are driven in during a multifunctional high temperature process step which optionally can contain a neutral ambient such as nitrogen, optionally followed by an oxidizing ambient such as oxygen or water steam (and furthermore, optionally comprising backend lower temperature gettering and finally forming gas anneal).
  • the junctions are now driven in.
  • the metal 1 (first metal deposited and metal positioned closest to cell) is deposited and structured, either using PVD of for instance a stack of Al, Ni or NiV and Sn, followed by patterning using for instance, picosecond laser ablation, or by screen printing, aerosol printing, ink jet or otherwise printing one or more layers of aluminum containing paste.
  • the aluminum paste may be selected to contain in a first layer some silicon to reduce spiking into the junctions upon subsequent annealing, or other spike reducing agents.
  • the paste or ink can be selected to contain a suitable grain structure to harmonize well with the later via access hole drilling which is employed to make contact between metal 1 and metal 2.
  • Other selection criteria are the optimized conductivity to have a low line resistance within metal 1 (Ml).
  • Ml metal 1
  • different pastes or inks, even containing different metals, may be employed to make the contact to the baser contact diffusion versus to the emitter contact diffusion.
  • the initial metal 1 layer can be a thin layer of ink such as nickel ink which can be deposited very locally in the contact regions and then turned into a silicide by heating, preferably in a self limiting process.
  • the subsequent layer of metal 1 be treated at low enough temperatures to provide the lowest resistivity phase of the respective silicide formed.
  • This design may be formed, for example, by printing additional metal paste material in the area of the via hole (hence, double screen printing of the metal paste) or also by increasing the line width in the area of the via hole for better alignment tolerance or by combinations of the former and the latter.
  • all flows and structures described in this disclosure may, in alternative embodiments, use printing processes for metal 1 paste such as ink jet, aerosol or screen printing, although PVD followed by picosecond (or fs) laser ablation patterning is explicitly mentioned as the method for metal 1 deposition.
  • the pastes or inks can be suitably baked and annealed.
  • the backplane can be attached, for instance, but not limited to lamination of a suitable low-CTE prepreg material, or by first screen printing and heat or radiation treatment, such as by UV radiation, of another adhesive filler, optionally between the metal 1 spaces in order to planarize the surface prior to the backplane lamination. If such an additional adhesive is used, the backplane material, such as prepreg, can be laminated to the relatively planarized surface structure afterwards.
  • the lamination material such as prepreg, may be smaller in extent than the template side dimension for instance a few millimeters on each side. For instance, for a standardized 156 mm xl56 mm final cell it may be advantageous to have a lamination material just larger, for instance about 158 mm xl58 mm, and a template just larger than that, for instance about 165 mm xl65 mm.
  • an ablated trench of silicon can be cut partially or fully through the epitaxial film with a laser, preferably a nanosecond UV laser, or alternatively employing thermal laser separation, a process where locally an area is heated using a travelling laser beam and subsequently cooled, using a trailing jet of mist, water or other coolant such as helium, thereby creating a cleaving front which can be terminated in the region of the release layer, formed by the porous silicon and thereby at the interface between the epitaxial layer and the template.
  • a laser preferably a nanosecond UV laser, or alternatively employing thermal laser separation
  • the laminated reinforced thin film solar substrate may be released from the template, preferably by a pulling process, a peeling process, a pull-peeling process or through the support of sonication, such by either immersing the TFSS and template stack in an ultrasonic bath or by adding ultrasonic energy to a dry release station with the capability of applying vacuum to both sides of the stack, or by vacuum oscillation or by a combination of the above.
  • the remaining template undergoes a process in which the area outside of the active released area is stripped of remaining epitaxial material, by grinding it off, by the use of water or other liquid pressure, by chemical removal or by a combination of the above.
  • the template is cleaned and inspected and then fed back into circulation, for another round of porous silicon formation, epitaxial film deposition and so on.
  • the released TFSS is then trimmed to size, preferably using one or a combination of several lasers, for instance a UV or green nanosecond laser. Such trimming to size can also contain a partial ablation trench just inside of the edge boundary, to make the structure less prone to propagation of microcracks from the outside of the device.
  • trimming the TFSS is then textured, for instance using an alkaline texture chemistry, such as KOH with a suitable additive, followed by a post texture clean, for instance using HF and HC1, and finishing with a
  • the TFSS receives the front side passivation, for instance by deposition of a-Si or a-SiOx, followed by ARC layer deposition, such as Silicon nitride (SiN), all preferably performed using PECVD.
  • a-Si or a-SiOx followed by ARC layer deposition, such as Silicon nitride (SiN), all preferably performed using PECVD.
  • the silicon nitride also contributes to the front side passivation by providing hydrogen as well as a positive charge to repel the base minority carriers.
  • the passivation layer and interface may be annealed, for instance, using a forming gas or a neutral ambient or in vacuum, to improve passivation.
  • Such anneal may be performed at a temperature in the range of about 200°C up to the maximum temperature allowable by the backplane material, as well as ensuring no crystallization of amorphous silicon (or silicon oxide) and ensuring formation of no microcracks.
  • the maximum allowable temperature may be as high as about 300°C to 350°C.
  • the backside of the wafer receives via holes, preferably drilled using a C02 laser and stopping on or just inside the metal 1 layer.
  • the metal 2 deposition is employed, which may be arranged orthogonally to metal 1.
  • An exception is the bus bar area if it is desired to be part of metal 2.
  • metal 1 fingers as well as emitter and base regions are preferably arranged differently in order to minimize overall electrical shading from the bus bar area.
  • a surface clean of the contact may be employed, such as with a sub-atmospheric or atmospheric plasma etch or cleanup to remove native oxide.
  • various techniques such as those described above, may be employed, including a PVD seed which is later patterned using resist print, plating of Cu and Sn, resist strip and local seed layer etch or a pattern or unpatterned printed seed layer, such as printed nickel ink or paste (or a copper ink or paste), followed by suitable baking and subsequent copper plating.
  • the metal 2 layer may also be applied using thermal spraying such as flame spraying of Al, Al with Zn, or Cu or Cu followed by Sn.
  • the thermal spraying may be performed in lines or through a patterned mask that is periodically cleaned.
  • the laminated backplane serves among other functions (such as permanent support and reinforcement) also that of the isolating dielectric between metal 1 and metal 2 layers and to provide the matrix for the via holes which provide access between the two layers (Ml and M2).
  • bus bar is not part of the cell but rather part of the module, then the geometries in the cell may be simplified and it is possible to have both metal 1 and metal 2 both completely contain parallel interdigitated fingers only, arranged orthogonally between metal 1 and metal 2.
  • the interdigitated metal lines of the metal 1 layer may be segmented, especially in cases such as a rather thick printed metal paste. Segmentation is to be arranged such that the contact to metal 2 is still made as well so that the series resistance throughout the line does not noticeably deteriorate. When these requirements are met, for example for line segments between about 0.5 and 5 centimeter in length, then the segmentation may prevent generation of microcracks as well as excess bow and stress initiated by the shrinkage of the metal 1 lines during a paste anneal or during process steps subsequent to the metal deposition or metal paste anneal.
  • dielectrics may be formed and used on the backside of the cell.
  • a p-type emitter such as a boron doped emitter
  • Fig. 48 is an example process flow which incorporates the deposition of aluminum oxide as the back surface passivation of the active absorber layer and Fig. 49 is a cross-section of an example embodiment of a cell structure formed by the process shown in Fig.
  • the cell of Fig. 49 shows aluminum oxide as the backside passivation dielectric.
  • the aluminum oxide may preferably be deposited using an atmospheric process such as APCVD, or by atomic layer deposition (ALD). Such a layer may be deposited, preferably in the same tool, immediately prior to the deposition of the first BSG layer and emitter doping using BSG proceeds through this layer.
  • the layer itself can contain boron or, less likely, enough aluminum to be activated to diffuse as a dopant and form the emitter region, especially for the selective emitter version the lightly doped emitter region.
  • the aluminum oxide layer subsequently undergoes the same laser ablation processes that have been described above when using BSG, USG and PSG.
  • Exemplary thickness dimensions for the cell of Fig. 49 include: epitaxial Si -10 to 50 ⁇ , backside passivation oxide 50 to 200nm, backplane (prepreg, anodized Al alloy or oxidized mg- Si) -150 to 500 ⁇ m, sputtered (PVD) Al or printed (AISi, Al) contact/mirror -50 to 250 nm, plated Ni (top and bottom) -100 to 500 nm, plated top Sn -0.5 to 5 ⁇ , and plated copper metal -25 to 50 ⁇ .
  • Fig. 50 is an example of an alternative process flow which incorporates the deposition of aluminum oxide as the back surface passivation of the active absorber layer.
  • the aluminum oxide is deposited after removal of the doped glass layers which serve as precursors for the emitter and base contact diffusion doping.
  • the aluminum oxide is deposited directly onto the silicon, which in turn already contains the suitable emitter and base contact diffusions.
  • the aluminum oxide can be thick enough or capped with other deposited oxide, such as USG, in order to prevent pin hole shunting of the subsequent metal 1 deposition. Further processing proceeds as described above for all other embodiments.
  • the metal 1 layer provides, in addition to electrical contact, a mirror for the photons that pass through the thin absorber layer. Therefore, a very effective mirror is advantageous for harvesting and converting a higher amount of photons by reflecting the infrared photons for improved photon trapping and energy harvesting.
  • deposit a thin, PVD based metal the PVD layer on a previously patterned structure - as shown in Fig. 51.
  • Fig. 51 is a cross-section a structure which enables the patterning and separation of a blanket deposited metal layer film, the structure providing an enhanced area of metal coverage on the back surface of a backside contacted cell.
  • the structure of Fig. 51 consists of an overhanging structure of a material which is highly transparent to the photons to be reflected and which provides separation (electrical isolation) of the metal layer for a sufficiently line-of-sight based deposition process, such as PVD or evaporation. Such a layer also eliminates the need for laser ablation for the separation of the metal 1 layer. Cleanliness and process control are crucial for such a process in order to avoid direct shunting of adjacent emitter and base metal lines.
  • the structure of Fig. 51 shows retrograde resist sidewalls, which may be formed by double screen printing of resist. Furthermore, optically transparent EVA or PV silicone may be used as the resist material. Alternatively, any other suitable material with long-term reliability may be used as the resist material may remain permanently in the cell and additively contribute to the rear mirror reflectance.
  • the geometrical structure of the on-template processes may be optimized.
  • other geometrical structures especially for metal 1, that may be employed advantageously and which fan out underneath the bus bars which are located on metal layer 2.
  • most of the lines of emitter and base regions as well as contacts are parallel interdigitated lines - simplified structures depicted in Figs. 52 and 53.
  • Fig. 52 is a top view of a cell backplane showing the layout for base contact window and emitter, including contact openings for the case of linear interdigitated emitter and base fingers.
  • Fig. 53 is a top view of the cell backplane structure Fig. 52 including metal 1 deposition, with the addition of large round areas depicting locations for via holes in the backplane material to enable contact between metal 1 and metal 2 layers.
  • Fig. 54 is a top view of a cell backplane showing the layout for base contact window and emitter, including contact openings for the case of an array of base contact islands.
  • 55 is a top view of a cell backplane showing the layout for base contact window and emitter, including contact openings for the case of an array of base contact islands with the presence of metal 1 lines and via hole locations. Note that no direct correlation is assumed between the location of via holes with respect to base contact islands.
  • Figs. 52 through 55 show base contact island structures in comparison to the linear structures.
  • the base diffusion islands and the base contact hole openings have to be carefully aligned during the laser ablation processes. Such alignment and synchronization is critical for the success of these structures.
  • the geometrical aspects of islands versus linear regions hold for all structures herein disclosed.
  • Fig. 56 is a top view of a cell backplane showing the layout for base contact window and emitter, including contact openings for the case of linear interdigitated emitter and base fingers and selective emitter area where the emitter diffusion region of the contact to the emitter is doped higher than the emitter diffusion region away from said contact region.
  • Fig. 57 is a top view of a cell backplane showing the layout schematics for the same selective emitter structure as Fig. 56 including metal 1 deposition. The large round areas are locations where via holes in the backplane material enable contact between metal 1 and metal 2 layers.
  • metal 1 has been generated using PVD and subsequent laser ablation.
  • all structures and methods are fully compatible and applicable as well to any direct write metal 1 application methods, such as screen printing, ink jet or aerosol jet printing and thermal or flame spraying.
  • the annealing of the passivation has been employed in in-situ anneal methods.
  • all processes and structures are also fully applicable to such conditions where the passivation anneal is carried out ex— situ at a suitable point after the passivation material deposition.
  • Advantages to ex-situ annealing include the following: The ex- situ anneal reduces the stringency of matching the thermal expansion coefficients between all the materials involved, mainly the active TFSS absorber material, such as silicon, the backplane material, as well as the metal 1 paste material and the optional additional adhesive that is employed at least between the metal 1 lines and between the active absorber material such as silicon and the backplane laminate.
  • Heterojunctions Most silicon based solar cells on the market today are based on homojunctions. Heterojunctions, especially those with a wider bandgap emitter, benefit from the potential of a higher Voc and thus higher efficiency capability.
  • Several cost effective ways for providing heterojunctions in conjunction with thin silicon cells are provided.
  • the heterojunction is achieved mainly by the introduction of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si) in the emitter, which provides a wider bandgap when compared to crystalline silicon.
  • a-Si hydrogenated amorphous silicon
  • One main task when processing such cells with amorphous silicon is to retain the effective process temperature after the amorphous silicon deposition below the crystallization temperature of silicon, typically below 400 deg C.
  • deposition of amorphous Si (or silicon oxide) is done using PECVD at a temperature in the range of about 150°C to 200°C.
  • Figs. 58 and 59 are process flow emdodiments for generating a heterojunction cell (both using no furnase processing and inkjet phosphorous print), based on an a-Si emitter and based on using an epitaxially deposited thin silicon absorber structure.
  • Fig. 60 is a diagram of a cross section of a resulting structure employing heterojunction thin silicon cell architecture using an epi based cell. The structural design of such a cell is the same for a CZ wafer based flow, with the exception that thicker silicon can also be employed.
  • Exemplary thickness dimensions for the cell of Fig. 60 include: epitaxial Si -10 to 50 ⁇ , backside passivation oxide 150 to 200 nm, backplane (prepreg, anodized Al alloy or oxidized mg-Si) -150 to 500 ⁇ , sputtered (PVD) Al or printed (AISi, Al) contact/mirror -50 to 250 nm, plated Ni (top and bottom) -100 to 500nm, plated top Sn -0.5 to 5 ⁇ , and plated copper metal -25 to 50 ⁇ .
  • the processes are applicable to thin silicon, such as silicon generated using epitaxial deposition on top of a porous silicon layer, as well as implant / cleave based thin silicon architectures, as well as CZ wafer- and thinned CZ wafer- based cells.
  • Figure 61 demonstrate process flow embodiments for such embodiments. Template clean, porous silicon formation and epitaxial Si deposition of the n-type base are as in other flows. Following epitaxy, a sequence of thin (typically ⁇ 200 nm thick) depositions, comprising first an intrinsic, then a P+ doped amorphous silicon (a-Si) stack.
  • a-Si itself tends to have a rather low conductivity, it can be required to add a backing layer deposition after the amorphous Si to help carry the current with sufficiently low resistance.
  • a backing layer should be deposited at a temperature low enough to prevent a-Si from crystallizing.
  • Example layers of such kind are layers transparent conductive oxides such as ⁇ or ZnO or polycrystalline alloys of silicon and germanium (Sil- xGex), which, with sufficient Ge content, can be deposited in a polycrystalline form at low enough temperature.
  • the a-Si emitter material and the optional backing material is ablated, preferably using a picosecond laser.
  • a rear passivation layer is deposited, which can be comprised of silicon dioxide or aluminum oxide.
  • a phosphorus dopant source can be locally applied, such as by printing of phosphorus ink dots.
  • the dopant for the base contact is driven in, for instance using a nanosecond laser that melts the top of the silicon and incorporates the deposited dopant into the silicon lattice. Also a picosecond laser is employed on the emitter contact side to remove the dielectric and make contact to the a- Si emitter.
  • both PVD followed by ablation to define the metal layer, as well as screen printing can be employed, provided the thermal budget of both processes does not exceed the threshold for a-Si crystallization.
  • the backplane lamination and further downstream processing with its various embodiments can then subsequently proceed in the same way that has been described for the homojunction process.
  • backplane a permanent support structure
  • the disclosed backplanes provide for the extraction of electrical current and power from thin solar cells with suitably low loss.
  • the disclosed permanent support structures enable the handling and support of thin solar cells through necessary process steps including, but not limited to, edge definition or trimming, texturization and clean, as well as passivation and anti reflective coating (ARC) deposition and optional follow-on anneals, by means of thermal, microwave, or radiation such as laser energy. Additionally, the permanent support structures further support contacting schemes, such as via openings and various metallization and dielectric material application schemes including, but not limited to, deposition, printing, plating, laminating metal or metal containing or in general conductive films as well as dielectrics, including intra-cell, cell to cell and cell to module contacting.
  • ARC anti reflective coating
  • the disclosed subject matter details novel methods and structures for reinforcing very thin Silicon (Si) solar wafers and cells to reduce breakages and to furnish contacts to emitter and base during the manufacturing process. These methods and structures are motivated by the solar cell industry's movement from standard Si solar cell thicknesses of 180 to 250 ⁇ towards thinner cells in order to reduce Si usage and thus material costs - Si wafer production technology has advanced rapidly in reducing the wafer thickness.
  • the fabrication of Si wafers with thicknesses less than 30 ⁇ has been demonstrated through various methods such as layer transfer and epitaxial Si deposition.
  • the industry is generally unable to manufacture Si solar cells of thickness less than about 140 ⁇ because of the significant increase in cell breakages and lower manufacturing yields.
  • the disclosed subject matter provides for the handling of much thinner silicon through the solar cell line with high yield, with thicknesses down to tens of microns or even less, thus reducing costs associated with breakages.
  • solar cell substrates may be shaped in a variety forms including, but not limited to, standard pseudo squares, squares and hexagons.
  • substrate material may be either mono-, poly- or multi-crystalline silicon.
  • the disclosed subject matter is applicable to various types of substrates as distinguished by the source and the shape of the substrates. For instance, it is applicable to at least two categories:
  • CZ Czochralski
  • FZ float zone
  • multi-crystalline cast ingots which are obtained using techniques such as wire-sawing, polishing, lapping, etching, or ion implantation (Hydrogen or Helium) based slicing of bulk ingots.
  • Epitaxially or polycrystalline grown substrates which are produced directly using any of the precursors used for depositing silicon such as silicon tetrachloride (STC), trichlorosilane (TCS), dichlorosilane (DCS), or Silane.
  • STC silicon tetrachloride
  • TCS trichlorosilane
  • DCS dichlorosilane
  • Silane silicon tetrachloride
  • These substrates may or may not have the dopant diffusions as is customary in a finished solar cell such as back surface field (BSF), bulk doping, front surface field (FSF), and emitter, as part of the epitaxial growth process.
  • BSF back surface field
  • FSF front surface field
  • emitter as part of the epitaxial growth process.
  • the method is widely and equally applicable to any of the several combinations of doping which form a solar cell.
  • n-type bulk doping using phosphorous with a boron-doped p-type emitter and (2) p-type bulk doping using boron with a phosphorous-based n-type emitter.
  • n-type doped base layers with p-type emitters as these n-type based solar cells tend to exhibit the light induced degradation effects often seen in silicon solar cell material with a boron doped p-type base.
  • the epitaxial substrate is grown on top of a sacrificial layer on a mother template and is subsequently dislodged.
  • the mother template is then reused (for instance by residue removal, optional reconditioning by e.g. bevel or area lapping or grinding, cleaning and reformation of the sacrificial layer) several times to grow more epitaxial substrates.
  • the sacrificial layer has to transfer information about the crystalline structure in the mother template to the epitaxial layer and is removed selectively with respect to the substrate and the mother template.
  • One specific embodiment of the sacrificial layer is porous silicon, whose porosity may be modulated to achieve both the aforementioned critical functions.
  • Substantially planar epitaxial substrate This has at least two distinct cases. In the first case the epitaxial layer is grown on top of a flat, untextured template which does not have a pattern.
  • the template may be grown using standard Czochralski (CZ) growth or may be manufactured as a seeded cast quasi-monocrystalline ingot to save costs of template fabrication. A multi-crystalline template material may also be used, which in turn will yield multi-crystalline thin cells.
  • a substantially planar substrate is referred to as an epitaxial substrate.
  • the released epitaxial substrate is also flat without a pattern.
  • the second case is where there is an underlying pattern or texture on the template; however, the size scale of this texture is substantially smaller than the thickness of the epitaxial substrate.
  • the released epitaxial layer is also textured but still substantially planar.
  • This substrate is also referred to herein as an epitaxial substrate.
  • Three dimensional epitaxial substrate Here the underlying template has been pre- patterned or pre- structured and the pattern geometries or texture is of an order substantially equivalent or greater than the thickness of the epitaxial film. Thus, when the epitaxial film is released it will have a substantially non-planar 3D geometry. Within this paradigm, several examples of pre-pattern geometries are possible, for instance, a pyramid-based cell. This substrate is also referred to herein as an epitaxial substrate.
  • the release layer is comprised of porous silicon and the epitaxial layer is silicon as well.
  • the disclosed subject matter is also applicable to the use of other release layer methods such as those generated by the implantation of hydrogen to form a cleave release region or the use of a laser that is focused inside the silicon to form a release or cleave region.
  • the disclosed subject matter is also applicable to active absorber material other than silicon, including hetero-epitaxial combinations such as silicon with germanium, carbon or mixtures thereof, as well as materials from the III-V family such as gallium arsenide (GaAs), which can, for instance, be grown on top of germanium or a graded silicon germanium region which in turn is grown onto a porous silicon layer and which is designated to allow for lattice matching between GaAs and underlying silicon in order to grow good quality GaAs on essentially a silicon substrate with a release layer.
  • GaAs gallium arsenide
  • the thickness of the deposited silicon is substantially thin or if the processing conditions are not compatible with the materials used for permanent reinforcement, it may be necessary to introduce a carrier to temporarily support the solar cell during processing until it is suitable for permanent reinforcement.
  • Possibilities for temporary reinforcement include (but are not limited to) mobile carriers utilizing electrostatic, vacuum, or combination of electrostatic and vacuum methods etc. These structures will substantially strengthen and reinforce the thin substrate thus ensuring a high manufacturing yield.
  • the disclosed subject matter provides a permanent reinforcement for use in solar module panels together with the front or back contacted thin Si solar cells.
  • the disclosed subject matter provides for continuous thin substrate support during the manufacturing process. For example, in the early, preferably dry and potentially high temperature process stages using the template as reinforcement and in the later, preferably low temperature and potentially wet process stages, using backplane reinforcement structures and methods.
  • the disclosed subject matter entails materials, designs, structures and methods to fabricate permanent support structures that enable the manufacturing of solar cells with thin active absorber layers ("thin solar cells") and the structures of the resulting solar cells. Further, the disclosed subject matter provides for the integration of permanent support structures within various embodiments of cell manufacturing flows - the backplane structures, materials and methods disclosed may be employed for fabrication of photovoltaic solar cells that utilize high efficiency thin film solar cell substrates.
  • An advantageous design for the disclosed thin film solar cell structures are back junction, back contacted cells where the reinforcement is applied onto the side that contains the back junctions and back contacts.
  • cell designs with at least one polarity of the contact on the front side may also be supported using the disclosed subject matter in combination with low temperature processing, typically below 250° to 350° C, is used to manufacture the front side contact if the front side contact is manufactured after the attachment of the reinforcement.
  • An effectively low temperature process may utilize laser annealing that only heats the front surface while keeping the back surface cold enough for the backplane material to sustain the process.
  • Methods for front side contacting include, for example, the formation of front side lines of Al or other metals with subsequent laser annealing for contacting and optional emitter junction formation, and contacts at the front side or patterned implantation followed by laser or other substantially low temperature annealing for forming the junctions, followed by a suitable metallization scheme such as Aluminum deposition, either patterned using deposition, printing or spraying, or unpatterned with subsequent patterning .
  • the intent of this disclosure is to enable the reinforcement and thus high yield
  • Figs. 61A-C are process flows showing major processing steps for the formation of a back contact solar cell including general backplane reinforcement related steps further detailed throughout this disclosure.
  • the process flow starts with a cleaned re-usable semiconductor wafer, called a template.
  • a release layer such as porous semiconductor material, is then deposited on the surface of the template.
  • this may be porous silicon.
  • the porous silicon layer may comprise at least two zones of different porosities, where the top layer is preferably of a lower porosity than the bottom layer.
  • the bottom layer serves as a designated weak layer while the top layer is reflowed in a subsequent bake step in an epi reactor prior to the silicon layer deposition and the reflow reconstructs the surface to provide a seed surface to enable epitaxial deposition.
  • the active absorber base layer is an n-type layer, formed by, for example, the addition of phosphine (PH3) during the deposition step.
  • PH3 may be optionally diluted in hydrogen. Graduation of PH3 flow during the deposition may be employed to achieve doping gradients in the film where desired.
  • further steps comprise the formation and structuring of the emitter layer, e.g. by atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition (APCVD) of borosilicate glass (BSG), and laser ablation of BSG where desired in order to make openings for base contacts.
  • a subsequent optional step includes deposition of undoped silicate glass (USG), followed by laser ablation in order to later generate a separation zone between base contact and emitter.
  • phosphorus-silicate glass (PSG) may be deposited as a precursor to later form a highly n-doped base contact. Undoped layers may be used for separation of each layer where needed.
  • a subsequent thermal drive-in step optionally with oxidation in at least one step to form a good interface with the semiconductor (such as silicon), may be used to drive-in the doped diffusion profiles.
  • a laser may then be used to ablate the dielectric in desired contact areas, which enables contacting with a subsequent metallization step.
  • Suitable lasers for above ablation processes include picoseconds lasers and especially picoseconds UV lasers which may cause little or no subsurface damage to the underlying semiconductor.
  • Figs. 62A-C are diagrams of structures prior to backplane reinforcement s teps.
  • Fig. 62A and B are a top and cross-sectional views, respectively of on cell structures after PVD and metal contact openings.
  • Fig. 62C is cross-sectional views of on cell structures after PVD and metal contact openings for a selective emitter structure. A method example on how to arrive at a selective emitter structure is detailed in figures 73F through 73J.
  • Fig. 62D is a cross sectional diagram of the structure of Fig. 62B after dielectric layers and epoxy pillars formation.
  • Fig. 62E is a top view of the structure of Fig. 62D after dielectric layers and epoxy pillars formation.
  • Fig. 62F is a top view of the structure of Fig. 62E after metal fingers (metal layer 2, shown as Aluminum foil) formation.
  • Fig. 62G is a cross sectional diagram of the encapsulated structure of Fig. 62F.
  • the disclosed backplane structures utilize orthogonal current extraction.
  • current typically needs to travel along long distances as both contacts are on the same side - thus a large area planar electrical contact may not be easily realized.
  • To reduce electrical shading metal finger pitch typically needs to be kept small while finger height needs to be substantial, which often results in a costly and high stress process for metal finger formation on back contacted solar cells. Such high stresses can even prevent the move to larger substrate sizes for conventional back contact cells.
  • the disclosed subject matter provides a solution to high cost and high stress processes associated with back contact metal finger formation through the use of orthogonal current extraction.
  • contacting dots which can be comprised of conductive adhesives such as, but not limited to, silver epoxy or of solder, or of deposited or printed next level metal.
  • the remainder of the area or most of the remainder around the contacting dots is covered by a printed dielectric adhesive or by a dielectric adhesive sheet, providing electrical isolation against the backplanes.
  • dielectric sheets can for instance consist of prepreg that is laminated to the thin film solar substrate (TFSS) and later has vias drilled into it in areas where contact between metal layer 1 and metal layer 2 is to be established.
  • first and second layer metal lines are typically orthogonal to each other, some modifications may be utilized.
  • a bus bar is to be implemented on the cell as part of the second layer metal, in a normal completely orthogonal arrangement the area under the bus bar would suffer from substantial electrical shading, as in the region of the respective bus bar via drilling to contact the opposing first metal layer line is precluded by the presence of the bus bar and opposing carriers would not get collected or would have to travel far within the active absorber area (e.g. silicon) to be collected by the closest finger of their respective second layer metal.
  • active absorber area e.g. silicon
  • first metal layer lines that connect either directly to the bus bar (the metal line having the same polarity as the bus bar) or for the other polarity to the closest fingers of the second metal layer.
  • electrical shading is reduced greatly and only the series resistance of the first metal layer contributes to additional losses compared to the situation in the bulk of the cell where the first metal layer lines and second metal layer lines are arranged orthogonally and in alternating polarity, respectively.
  • TFSS thin film solar cell
  • dielectric layer or layers on top of the thin film solar substrate that are deposited or grown on the thin film, for example while the thin film is on the template.
  • zones of emitters and bases (emitter and base regions) and base contacts of the thin film substrate are zones of emitters and bases (emitter and base regions) and base contacts of the thin film substrate.
  • One of the functions of such layers is to provide dielectric isolation between terminals and of metal lines from active areas of the thin film solar substrate, and secondly to be used as dopant sources for forming emitter and/or base contacts.
  • Methods and embodiments providing the dielectric layers include grown or deposited dielectric layers such as undoped or doped glasses with optional subsequent dopant drive-ins, thermal anneals, and/or thermal oxidations.
  • the contact opening of at least one of the zones of emitter and/or base (emitter and base regions) using suitable patterning methods, such as laser ablation, etch paste, lithography, and etch is employed to provide local access to the doped zones with suitable contact areas.
  • Contact areas need to be optimized with the parameters of best contact and shunt resistance, as well as with providing a minimized area with high recombination rate for carriers.
  • contact opening may be performed later in the cell process flow, but generally is performed prior to forming first layer metallization.
  • first metallization layer Metal contacts (herein also referred to as the first metallization layer or first electrically conductive interconnect layer) are deposited on the TFSS to at least one or both of the emitter and base areas.
  • the first metallization layer (or layers) may be patterned as metal fingers, such as interdigitated metal electrodes, on the TFSS (while attached to the template if template processing is used to form the substrate) which may deposited using PVD or other methods such as printing of patterned metal layer or layers.
  • the base and emitter metal contact layers forming the first metallization layer are suitably isolated from each other and can be patterned using laser ablation, printing, lithography and etching, etching pastes, or other methods.
  • a function of the first metallization layer is to provide contact to at least one of emitter and base areas of the cell and to route current from the cell terminals (emitter and base) to the next backplane layer/level; and second to provide surfaces that can give low contact resistance, such as aluminum which gives low contact resistance to both p- and highly doped n-type material in silicon whereas optional materials on top of aluminum may provide good contact resistance to the next layer/level.
  • the first metallization layer may provide a surface that can later be plated, such as a Sn or Ni or NiV or Ta coated surface, if the next level of metal is applied using plating.
  • the first metallization layer may provide a good stopping layer in the case that a dielectric layer deposited, such as by lamination, on top of the first metallization layer is to be drilled, using a laser drilling for example.
  • Example methods of depositing a first metallization layer are PVD, evaporation, screen printing, ink jet printing, and aerosol jet printing.
  • Example materials and embodiments are PVD layers or stacks such as Al itself or AlSil , Al with Ni or NiV, and optionally Sn or SnAg, Al with Ta or Pd or Ag.
  • Thick Al or AlSil such as layer greater than 0.5 micron thick, may serve as particularly suitable reflectors in the far infrared and thus act as stopping layers for C02 laser based drilling of subsequent via holes in further cell processing.
  • Other examples are PVD stacks with additional locally printed pads for better contacting with the next layer, to provide better margins to stop laser drilling, and provide mechanical locks to prevent aligned pre-drilled dielectric from shifting during lamination.
  • pads may consist of pastes containing Al or Ag such as conductive epoxy.
  • printed metal or metals may be used, such as printed Al or printed Al with small amounts of Si (AISi) or combinations thereof, optionally also with local caps of Ag for better contact and better reflectance for ensuing laser drilling process.
  • the metal may be printed in fingers, interrupted fingers, or dots that are aligned to subsequent metal vias.
  • Refractory metals such as Ti, Co or Ni that may be printed, for instance using ink jet or screen printing and which can locally form silicides when suitably heated, may also be used as first metallization layer or part of a first metallization layer.
  • silicides may be optionally used underneath other metals, for example underneath printed Al or AISi.
  • the next level dielectric layer (herein referred to as the second dielectric layer) acts as an adhesion layer for the TFSS and additional components of the backplane.
  • the second dielectric layer also serves as an isolating dielectric which enables the orthogonal arrangement between metal fingers on the TFSS (the first electrically conductive interconnect layer) and the large metal fingers on top of the dielectric or within the backplane (the second electrically conductive interconnect layer).
  • the second dielectric may also provide protection from chemical attack to the backside of the TFSS along with the first electrically conductive interconnect layer and first dielectric layer in processing embodiments where the second dielectric acts as the outermost layer of the structure at the time of wet processing, such as texturing and post-texture cleaning.
  • the second dielectric also serves to provide mechanical stability to the backplane reinforcement for the attached active absorber layer, comprised of the thin film silicon solar cell substrate.
  • Deposition methods for the second dielectric layer include, a pre-drilled dielectric sheet which is attached using a lamination process, a post-drilled sheet which is attached using a lamination process and is undrilled at the time of lamination and of subsequent wet processing and drilled after said wet processing steps, and a patterned dielectric adhesive which may be, for example, printed either onto the TFSS surface or on the backplane side of the TFSS -backplane structure.
  • Example materials for the second dielectrics layer include first dielectric sheets such as prepreg, EVA, Z68 PE sheet and others which are patterned via pre-lamination or post-lamination drilling (in the case of prepreg preferably using a laser such as for example a C02 laser).
  • Printed dielectric adhesives such as thermo-plastic or B-stageable materials, may also be used as a second dielectric.
  • Other example second dielectric layers include a sandwich structure of sheets of dielectrics, such as prepreg, EVA, Z68, or others, covered with a protective material such a Tedlar, Mylar, Teonex such as Q83 or other PEN or PET materials, where at least one of the layers is continuous to secure protection and at least one or all of the other layers are either continuous (in the case of post lamination drilling) or perforated in the case of pre-lamination drilling. The latter allowing for easy low contact resistance access to the underlying metal fingers.
  • Another example second dielectric layer includes a randomly or regularly but unaligned perforated sheet, such as in the case of the immersion contact bonding structure.
  • a protective sheet may not be necessary during the wet processing and, also, drilling of access via holes may then be performed even at any point prior to the wet processing.
  • the via hole (also referred to as contact openings) in the attached dielectric provides access between the underlying first level metal fingers on the TFSS (the first electrically conductive interconnect layer) and the next level metal on the backplane (the second electrically conductive interconnect layer.
  • Drilling the via holes after lamination or keeping the via holes covered with a protective sheet provides, as in the case of the Pluto structure described below, protection of the underlying metal on the TFSS during the texture, clean, and front surface passivation steps and thus enables immersion of the reinforced structure into wet chemical baths.
  • Via holes (contact openings) in the dielectric may be formed by drilling, preferably using a laser as described above, or in the case of a printed dielectric adhesive leaving areas unprinted where a via hole is desired.
  • the next level metal routes the current through the vias and either onto the next level of metal on the backplane or directly to cell-to-cell or to module connectors depending on the backplane structure and process embodiment.
  • Typical materials and embodiments of via filling materials are conductive epoxy or more generally conductive adhesives which may be either stencil or screen printed into the vias or applied prior to applying a pre-drilled dielectric sheet.
  • Typical materials also include solder or solder pastes, such as those containing Ag, Cu,Sn, Bi or mixes thereof, including SnBi mix which may be particularly advantageous due to its low solder apply temperature of approximately 140° C which is in the same range as or even lower than attractive backplane dielectric processing temperatures.
  • the next level metal deposited serves to provide large width metal fingers on top of the dielectric (herein referred to as the second electrically conductive interconnect layer or second metallization layer).
  • the second level metal directly is used to make contact to the underlying first level metal in the drilled vias.
  • Such large metal fingers may consist of plated metal, optionally with a prior blanket PVD seed which is then covered by a patterned and later removed dielectric print for emitter metal from base metal separation. The latter print is later removed and an etchback process may be carried out to remove the blanket seed metal.
  • the seed may also be printed or deposited using a shadow mask, such that it is pre-patterned.
  • a shadow mask such that it is pre-patterned.
  • the large metal fingers may also consist of preformed fingers made of for instance solderable aluminum, i.e. Al with a thin coat of Ni, NiV and optionally Sn.
  • solderable aluminum i.e. Al with a thin coat of Ni, NiV and optionally Sn.
  • finger lines may be interlocked or may be tiles which may also be optionally interlocked.
  • Another example for depositing the orthogonal fingers includes sprayed metal, such as the use of flame or thermal spraying.
  • a flexible printed foil which can locally be attached to the underlying vias by the solder or conductive adhesive points - such printed foils are not unlike those used for flex circuitry or flex connectors.
  • the metal fingers embodiments may optionally include a bus bar design. If not, then subsequent contacting through soldering or printing of conductive adhesive may connect the backplane and with it the cell to the module. It is to be noted that for some embodiments, the printing of conductive material into the holes is not required and that rather, after the optional clean-up of the drilled via holes, optionally together with a removal of native oxide on metals, the seed layer for the next level metal (the second electrically conductive interconnect layer) can be applied directly into the opened via holes.
  • Optional additional layers particularly as applied to the oasis and hybrid structures described herein, include:
  • the second layer metal is already on the backplane when the backplane reinforced TFSS undergoes chemical treatment such as texturing and post texture cleaning, it may be advisable to have a protective dielectric layer on top of the second level metal.
  • This layer' s function is to provide protection from the chemical, optionally to help control CTE mismatch and structure bow as well as to protect and provide areas for contacting of the cell for later testing and module interconnection. Such contact areas may be opened through this protective layer for instance after undergoing the wet processing step or steps, for instance by cutting or drilling through the sheet or layer with a laser.
  • Example material embodiments include the use of prepreg, EVA, Z68, Tedlar, Mylar PEN (e.g. Teonex Q83).
  • a sandwich of two or more layers can be used for this task, where at least one of the layers provides chemical protection of the backside and the edges from chemicals.
  • a backing layer may be added which serves to supply sufficient flatness and rigidity as required for most solar cell module embodiments or to provide a predetermined shape or curvature to the structure. The latter may be used
  • an additional top protective cover layer may be employed which prevents chemical attack of the backing layer and which can be perforated after the chemical exposure, for instance using mechanical cutting or laser cutting, in order to provide electrical contact access to the metal underneath the backing layer and thus enable contacting of the backplane reinforced cell to the multi-cell module.
  • Typical material embodiments for such protective layers are prepreg, Mylar, PEN, for instance Teonex's Q83. The attachment of these protective layers to the backplane reinforced cells may be performed either through an additional adhesive underneath or through adhesive which contacts through the perforations in the backing layer and around the edge of the backing layer.
  • the adhesives may be comprised of for instance prepreg, EVA or Z68.
  • the backing layer will tend to be slightly undersized to allow for edge wraparound of the underlying adhesive to the top protective cover layer.
  • connection can be made either through drilled holes through the glass or by wrapping the wide metal fingers around the edge of the glass and either onto the top of the glass where they are subsequently covered by a chemically resistant material, or by having the metal fingers protrude outside of the cell used directly for contacting to neighboring cells in a module.
  • a chemically resistant material or by having the metal fingers protrude outside of the cell used directly for contacting to neighboring cells in a module.
  • the latter may also requires the application of a chemically resistant protection layer during the wet chemical exposure of the cell.
  • this disclosure presents several possible embodiments using different types of support structures, materials and processes.
  • the present application provides several backplane and process flow embodiments, including: the Pluto structure, the Oasis structure, the Hybrid structure, and the immersion contact bond structure.
  • the backplane structural and processing elements disclosed may be used in any number of combinations and variations by one skilled in the art.
  • Figs. 63A through 63D are cross- sectional diagrams of a first embodiment, hereinafter referred to as pluto, during certain processing stages.
  • Fig. 63A shows a pluto structure after prepreg lamination, laser drilling, and PVD seed metal processing steps.
  • a pluto structure consists of the following elements: First, the thin film solar substrate (TFSS) which consists of the active absorber layer, patterned emitter and base regions as well as patterned first layer metal, in this figure represented as deposited using PVD and subsequently patterned.
  • TFSS thin film solar substrate
  • metal 1 fingers are lines that extend orthogonally to the metal 2 (plated Cu / Sn in the case of figures 3).
  • the frontside of the TFSS (also called the sunny side) is textured and passivated.
  • Pluto comprises a prepreg or other suitable adhesive dielectric backplane forming material which is laminated to the TFSS structure and cured, optionally in the same step as lamination.
  • the dielectric backplane material is selected to have good adhesion, good matching to the thermal coefficient of expansion of silicon which is chemically inert or optionally protected by a top cover sheet.
  • Thermal matching allows for the drilling of vias, for instance drilled using a C02 laser. Via drilling proceeds to the underlying metal 1 and needs to stop on top or just within the metal 1 layer.
  • the prepreg material may be comprised of one or more sheets of material with optionally different properties, such as incorporating woven or non-woven fibers (for instance glass, Kevlar, or other suitable materials as well as resin or different resins) all in optimized ratio to best match the coefficient of thermal expansion of the underlying silicon, or at the least, to reduce built-in bow and associated stress in the laminated and later released sandwich structure. It may be advantageous to balance thermal mismatch and adhesion to have an asymmetrically resin coated prepreg sheet or to laminate more than one prepreg sheet with different resin content or type.
  • woven or non-woven fibers for instance glass, Kevlar, or other suitable materials as well as resin or different resins
  • Figs. 63B, 63C, and 63D show a pluto structure in plating and Sn capping layer processing steps.
  • Fig. 63C and 63D illustrate examples where prior to lamination of the prepreg an additional adhesive is place, e.g. by screen printing, between the metal 1 structures to.
  • the adhesive applied prior to lamination in Fig. 63D covers the space between metal 1 lines and metal 1.
  • the adhesive applied prior to lamination may either be printed only in the space between the metal 1 lines (Fig. 63C) or at least partially above the metal 1 lines (Fig. 63D) which may provide several additional process options and benefits.
  • the adhesive may help alleviate the planarization requirements during the subsequent lamination by providing a more planar starting lamination surface.
  • the above mentioned vias are filled or contacted at least partially with a metallization such as a PVD or printed seed layer or conductive paste.
  • a metallization such as a PVD or printed seed layer or conductive paste.
  • Figs. 63B-D show plated copper as the example metallization both to fill the via holes as well as to provide the fingers that route the current to and from the via holes.
  • the metal fingers (metal 2) may be arranged in an essentially orthogonal way to the on-TFSS metal fingers (metal 1) of the first layer metal.
  • a multitude of similar structures may be envisioned with this scheme in mind, for instance structures that consist of more than one metal to form the contact to the on-TFSS metal fingers.
  • Common to the structures shown is a two-layer metal design where the outer, second layer metal (metal 2) is arranged essentially orthogonal to the inner, first layer metal (metal 1). Further, the dimensions of the second layer metal are much larger and easily manufactured.
  • a second group of structural embodiments, hereinafter referred to as oasis, is defined by the following two concepts.
  • Orthogonal finger design for orthogonal current extraction including: 1) interlocked fingers to provide structural integrity and keep the cell-backplane arrangement from bowing or warping, and 2) stress relief cuts in fingers; and Tile design for orthogonal current extraction including: 1) segmented fingers (tiles) to reduce the CTE mismatch related stress between the thin solar cells and the backplane material in the direction of the fingers, and 2) interlocked tiles to provide structural integrity and keep the cell-backplane arrangement from bowing or warping.
  • the second oasis characteristic is that at the time of the texture and passivation processes in the solar cell manufacturing process, at least one additional layer of metal next to the metal layer that makes the contact to the base and emitter in the semiconductor is already integrated into the backplane.
  • the oasis backplane is an integrated structure with two metal layers, metal 1 and metal 2.
  • Figs. 64A-F show various aspects of a four-layer backplane oasis structure (without a backbone) and manufacturing process flow embodiment.
  • Fig. 64A is a cross-sectional diagram of an oasis structure after release from a template with six total metal fingers (three base/emitter pairs).
  • the structure comprises the following elements: first, like a pluto structure, a TFSS which contains the patterned first layer metal fingers. Second, a dielectric adhesive, which is either applied in a patterned way using screen printing, or as a sheet such as a prepreg material which may be either pre-drilled or post-drilled prior to application to the TFSS. Third, an array of conductive contacts, which may be stencil or screen printed, made of materials such as conductive epoxy, such as silver epoxy.
  • the structure contains a conductive second layer of metal fingers.
  • the second layer of metal fingers material may be aluminum or solderable aluminum plate (SAP), for instance aluminum (Al) coated with a thin layer of Nickel (Ni), or Nickel Vanadium (NiV) and tin (Sn).
  • SAP solderable aluminum plate
  • Ni nickel
  • NiV Nickel Vanadium
  • Sn tin
  • the material being embedded into a further dielectric, for instance prepreg, EVA, Z68 or other compatible dielectric. This further dielectric is optionally pre-punctured to allow for contact access to the conductive second layer metal fingers.
  • An optional chemically resistant cover sheet for instance made of Mylar, Tedlar or other PEN or PET based materials such as Teonex, specifically Teonex Q83, may be applied to the top of the structure.
  • Teonex specifically Teonex Q83
  • the four layers of the backplane are 1) the dielectric / conductive adhesive, 2) the SAPlate fingers, 3) the next layer adhesive, and 4) the top cover sheet.
  • An important structural differentiation may be drawn between a single backplane lamination process where all components are laid up together and laminated at the same time, and a process where the second layer metal is laminated into a flat backplane and is embedded into the surrounding dielectric prior to a second lamination to the TFSS which, at that point, may be supported by the template by means of a release layer of suitable strength.
  • the a backplane may be manufactured, stored and staged separately from the TFSS with potential benefits to cost and logistics.
  • either one or both the dielectric adhesives that provide adhesion between the TFSS and the backplane and the conductive material that is used for the contact between the on-TFSS metal fingers and the large metal fingers that are part of the backplane may be applied either to the backplane side or to the TFSS side prior to lamination.
  • Fig. 64B is show a top view of the top cover sheet, e.g. 25um plastic or prepreg material, of a backplane structure with end-of-the-line access holes formed near the backplane periphery.
  • the access holes are laser (or mechanically) drilled into the thin backsheet to expose the solderable Al landing pads through the already pre-drilled EVA encapsulant sheet.
  • the access holes may have a diameter of around 5 to 15 mm and are filled with Pb-free solder for stringer contacts, as well as module lamination and assembly.
  • one large-diameter access hole per orthogonal finger may be used (as shown six access holes for six underlying orthogonal fingers).
  • FIG. 64C is show a top view of a backplane structure showing configuration of external access holes for external module stringer contact. Note no internal or external cell busbars are required.
  • Fig. 64D is a process flow highlighting the major oasis backplane fabrication steps.
  • Fig. 64E and 64F show a structural process flow for an oasis backplane embodiment. Structure 1 of Fig.
  • 64E shows a three layer stack, from top to bottom: 1) a thin (25um) cover sheet, made from, for example, a transparent plastic or prepreg, 2) a thin (200um) EVA or prepreg encapsulant pre-drilled with large access holes, made from, for example, an uncured EVA or prepreg), and 3) thin (200um) solderable Al fingers prefabricated using laser scribe and KOH etching or stamping.
  • a thin (25um) cover sheet made from, for example, a transparent plastic or prepreg
  • a thin (200um) EVA or prepreg encapsulant pre-drilled with large access holes made from, for example, an uncured EVA or prepreg
  • 3) thin (200um) solderable Al fingers prefabricated using laser scribe and KOH etching or stamping.
  • the three layer stack is aligned to form a stack of: 1) the thin plastic cover sheet, 2) the pre-drilled EVA or prepreg, and 3) the orthogonal interlocking SAPlate Al fingers.
  • Fig. 64E shows the stack after open-faced lamination to cop-planarize and fill gaps between Al fingers and to prepare the planar backplane backbone structure.
  • Structure 4 of Fig. 64F shows the structure after formation of field dielectric (such as a thermoplastic dielectric adhesive) by screen printing or a laser-predrilled dielectric sheet (e.g. prepreg or Z68).
  • Structure 5 of Fig. 64F shows the structure after formation of conductive adhesive (CA) pillars, which may be b-stageable, by screen printing.
  • SA conductive adhesive
  • Structure 6 of Fig. 64F shows the structure after attaching/laminating to cell, release, and back-end processing (also forming edge seal).
  • Structure 7 of Fig. 64F shows the structure after final laser drilling of the top thin plastic cover sheet to form the electrical contact access holes, and after applying solder bumps to access holes for test and sort.
  • Figs. 65A-D are top views of various embodiments illustrating potential shapes of the large metal fingers that are part of the backplane.
  • Fig. 65A shows an interlocked pattern with six fingers
  • Fig. 65B shows a spring segmented balanced pattern (parallelogram) with six fingers
  • Fig. 65C shows a physically segmented balanced pattern with six fingers
  • Fig. 65D shows an interlinked contact pattern.
  • the fingers are in general arranged orthogonally to the on-cell first layer metal fingers. Because of the orthogonal transfer, the dimensions of second metal layer fingers may be relatively large without compromising ohmic losses due to series resistance through the metal routings. Typically, these metal fingers may be in the range from about 100 to several hundred microns thick.
  • the main material that the backplane is to be laminated to is crystalline silicon, which has preferential mechanically weak directions along its crystal planes that act as preferential cleaving directions. Thus it may be advisable for securing the strength of the overall structure to have interleaved fingers or tiles in order to not provide preferred cleaving directions. If fingers are used (as shown Figs. 65A and 65B), the addition of slits into the fingers can serve to provide a spring action which reduces CTE mismatch related stress along the direction of the large metal fingers. If tiles are used (as shown Fig.
  • each column of tiles has the same polarity (emitter and base, respectively) and each tile needs to be connected later, which may require, for example, a pre-puncturing of the covering embedding dielectric sheet or alternatively opening contact holes after the cell is finished.
  • These contact holes may be filled with a contact material such as conductive epoxy or solder and contacted to stringers as part of the module assembly fabrication.
  • a contact material such as conductive epoxy or solder and contacted to stringers as part of the module assembly fabrication.
  • Numerous other large metal finger geometries are conceivable, for example the design depicted in Fig. 65D.
  • the structure and geometry of Figs 64B and 64C show embodiments for the contacting of the cells to each other and to the module.
  • Fig. 66 is a top view of the cell backside illustrating an orthogonal oasis design.
  • the aluminum finger emitter and base contacts are arranged orthogonally and contacted to the underlying on-cell first layer metal fingers the on-cell first layer metal fingers.
  • Fig. 67 are cross-sectional diagrams of an oasis structure (with backbone) embodiment, herein referred to as a five or six layer oasis structure.
  • the structure shown in Fig. 67 contains an additional plate or plates to give the structure more rigidity, flatness and mechanical support.
  • the upport plate is pre- punctured to provide electrical contact access holes and is attached either by a dielectric adhesive sheet of its own (adding a layer and making the Oasis structure a six layer structure) or by reflowing the underlying dielectric sheet sufficiently through the pre-punctured holes and around the edges of the device for suitable adhesion and edge sealing (a five layer Oasis structure).
  • the support plate should be a low cost material such as, for example, aluminum, steel, a suitable polymer, glass or a ceramic.
  • Additional adhesive sheets may be comprised of the same materials as above including, prepreg, EVA and Z68, and related materials.
  • the controlled reflow of the adhesive material to secure adhesion to the top cover sheet may be enabled by a suitably preformed fixture that is applied during the lamination process and which prevents adhesive material from closing up desired contact holes while at the same time enabling reflow of adhesive material embedded underneath the backbone layer to flow out and contact the top cover sheet layer.
  • a hybrid structure An embodiment of a third group of structural embodiments, hereinafter referred to as a hybrid structure, are depicted in the top and side views of Figs. 68A and 68B- C, respectively.
  • Fig. 68B is a cross-sectional view of a hybrid structure showing emitter contacts
  • Fig. 68C is a cross-sectional view of a hybrid structure showing base contacts.
  • Pluto and oasis structures have substantial similarity and a multitude of intermediate /combination structures may be derived from the pluto and oasis concepts - Figs. 68A-C illustrate one such example.
  • the disclosed hybrid structure also has pluto characteristic elements in that it contains a large metal finger array; however, this large metal finger array is applied at a point after the texture and passivation process and thus is not integrated into the backplane structure prior to attachment to the TFSS as is characteristic of oasis structures.
  • the hybrid structure of Figs. 68A-C comprises the following elements: a TFSS with the patterned first layer metal; a dielectric which may be either patterned during deposition using screen printing or using a post- or pre-lamination drilled prepreg material; a metal layer or layers that serve to route the metal from the on-cell first layer metal which is accessible through the via onto the top of the dielectric or directly to an array of large metal fingers; large metal fingers which are arranged orthogonally to the first layer metal on the TFSS and which are embedded in a dielectric, such as prepreg, EVA or Z68 with an optional backing plate (for example made of glass, polymer, ceramic or metal), and; a contact area for cell to cell and cell to module contacting which is located either on the side which may be formed by having the metal grid extend outwards and oversized compared to the cell or formed by contacting through the dielectric the large metal fingers are embedded in.
  • the contact may also be formed by wrapping the large metal fingers around the embedding and optional support plate material and
  • FIG. 69 is a cross sectional diagram of a immersion contact bonding structure and method using an Al oasis backplane showing the structure before and after bonding.
  • Fig. 70 is a cross sectional diagram of an immersion contact bonding structure and method using a monolithic module array (MM A) type backplane showing the structure before and after bonding.
  • MM A monolithic module array
  • Previously presented pluto, oasis and pluto-oasis hybrid structures have a dielectric adhesive - screen printed material or laminated prepreg sheet - that separates the first layer metal on the cell from the next layer metal and is patterned in an aligned way, such as to allow for open via holes that the contact to the next layer metal may be made through.
  • the dielectric adhesive is not patterned in an aligned way with respect to the contact points between first layer metal and the metal that is part of the backplane.
  • the contact is made by an aligned, patterned array of printed conductive bumps, such as solder or conductive epoxy, which is placed in the desired contact spots and which in the process of lamination is pushed through the dielectric lamination sheet.
  • the dielectric lamination sheet made of, for example, a material that sufficiently softens during lamination such as EVA or DNP's Z68. These materials are optionally produced as perforated sheets to provide a sufficient percentage of open area for the conductive bumps to make low resistance contact between the different metal layers.
  • the immersion contact bonding structure comprises: a TFSS with the patterned first layer metal; an aligned array of conducting bumps; a dielectric sheet, for instance consisting of EVA or Z68, that is either perforated in a regular or random fashion or that may be perforated as part of the bonding process; in an oasis implementation, as depicted in Fig. 69, an oasis- styled prelaminated backplane with embedded large metal fingers, and; in an direct implementation into an MMA style backplane, , as depicted in Fig. 70, a protective cover that is connected to the TFSS via the dielectric adhesive sheet (made of, for example, PEN or another suitably resistant material).
  • the dielectric adhesive sheet made of, for example, PEN or another suitably resistant material.
  • Fig. 71 is a process flow embodiment for a back contact solar cell with assembly and manufacturing of the backplane reinforcement.
  • Fig. 73A-J illustrate front end processing such flows.
  • the front end of the process may begin with a wet clean of the re-used or fresh template, followed by the formation of the release layer, for example a bilayer of porous silicon with low porosity on top of high porosity.
  • the active absorber cell area is deposited, for example using epitaxial deposition of silicon using trichlorosilane (TCS) gas and a dopant, for example phosphine (PH3) to generate an n-type base, in hydrogen.
  • TCS trichlorosilane
  • PH3 phosphine
  • such a deposition may be arranged to have more than one distinct doping concentration region as a function of depth.
  • layers of doped glass are deposited, for example using atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition (APCVD), followed by patterning processes using a picoseconds laser.
  • APCVD atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition
  • the first glass layer contains a lighter amount of emitter dopant (boron in boroslicate glass - BSG), optionally capped with a layer of undoped silicate glass (USG), in order to form a less heavily doped emitter, followed by ablation of the borosilicate glass in areas where a more heavily doped emitter is to be generated which in turn serves to provide a low resistance contact to the emitter metal 1.
  • a more heavily doped BSG layer (BSG2) is deposited in the region of the metal 1 contact to the emitter, optionally with a USG cap layer. Then the area for the base contact is ablated, preferably using a picosecond laser.
  • the phosphosilicate glass (PSG) layer is deposited which serves as the dopant source for phosphorus which in turn is to generate the heavily N+-type doped base contact region to form a low resistance contact to the base.
  • the profile is thermally annealed, thereby driving in the junctions.
  • the annealing ambient may be chosen between a neutral and an oxidizing ambient, the latter to serve to form a high quality interface at the backside to enable low back surface recombination velocity.
  • metal 1 may be for example a printed layer or sequence of printed layers, for example consisting of aluminum (Al) or AISi to form a low resistance contact of metal 1 to the junctions while avoiding spiking through the junctions.
  • the printed metal layer or layers may optionally be thermally annealed prior to the next steps.
  • the front end of the device may be considered completed, and backplane related steps may begin.
  • the next steps may comprise either single step lamination or backplane preparation, followed by lamination to thin film solar substrate on template.
  • lamination is preferably carried out in a vacuum and at elevated temperatures to cure the laminate.
  • a pressure is applied to secure uniform and reliable adhesion. Pressure can be variable throughout the thermal and vacuum cycle that the structure undergoes.
  • Various embodiments with respect to the lamination process and tool are possible, including stacking multiple templates with laminates, separated by release sheet and pressure distributing buffer layers or having multiple templates laminated side by side in a large tray arrangement.
  • Such large tray arrangements may themselves be stacked into commercial laminators with multiple slots (daylights) which are all heated, typically from above and below or from one side only. Hydraulic press elements may be used to apply the pressure.
  • Sufficiently chosen thick sheets of cellulose or rubber or other suitably compliant sheets may be used to overcome pressure differentials due to local stack height variations or due to different template heights, which respectively may be caused by templates of differing age or re-use count being laminated at the same time. It is to be noted that prior to lamination of the backplane material (e.g. prepreg) it may be advantageous to apply an additional adhesive, as described earlier in the same disclosure.
  • the next steps involve post-lamination release of thin film solar substrate (TFSS), laminated to backplane, from the template. Either prior to the lamination or prior to the release of the TFSS it may be advised to outline the shape of the TFSS with a laser cut either through the epitaxial film outside of the backplane or through backplane and the epitaxial fillm. Care is to be taken to minimize template damage from cutting past the epitaxial layer and into the template.
  • Laser based technology called thermal laser separation may be used in this cutting process in which a heating laser beam is immediately followed and traced by a cooling spot, provided by a jet of cold liquid or mist such as water or a cold gas such as helium for example. By doing so, a cleave may be initiated through the silicon which in turn terminates at the interface between the TFSS and the template, in the region of the release layer.
  • edge preparation steps including trimming (cutting) the edges, and optionally decoupling the fragile thin film from the edge of the reinforced thin substrate.
  • the outer edges of the device may be cut to size by mechanical trimming, such as shearing or stamping, or by laser trimming.
  • the corners of the device may be chosen to be cut using a chamfer or otherwise suitable shape to dull the corners and make them less prone to handling damage throughout subsequent process steps.
  • Texturing may be preceded by one or more surface preparation steps, for instance by a mechanical roughening step, such as grit blasting, to aide in the later formation of proper pyramids, or by surface treatment such as organic residue removal or forming a thin chemical oxide to aide texturing.
  • a mechanical roughening step such as grit blasting
  • surface treatment such as organic residue removal or forming a thin chemical oxide to aide texturing.
  • Example viable passivation layers for low temperature being amorphous silicon (a-Si) or silicon oxide or sub-stoichiometric silicon oxide, silicon oxy-nitride or silicon nitride.
  • the passivation layer such as a chemical oxide or oxynitride may be deposited in a wet process tank.
  • next step are anti-reflective coating steps using materials such as silicon nitride, A1203, or other suitable dielectric, preferably with very low absorption in the wavelength range capable of generating carriers in silicon and with suitable built-in charge to repel the respective minority carriers.
  • materials such as silicon nitride, A1203, or other suitable dielectric, preferably with very low absorption in the wavelength range capable of generating carriers in silicon and with suitable built-in charge to repel the respective minority carriers.
  • forming gas or other thermal anneal may be used to improve the front surface passivation.
  • a laser anneal from the front to improve the front surface passivation and also optionally bulk quality and back surface passivation depending on the laser processing parameters and penetration depth of the chosen laser wavelength or wavelengths.
  • the next step consists of opening contacts to the next buried layer of the cell terminals.
  • the next buried layer may be, for example: the patterned metal layer on the cell that was deposited onto the cell and prior to lamination; contact pads that were deposited on said patterned metal layer only in areas where contact access is needed, or; a buried next level routing of metal, optionally essentially orthogonally arranged with respect to the original metal connectors.
  • This contacting process may be performed using laser or mechanical hole or slit drilling into the protective / dielectric layer.
  • the surface is protected by a sheet or material that prevents plating or contamination of the front side during the later plating process
  • the underlying metal is contacted through the contact opening by one of several optional means, for example: an optional surface preparation step to promote adhesion and /or platability of a seed metal; deposition of a seed metal by PVD, plating, printing including screen printing, ink jetting, aerosol jetting, stencil printing, or spraying such as flame or thermal spraying; in the case of a non-patterned deposition, a patterning step, such as printed resist, or; plating in non-resist covered areas, followed by resist removal and seed layer etchback (all of which are processes common in plating technology)
  • Typical metallization materials include, for example, a starting layer of nickel, followed by copper and ending with tin or other solderable capping layer, and printed layers may contain suitable metals, including silver and alloys, nickel, copper, aluminum and tin.
  • PVD seed layer choices include but are not limited to Sn, Ni, NiV, Al, Pd, Ta, Cu, Ag or alloys.
  • the stringer ribbons may be for instance straight or dog-bone shaped and may optionally contain black or blackened areas, for instance in areas visible to the module customer, in order to retain an all-black appearance as well as to optionally serve as electrical isolation where needed.
  • a final encapsulation is performed, for example, using common solar backside encapsulants.
  • pluto reinforcement structure does not contain any other metal structure except for on- cell metal emitter and base contact fingers, henceforth called first layer metal, whereas the oasis structure contains at least part of a second layer metallization.
  • the on-cell metal may be deposited using either a blanket deposition technique such as physical vapor deposition (PVD) or evaporation (e.g. via electron beam or thermal evaporation) with subsequent patterning using for instance laser ablation or direct patterned deposition of the metal or metal precursors using screen printing, typically with a subsequent thermal step for baking, sintering or drive-in.
  • PVD physical vapor deposition
  • evaporation e.g. via electron beam or thermal evaporation
  • subsequent patterning using for instance laser ablation or direct patterned deposition of the metal or metal precursors using screen printing, typically with a subsequent thermal step for baking, sintering or drive-in.
  • PVD physical vapor deposition
  • evaporation e.g. via electron beam or thermal evaporation
  • Such blanket films may be deposited over the whole epitaxial cell structure on the template or a shadow mask can be implemented during the deposition to avoid deposition where not desired, for instance at the very edge of the template or outside of the active structure. Shadow masking may also be used to define the active or metal contacted area.
  • FIG. 72A and 72B A schematic representation of examples for different embodiments of process flows of the pluto and oasis structures as well as pluto and oasis hybrid structures are depicted in Fig. 72A and 72B.
  • Fig. 72A are process flows relating to pluto structures and pluto hybrids. The table below defines the abbreviations used in the process flows depicted in Fig. 72A.
  • Fig. 72B Figs. 73A-J show a cross-section of a cell during major fabrication steps of a process flow of a pluto structure embodiment for manufacturing a back contact solar cell.
  • Figs. 73A-E show a flow based on having a physical separation between the base and emitter contact areas through the use of an undoped layer and subsequent patterning.
  • Fig. 73A shows the cell after the BSG deposition and emitter opening steps.
  • Fig. 73B shows the cell after the base window opening steps.
  • Fig. 73C shows the cell after the PSG base deposition, annealing, and opening steps.
  • Fig. 73D shows the cell after the laser contact opening steps.
  • Fig. 73E shows the cell after the metal deposition and laser isolation steps.
  • Figs. 73F-J show a flow enabling selective emitter formation by having the emitter area more lightly doped everywhere except in the regions where an emitter to metal 1 contact is to be formed, the latter benefitting from higher doping for lower contact resistance.
  • Fig. 73F shows the cell after the lighter doped emitter precursor deposition (BSG1) and heavily doped emitter region opening steps.
  • Fig. 73G shows the cell after the heavily doped emitter precursor deposition (BSG2) and base contact opening steps.
  • Fig. 73F shows the cell after the metal deposition and laser isolation steps.
  • Fig. 73H shows the cell after the PSG (+USG) deposition and dopant drive-in to form junctions steps.
  • Fig. 731 shows the cell after the laser contact opening steps.
  • Fig. 73H shows the cell after the PSG (+USG) deposition and dopant drive-in to form junctions steps.
  • Fig. 73J shows the cell after the metal 1 deposition, for example printed or
  • Figs. 74A-D show a top view (Fig. 74A) and cross-sections of a cell during major fabrication steps of a process flow of an oasis structure embodiment for manufacturing a back contact solar cell.
  • Fig. 74A is a top view of an oasis structure cell.
  • Fig. 74B shows the cell after base contact formation steps.
  • Fig. 74C is a top view of an oasis structure cell after backplane lamination steps.
  • Fig. 74B shows the final oasis cell, with backbone.
  • an epitaxial cell structure which is supported by the template has the contacts opened to the semiconductor areas of emitter and base.
  • the contact to the base may have a highly doped contact area for low contact resistance, while the emitter is optionally a selective emitter with a highly doped area around the contact to the primary metal.
  • These contacts may be opened using various techniques, as shown in the example embodiment of Fig. 73, the contacts are opened using laser ablation of the dielectric above. The contacts are best formed in an alternating line array of emitter and base contacts.
  • the first layer metal is formed.
  • This layer is referred to herein as the first layer metal even if it consists of several metals or several structures within.
  • the first metal structure is preferably aluminum or aluminum with a small amount of silicon to reduce spiking to ensure an ohmic contact to both p-type and n-type regions.
  • PVD is used to deposit the material, then the choice is typically that of a single material such as aluminum since the deposition is commonly performed for the whole cell area and structured later.
  • the blanket deposited material is later patterned.
  • the metal is structured using laser ablation. Several options of laser ablations are possible, such as using picosecond laser ablation.
  • the metal is preferably patterned such that alternating lines of emitter and base contact metal is formed, on top of the alternating lines of emitter and base contact openings.
  • a printing process is used for the first metal, such as screen printing or aerosol printing with - depending on the material - subsequent thermal processing, then aluminum or aluminum with a small amount of silicon to reduce spiking for both contacts may be used or aluminum for the p-type region contact and another metal, such as silver or others for the n-type region contact.
  • the material of choice will also depend on its performance as a mirror. Good mirror performance (specular or Lambertian) can improve the overall light to electricity conversion, especially for the longer wavelengths which is important for cells using thin silicon.
  • silicide forming refractory metals may be used as first metal layers as well for low resistance contacts; however, their mirror quality may not be adequate and the process is more complex.
  • Both PVD and printing processes for metal allow optionally for the deposition of stacked metal layers.
  • aluminum deposition may be followed by an adhesion improving nickel vanadium (NiV) or nickel (Ni) layer, Ni often preferred because of the lower stress.
  • NiV nickel vanadium
  • Ni nickel
  • Sn tin
  • An alternative to this stack is Al, followed by tantalum (Ta).
  • Other layer combinations are also possible.
  • Al alone may be used as the first layer metal.
  • aluminum needs special surface treatment, such as zincation or double zincation.
  • the metal or metal stack needs to be chosen with several properties in mind, namely it needs to provide good adhesion, firstly to the underlying oxide or glass layer on the epi, secondly between the metals of a stack, and thirdly between the top metal on the stack and the backplane or, to be precise, to the adhesive component of the backplane.
  • the glass layer near the top also serves as a dopant source, for instance phosphorus silicate glass (PSG) as the n-type dopant source for the base contact
  • PSG phosphorus silicate glass
  • Optional treatments of the metal during and after deposition can serve to improve subsequent adhesion. Such treatments include thermal annealing, laser annealing, surface roughening and others. For deposited materials, aluminum tends to provide good adhesion also to backplane materials presented here.
  • Printed metals normally require one or more thermal steps, for baking out solvents and optional sintering and/or drive-in steps. If more than one metal is printed, it is conceivable to do one thermal step for all or to have one or more thermal steps in between printing of metals.
  • Printing of metals also allows for selective thickening of metal in areas where beneficial, such as in areas that serve as contact areas to the next layer metal at a later point in time.
  • One method for selective thickening when using screen printed metal is to do more than one print while using different screen structures.
  • the surface of the deposited metal or metal stack is optimized to allow for a large process window for the metal ablation which is employed in conjunction with a PVD based process.
  • C02 lasers may, for example, be used and aluminum, copper, silver and several other metals tend to provide good reflectance in the long infrared wavelength range of the C02 lasers.
  • the epitaxial layer Prior to lamination, which is the next main process step after the first layer metal and its patterning and treatment, it may be advisable to provide the epitaxial layer with an oversized cut while it is on the template, so as to provide a known breakage location during the release of the backplane reinforced epitaxial cell structure.
  • the material chosen as the backplane material to be laminated to the thin film epitaxial solar cell structure (TFSS) which contains the patterned first layer metal is chosen with several important properties in mind, some of which are presented as follows: first the material has to be suitably matched with respect to its coefficient of thermal expansion with respect to silicon. Secondly the material has to either by itself, or with the help of a blanket or patterned adhesive layer, exhibit good adhesion to the TFSS and provide this adhesion throughout the temperature, pressure and humidity ranges that are required for the manufacturing of the backplane reinforced TFSS into a finished solar cell and that are required of solar cells in modules throughout their useful lifespan.
  • TFSS thin film epitaxial solar cell structure
  • the backplane reinforced TFSS needs to be able to withstand the chemistry, the gas environment and all handling steps throughout the manufacturing into a solar cell and into a module.
  • the material needs to be cost-competitive, non-toxic and readily available.
  • Such sheets are laminated to the TFSS while it is on the template.
  • the reinforcement can consist of a single sheet or more than one sheet, where different pretreatments or different fibers, fiber content percentage and resin type and content percentage are all employed to optimize adhesion as well as CTE mismatch.
  • This adhesive may be thermally or UV curable and may cover either the whole area (as shown in Fig. 63D) and thus needs to be drilled through in the later via hole opening step or else is printed with openings where the via holes are to be drilled, or it can cover only the area between metal 1 lines (as shown in Fig. 63C).
  • backplane reinforcement materials options include materials similar to those used in solar module encapsulation, such as EVA or Z68. In examples below, whenever prepreg material treatment is mentioned explicitly, this should be understood to cover the use of other suitable backplane materials as well.
  • the materials chosen can include, depending on process flow and material formulation, the option of having very compliant or flexible cell structures, as well as enabling non-flat cell surfaces which enable further architectural solutions for applications such as non-flat solar modules.
  • the prepreg area in contact with the TFSS may be covered at the time of lamination using a protective sheet which suppresses moisture or chemical uptake of the prepreg sheet during subsequent processing of the backplane reinforced TFSS such as texture and post- texture clean, as well as plating and plating surface preparation.
  • a protective sheet which suppresses moisture or chemical uptake of the prepreg sheet during subsequent processing of the backplane reinforced TFSS such as texture and post- texture clean, as well as plating and plating surface preparation.
  • cover sheets are mylar or other PEN based materials which are chemically resistant.
  • Typical parameters to govern the lamination process itself are the use, extent and timing of pressure, temperature, temperature differential and ramping rates, resin and fiber type and content percentage, an optional pre-tacking or pre-treatment of the prepreg lamination sheet or sheets, the process time and time at temperature, the application and level of vacuum. Full curing of the prepreg through the lamination or at least prior to exposing it to water and wet chemistry may be advantageous.
  • the laminated TFSS on template is unloaded from the lamination tool and subsequently released from the template whether mechanically or other means such as etch.
  • the top side of the backside reinforced TFSS and the template are chucked and separated, either by the use of direct pulling, by peeling or by a pulsated pulling force, such as the force generated by the pulsated application of a vacuum on one or both sides of the structure.
  • the release may be optionally be assisted by the use of sonic or ultrasonic mechanical force, such as that administered by a piezo actuator that is coupled to the plates that are used to chuck the topside of the reinforced TFSS and / or the template. Also, immediately prior to the release a laser cutting step can be employed around the TFSS area to provide a preferred boundary within or along which the release takes place.
  • the edges of the backplane reinforced TFSS are trimmed to a size suitable for further processing or even to the final size.
  • the trimming process may be carried out by the use of either a mechanical trim by cutting, shearing or sawing or by the use of one or more lasers, such as a C02 laser or a pulsed YAG laser or similar, or by a combination of mechanical trimming and laser trimming.
  • an optional thermal and pressure treatment of the released backplane reinforced TFSS may help provide optimized flatness of the layer which is advantageous for subsequent processes.
  • the backplane reinforced TFSS contains remnants of the release layer including the reflowed top of the release layer. This layer is highly defective and also acts as a gettering site. It is either removed in the following texture step or with a separate step prior to the texturing. Post texture cleaning is employed to remove metallic and optionally organic residue prior to passivation. There are several options for passivation and anti reflection coating that are compatible with the temperature range of the backplane materials and typically these steps can be restricted to temperatures below 200-250° C.
  • the initial passivation layer in contact with the textured surface may be an oxide, such as a silicon dioxide or a silicon-sub-oxide, i.e.
  • the initial passivation layer can also be an oxynitride, for instance deposited via CVD or an amorphous silicon (a-Si) layer, which is intrinsic or optionally doped.
  • a-Si amorphous silicon
  • This layer is for instance deposited using CVD or PVD.
  • the anti-reflection coating may be performed using silicon nitride, even though aluminum oxide is also an option, especially for p-type base cells. This layer is for instance deposited using CVD.
  • an anneal can be employed, in order to reduce front surface recombination velocity (FSRV) and also back surface recombination velocity (BSRV).
  • FSRV front surface recombination velocity
  • BSRV back surface recombination velocity
  • Such annealing is to be controlled in such a way that it is compatible with the thermal budget range that the device, especially the backplane allows.
  • Suitable processes for such anneals include forming gas anneals or anneals in air or in an inert ambient as well as laser anneals that are tuned suitably to deposit their energy close enough to the surface and/or for short enough times so as to not exceed the allowable thermal budget of the backplane materials.
  • An example for laser annealing processes for this application is pulsed laser anneals in the visible or near infrared wavelength range.
  • Such layers can be either thermoset or thermoplastic materials such as EVA or PE based materials such as a Z68 or z68 like material. The latter can later be reflowed and used for attachment of the cell to glass in the module assembly part of the process.
  • an optional step may be inserted to prepare the backside surface for good adhesion.
  • Such a step may comprised mechanical roughening of the surface with processes such as grit blasting or sanding.
  • the next set of process steps serves to establish contact to the first metal layer which is so far protected underneath the backplane material.
  • This contact opening can be accomplished by laser based via drilling.
  • An example laser employed for this process is a C02 laser, although other lasers such as pulsed UV, visible or IR YAG lasers may be employed as well to ablate the backplane material. Holes can be drilled by direct pulsing at the same spot, using single or repeated pulses or by trepanning the area with multiple pulses, depending among others on the via hole size desired and the laser pulse energy available.
  • the underlying metal should be very reflective to the laser beam, such as for example aluminum and silver are very reflective at C02 laser
  • a dye in the material to be drilled e.g. the prepreg.
  • This dye is to serve to increase the drilling speed in the backplane (e.g. prepreg) and thereby increase the selectivity to the underlying metal.
  • the dye may also have a visual function of providing cells with darker sidewalls for an overall dark appearance of the cells in the module.
  • the laser drilling process may also be combined with other processes, such as plasma etching of residue in the opened via hole, or organic cleanups of the via holes using for instance hydrogen peroxide, or changing between different types of lasers or parameter settings of lasers between onset and finish of the via drilling process.
  • a potential plasma etching may be implemented immediately prior to the next level metal deposition, especially if this deposition occurs in vacuum such as when using PVD.
  • the use of molecule radicals is also envisioned for a cleanup process immediately prior to next level metal deposition.
  • the via holes need to be aligned to the underlying structures on the TFSS, especially to the patterned metal fingers from the first layer metal. If an additional metallic contact is printed on top of the first layer metal underneath the via, in order to increase the laser process window or to promote good adhesion and electrical contact to the next layer, then the via holes also have to be aligned to this layer.
  • the alignment targets may be laid down, or else the structure itself, especially where it breaks the symmetry, such as the edges of the active area, may be employed to provide alignment without using up active area for alignment targets.
  • the reinforcement material in general may not be transparent, the alignment to the targets on the TFSS for the via hole drilling process may be accomplished in several ways: First by having window cutouts in the reinforcement backplane material prior to lamination. These windows need to contain some resin that reflows into the windows during lamination and that is transparent enough to allow for visual recognition of the alignment targets. Or second, the alignment targets can be viewed using a camera with suitable sensitivity wavelength, such as an infrared camera that locates the targets either through the backplane material or through the thin silicon.
  • IR illumination through the TFSS has the advantage that with suitable instrumentation no movement has to occur between locating the targets and drilling the vias. After drilling and optional cleanup of the vias, the backside reinforced TFSS is now ready for second layer metal formation to contact the first layer metal.
  • pre-drilling may be advantageous for the overall drilling process window. If the contact holes are predrilled, then the requirements to selectivity to underlying first layer metal material is removed or greatly relaxed. For pre-drilling, if more than one sheet of backplane reinforcement material such as prepreg is used, it may be advisable to tack the sheets prior to pre-drilling using a tacking lamination at suitably low temperature. Furthermore, during the via pre-drilling the laser can cause local curing at the edges of the vias. This may serve to reduce outflow of resin that tends to close the opened holes. Since the predrilled holes after lamination would not necessarily protect the underlying first layer metal suitably during the wet chemistry process for
  • an undrilled protective sheet of the above mentioned mylar, teonex or other PEN or PET based materials it may be useful to add an undrilled protective sheet of the above mentioned mylar, teonex or other PEN or PET based materials.
  • an undrilled protective sheet it is also possible to locally cover the first layer metal that is to be contacted with a suitable dielectric such as a glass or polymer which is chemically resistant enough to withstand the texture and post texture clean processes, but which may be removed prior to second layer metal contact formation to the first layer metal.
  • a protective sheet may not be required when using a pre-drilled sheet.
  • the application of the backplane sheet or sheets with the TFSS on template for the lamination has to be done with an alignment.
  • the sheet or sheets can be pretacked to the surface using a laser or other local heat source.
  • the area of the vias may be built up with a taller, preferably printed, metal region.
  • Such local pillars when dimensioned properly, may serve to secure the predrilled sheet in place during the lamination.
  • the above mentioned optional local protective material is in that case applied on top of such pillars.
  • Such pillars can be employed in a very sparse pattern, so as to save on material usage for said pillars.
  • the second layer of metal is preferably structured in an essentially orthogonal relation to the first layer metal fingers, with the potential exception of one or more bus bar strips for each terminal. Orthogonal relation may greatly relaxe the
  • the patterning requirements for patterning the second layer metal are in the hundred or hundreds of micrometers.
  • the second layer metal requirements of the second layer metal are in the millimeters to centimeters range. This in turn enables the use of very economic patterning techniques such as simple shadow masks or very cheap printing , roller coating or spraying applications. Also it allows for the use of stamped out large dimension metal fingers. This relaxation is enabled by the concept that for the orthogonal relation geometry, the distance that current has to travel in each first layer metal finger is suitably short prior to reaching a via for extraction.
  • a zincation process preferably a double zincation is advantageous for reliable plating on top of aluminum.
  • a PVD process is to follow, zincation may be circumvented by doing a pre- sputter etch cleanup.
  • a suitable PVD process for contacting the first layer metal may then start with a pre- sputter etch, Al, follow by Ni or NiV deposition, followed by optional Sn deposition. This PVD process may be performed using a shadow mas, thereby enabling patterned metal deposition.
  • the metal may be patterned after the deposition using laser ablation, similar to the patterning for the first layer metal.
  • the deposited metal or metal stack may optionally be annealed after deposition to tune its properties.
  • the vias may be filled or partially filled first by printing, for instance stencil printing a conductive paste such as aluminum, copper, nickel or silver paste.
  • a seed metal or metal stack can then be deposited also using PVD or screen printing, on top of the metal that is used to at least partially fill the vias.
  • Printed pastes can be baked and / or annealed after application.
  • the remainder of the metal may be plated.
  • the whole necessary thickness of the orthogonal metal fingers of the second layer metal can be printed using a suitable paste.
  • the deposition of the seed metal may be performed in a patterned way, as described above, or as a blanket layer which is subsequently patterned using a resist structure which separates emitter from base plated areas. After plating, the resist is stripped and the seed layer is etched back in the areas that were protected using the resist.
  • a typical sequence of plating starts with Ni, followed by copper (Cu) and ending with Sn for solderability.
  • Cu can be plated directly. Sn can also be applied locally after plating, using printing, in areas where it is required for soldering.
  • the structure for the second layer metal may either have a single or multiple bus bars per terminal or it can contain only metal fingers.
  • the number of contact points required for module integration scales with the number of independent bus bars at the time of plating. Contacts in the module from cell to cell can be accomplished using dog bone shaped contact fingers. For a finger-only structure, the dog bone contact points per side need to equal the number of second layer metal fingers per terminal. Minimizing the area of the bus bar, up to the point where no bus bar is employed, serves to maximize the overall active area on the cell that current can be drawn from by in turn
  • the contact metal strips between cells can consist of Cu with solder or solderable aluminum, such as Al with thin Ni and Sn or tin-bismuth (SnBi) coating. In the areas that are visible in the module, the strips can be painted in black locally to add to the all-black look of the panel. Such paint coating can act as a dielectric as well, allowing for tight arrangement of cells within a module.
  • Oasis-type backplane structures may be realized either by single step lamination of more than one component onto the TFSS which is at that point supported by the template, or the oasis-type backplane may be formed separately using one or more lamination steps and then applied to the template supported TFSS. If the latter path is chosen, then there are additional options to apply some layers either to the TFSS side or to the backplane side. This holds for instance for the dielectric adhesive that provides adhesion between TFSS and the backplane and which is either applied by processes such as screen printing or by laminating a dielectric sheet such as prepreg which is pre-lamination drilled or post-lamination drilled.
  • conductive materials such as conductive adhesive or conductive epoxy that may be applied in the area where there is no dielectric, i.e. to provide a conductive contact through a via in a dielectric between the metal fingers on the TFSS and the next layer metal on the backplane.
  • conductive materials such as conductive adhesive or conductive epoxy that may be applied in the area where there is no dielectric, i.e. to provide a conductive contact through a via in a dielectric between the metal fingers on the TFSS and the next layer metal on the backplane.
  • at least the dielectric adhesive may be b-stageable or to be at least partially reflowable, since the dielectric has to undergo two laminations to the different sides. It is seen as advantageous to then have the thermal budget of the lamination step which connects the backplane to the TFSS to be chosen such that the dielectric is fully cured.
  • Typical dielectric choices are sheets of prepreg material or screen printable dielectric adhesives, such as polyesters or other resins.
  • Fig. 72B illustrates options for forming an oasis structure.
  • Embodiments include the manufacturing and attachment of the backplane in a single step or in separate step, such that the backplane can be stored and staged.
  • the CA posts may be printed onto either the TFSS side of the structure or to the backplane side of the structure, if the backplane is manufactured separately.
  • the CA posts are printed onto the metal fingers on the TFSS.
  • a chemically resistant top cover sheet preferably made of Tedlar, Mylar, Teonex or other PEN or PET materials, followed by a dielectric sheet (EVA, Z68 or prepreg) which has access holes predrilled), are arranged onto the structure of the large area metal fingers.
  • the metal fingers in turn may be structured from planar sheets of for instance solderable aluminum, i.e. Al with a thin layer of Ni and Sn, by electrical discharge manufacturing, laser marking followed by etching (in materials such as KOH, if aluminum is used), or they can be stamped out using one or more stamping dies.
  • These structures are aligned and laid up on top of each other, optionally covered with release sheets or with non-sticky surfaces on both sides, and then laminated together.
  • material and lamination conditions such as suitable evacuation, temperature range, ramping and lamination pressure
  • the dielectric material flows and planarizes the structure.
  • Areas where planarization is not desired, such as in the backside contact areas, may be kept open by providing suitably shaped lamination contact chucks or by pre-curing the edges of the contact holes (using for instance increased laser power during the cutting of these holes) to prevent outflow of material from the edge to close the holes.
  • a B-stageable or at least partially reflowable, i.e. thermoplastic, printed dielectric adhesive is used as the adhesive is then applied to the backplane or (not shown) to the TFSS.
  • a conductive adhesive may be printed on either side. Dielectric and conductive adhesive each receive suitable optional thermal treatment after printing. To keep costs low, the overall area of the conductive bumps is to be kept low, preferably below 2% of the overall cell area.
  • the TFSS Prior to lamination, the TFSS may be pre-cut in a region just outside the active area to provide a designated breakage point of the epi layer upon the release that is to occur after the lamination. After that, the backplane and the TFSS on template are laminated together.
  • the electrical contact between the metal fingers on the TFSS and the large metal fingers on the backplane is also established.
  • the structure is released by mechanical release, similar to the release described for the pluto structure.
  • the edge of the released and backplane reinforced device may then be trimmed, also similar to the trimming described for the pluto structure.
  • the edges of the backplane structure where the trimming occurs are sealed by the suitably chemically resistant dielectrics.
  • the residue of the release layer is cleaned off, the surface is textured, post-texture cleaned and passivated.
  • the contact access points to the large metal fingers of the backplane are opened, for instance by laser drilling of the cover sheet material.
  • Conductive solder bumps may be placed, or the solder from a stringer that is used for module assembly manufacturing may be used, to establish the contact to the cell.
  • the cell receiving its own solder bumps may have the advantage that the individual cell may be tested and passing cells may subsequently be assembled into a module; however, such testing may also be accomplished using suitable probe card arrangements.
  • a dielectric sheet for example a prepreg material, which is pre-drilled may also be used as the adhesive between large metal finger containing backplane and the TFSS.
  • the cross- sectional diagrams of Fig. 75 illustrated an oasis flow using a predrilled dielectric sheet (with two step lamination) showing this process.
  • the conductive adhesive is printed in the desirable area and the pre-drilled dielectric sheet is laid up in an aligned way to the grid of the printed conductive adhesive.
  • the conductive adhesive be B-stageable such that it may be dried and not smear during the lay-up process but still reflow during the lamination to provide a good contact between the metal on the TFSS and the backplane metal.
  • the remainder of the process, after lamination, is similar to the previously described case of using a printed dielectric adhesive.
  • the cross-sectional diagrams of Fig. 75 illustrated an oasis flow using a predrilled dielectric sheet (with single step lamination).
  • the conductive adhesive needs to be printed on the TFSS side.
  • this adhesive is also printed onto the TFSS side, preferably prior to printing the conductive adhesive.
  • this sheet needs to be pre-drilled for the single step lamination.
  • the conductive bumps are printed prior to laying up the pre- drilled dielectric sheet and the pre-drilled sheet is aligned to the pre-formed bumps.
  • the large metal fingers of the backplane are laid up, the top perforated dielectric sheet (e.g.
  • EVA, Z68 or prepreg is laid up and finally the cover sheet is added. Then the lamination process is carried out, using a process profile that is adapted to the required process parameters of the materials involved - typical lamination temperatures are below 300 or even below 250 deg C. After this lamination, further processing proceeds in a like fashion to the process flows described above for the oasis structure.
  • Fig. 77A-D illustrating process steps on a pluto-hybrid structure.
  • Fig. 77A is a cross section of a pluto-hybrid structure during the prepreg via drilling processes.
  • Fig. 77B is a cross section of a pluto-hybrid structure during the metal deposition and isolation processes - the metal isolation is parallel to the diagram and therefor not illustrated.
  • an Al (+NiV + Sn) PVD and isolation is a cross section through base contacts of a pluto-hybrid structure after conductive epoxy screen printing and backplane lamination.
  • Fig. 77C is a cross section through emitter contacts of a pluto-hybrid structure after conductive epoxy screen printing and backplane lamination.
  • the process flow for the hybrid structure may be substantially equivalent to thepluto based flow up to and including the process of opening the via holes by laser drilling after the passivation and preparation of the surface, as illustrated in Figs. 73A-E.
  • a difference to the pluto structure and flow and with it the similarity to the oasis structure and flow is that the hybrid structure of Fig. 77 includes a structure of large metal fingers which attached to the backplane reinforced TFSS, rather than a metallization structure that is built up using a plating process. To do so, after the via cleanup as described in the pluto flow, first the metal contact is routed from the bottom of the via onto the top of the dielectric, for instance the prepreg. This may be performed in one or several steps.
  • the via is first at least partially filled using a stencil or screen printed paste. Then metal fingers are deposited for instance by PVD through a slitted shadow mask. Alternatively, if the process of routing the metal is performed in one step or sequence, then the surface of the bottom of the via can be cleaned for instance immediately prior to PVD deposition by doing a pre-sputter etching and/or ashing, in order to remove potential organic residue and native oxides, both of which can contribute to high contact resistance or poor contact reliability.
  • the metal may also be deposited as a blanket metal and afterwards patterned, for example using laser ablation.
  • an array of conductive bumps or epoxy are printed.
  • an additional backplane with large metal fingers for instance made of solderable Al, for instance with a Ni and / or Sn coating, which may be either pre-manufactured and then laminated to the already reinforced TFSS, or which may be laminated in a single step.
  • the backplane itself consists for example of large width metal fingers which are held in place by a dielectric adhesive which in turn may have a backing plate, for example of glass, polymer, ceramic or metal.
  • the large width metal fingers For contacting the cell to other cells or in general within the module, it may be advantageous to either have holes in the layer above the large width metal fingers or to have the large width metal fingers extend beyond the edge of the cell.
  • Such metal fingers may be generated in a similar way as for the oasis structure, for example by EDM, stamping, slit cutting or suitable etching after a definition of the etch areas using a mechanical or laser marking. From a structural point of view, it may be advantageous to retain the structure throughout the process in such a way that the area that becomes the bus bars is connected to both polarities, and only prior to cell assembly each side of the contact polarities is cut off. This is an especially straightforward process if the large width metal finger grid is chosen to be oversized compared to the cell.
  • such metal connections may also be integrated into the module assembly where then a large area of metal fingers may be processed and laminated in parallel. This is possible since the initial metal of the reinforced cell already enables testing and sorting of the cell.
  • the orthogonal transfer of the metal lines between the on-cell thin fingers and the on-backplane wide fingers may be implemented either from the on-cell metal fingers to the second layer deposited or printed metal or from the printed metal to the backplane aluminum foil fingers. With the latter, it may be advantageous to implement another dielectric between the second layer deposited or printed metal and the aluminum foil fingers.
  • the immersion contact bonding structure is processed similar to an oasis type structure. Main process step differences are depicted in Figs. 69 and 70 and may be described as the following: After the patterning of the on-TFSS thin metal fingers, as described for the above structures, these fingers are covered with an array of conductive bumps. Then, similar to the oasis structure, there are essentially two alternatives. One is the bonding of the TFSS with the array of conductive bumps to a prefabricated backplane, second is the layup and common lamination of all components of the backplane. Both alternatives have structural and flow options as described in the oasis flow.
  • the adhesive dielectric does not contain the array of via holes which is patterned complimentary to the array of conductive bumps. Rather, the dielectric is applied as a randomly or regularly perforated array to offer sufficient open area for conductive bumps to puncture through upon the softening of the dielectric during the reflow that occurs at lamination. Alternatively, the dielectric is not pre- punctured yet the conductive bumps are shaped such that with the choice of a suitably compliant dielectric, the bumps may still puncture the dielectric and form a low contact resistance contact through the dielectric and serve to establish contact between the TFSS metal fingers and the large width metal fingers on the backplane.
  • the disclosed subject matter relates to novel structures and methods for the metallization of solar cells, and specifically multiple (two or more) levels of metallization associated with an active semiconductor photon absorber for low-loss
  • the semiconductor photon absorber may be crystalline silicon, including but not limited to mono-crystalline silicon solar cells with back-contact metallization
  • any number of metallization layers may be utilized (even including a single metallization layer comprised of "stacked" metallization materials) on the backside (or the side opposite the sunnyside) of a solar cell comprising an electrically insulating layer (for 2-level metallization) or layers (for metallization comprising more than 2 levels of metallization) used as inter-level metallization electrical insulator in accordance with the disclosed subject matter.
  • the metal or electrical interconnect layer(s) on each level may be independently patterned using several available techniques, such as but not limited to blanket metal deposition (for example, by a Physical- Vapor Deposition or PVD technique such as plasma sputtering, evaporation, thermal or arc plasma spray, or ion beam deposition; or by using an electrochemical deposition process such as plating ) followed by pattern formation using pulsed laser metal ablation or a combination of lithography (for instance, using screen printing of a patterned etch resist layer) and subsequent etching of metal and stripping of the resist layer.
  • blanket metal deposition for example, by a Physical- Vapor Deposition or PVD technique such as plasma sputtering, evaporation, thermal or arc plasma spray, or ion beam deposition; or by using an electrochemical deposition process such as plating
  • pattern formation using pulsed laser metal ablation or a combination of lithography for instance, using screen printing of a patterned etch resist layer
  • Examples of in-situ patterning include screen printing of a metallization paste (forming the desired pattern), PVD using m-situ shadow masking, etc.
  • the metal layers may be separated by electrically insulating dielectric layers (using one electrically insulating layer for two levels of metallization, and in general N- 1 layers of electrically insulating layers for N levels of metallization, wherein N is an integer equal to or greater than 2) and connected together using specific patterns of inter-level via holes formed through the electrically insulating layer(s) (vias), either partially or fully filled with an electrically conductive material formed through the dielectric layers (hence, forming electrically conductive via plugs).
  • the electrically conductive via plugs may be formed using the same metallization material and process utilized to form the higher metallization level.
  • Each metal layer may be composed of similar or disparate metal types, such as Al, Cu, Ag, Ni, Sn, or a combination of metals - for example, low-cost high-conductivity metallization materials composed of aluminum and/or copper - and may be patterned to different dimensions.
  • Al aluminum
  • any electrically conductive metallization material may be a viable material choice in some instances (including copper, zinc, or even silver although silver is expensive and may be less desirable than much lower cost high conductivity material options such as aluminum and copper for solar cell metallization).
  • the metallization structure may utilize dual level metallization structure wherein the first level (or lower level) metallization closer to the solar cell absorber substrate is referred to as metal 1 or Ml and the second level (or upper level) metallization on top of Ml and, in some embodiments separated from the first level by an electrically insulating layer, is referred to as metal 2 or M2.
  • patterned Ml may be formed directly on the solar cell substrate underneath the electrically insulating layer or sheet separating Ml and M2, while M2 is formed on top of the electrically insulating layer or sheet attached to the solar cell substrate (in other words the electrically insulating layer or sheet is sandwiched between Ml and M2, and Ml is sandwiched between the solar cell substrate and the electrically insulating layer or sheet).
  • the combination of the electrically insulating layer(s) or sheet(s) with the metallization structure above Ml may be referred to as the solar cell backplane.
  • Advantages of a dual layer (bi-layer) metallization structure over a single metal structure for back-contact solar cells include, but are not limited to, the following:
  • Dual level metallization allows the Ml layer to be thinner and the Ml pattern lines to be narrower, thus allowing for the use of higher sheet resistance Ml without compromising the fill factor of the solar cell. This is because the electrical current is carried only locally (as opposed to globally) for relatively short distances on Ml (for instance, over the scale of 100's to 1000's of microns) before it is pulled up through the vias to M2, where the metallization lines may be wider, thicker, and have lower electrical resistance.
  • a narrower Ml may increase the emitter fraction in back contact/back
  • junction solar cells which allows for reduced electrical shading and higher cell conversion efficiency.
  • Dual level metallization also allows flexibility in segmentation of Ml and other designs, as may be required in various and novel cell architectures.
  • Dual level metallization allows for a busbarless Ml that eliminates electrical shading due to elimination of Ml busbars, hence, further increasing the efficiency of the cells.
  • dual level metallization decouples the line dimensions of M2 from dimensions of Ml.
  • Orthogonal transformation allows the M2 dimensions to be generally different, and specifically more coarse, than the Ml dimensions which allows for the deposition of a thicker M2 using much more cost effective deposition strategies. This may also mean the number of M2 metal fingers can be much less than the number of Ml fingers.
  • each side of the solar cell has metallization layer with the front side/sunnyside (solar cell side facing sunward) metal patterned (typically a screen printed silver paste metallization) to let the light through to the cell and the backside metallization/non- sunnyside (solar cell side opposite the side facing sunward) patterned or non- patterned (typically a screen printed aluminum paste metalliation).
  • a typical front- contact crystalline silicon solar cell may have one patterned emitter metallization layer (often comprising silver) on the cell sunnyside and one blanket base metallization layer (often comprising aluminum which also serves as the back-surface field or BSF layer), or screen printed aluminum with optional localized back-surface field or BSF, on the cell backside with a patterned dielectric layer.
  • back contacted back junction also known as interdigitated back contact or IBC
  • a single metallization layer may be patterned (e.g., as an IBC pattern) on the non-sunnyside and no sunnyside metallization - thus no sunnyside optical shading for an unobstructive and ideally maximum coupling of the sunlight.
  • IBC solar cells also known as IBC solar cells
  • Multi-level metallization schemes of at least two levels of solar cell metallization and for example designed in an orthogonal M2-M1 pattern (alternative metallization layers aligned orthogonally or the adjacent metallization levels with interconnect fingers substantially perpendicular to each other) and separated by electrically insulating layer(s), one electrically insulating layer between Ml and M2 for the two-level metallization scheme, provide numerous metallization, efficiency, and cell processing advantages over known solar cell metallization structures and manufacturing methods.
  • the combination of M2 and the electrically insulating layer or sheet may serve as a reinforcement and support structure for the semiconductor absorber, an advantage particularly applicable to ultrathin solar cell absorbers.
  • Such backplane reinforcement and support structure may be made rigid (for instance using a non-polymeric insulator such as a glass or a ceramic layer) or pliable/flexible (for instance, using a polymeric material such as a prepreg material). Additional benefits and advantages of multi-level metallization, particularly with respect to bi-layer metallization for high-efficiency crystalline semiconductor solar cells (particularly, back- contact/back-junction solar cells), include but are not limited to:
  • the Ml metal may be made much thinner (e.g., in the range of 100's to 1000's of nm thick) as compared to known on absorber metallization patterns (which use 10' s of microns metal thickness for back-contact/back-junction cells). Thinner Ml metallization creates less stress from Ml applied onto the silicon absorber, a very desirable advantage, particularly for ultrathin cells with absorber thickness below about 100 microns and/or large-area cells with cell area larger than 125 mm x 125 mm.
  • the stress reduction of a multi-level metal configuration may allow the silicon (or any crystalline semiconductor) substrate to be scaled to much larger cell areas (e.g., larger than 125 mm x 125 mm, for instance, up to or larger than cell area of 1000 cm ) and much thinner in absorber thickness (e.g., thinner than 100 microns, and in the range of about 1 micron to about 100 microns).
  • Multi-level metal configuration allows for a thinner Ml as the Ml layer serves as contact metallization for areal extraction of the solar cell electrical power and is not required to carry the cell current over a long distance over relatively low electrical conductivity lines.
  • the electrical current (or power) is locally pulled up vertically throughout the area of the solar cell from Ml through conductive plugs to the next upper metal level (which may be far less resistive by virtue of being much thicker and/or wider), and in one embodiment current or power is pulled from Ml to M2 through periodic via holes in a dielectric layer formed between Ml and M2 and filled (or partially filled) with conductive via plugs.
  • Via plugs/holes along the Ml lines may be positioned with spacing such that the ohmic losses of the Ml line segments are negligible and do not have a significant detrimental impact on Fill Factor of the solar cell.
  • Ml be much narrower and finer. Often a large backside surface area of BC/BJ cells are covered with emitter regions with intertwined base diffusions.
  • base Ml metal is usually nested inside the base diffusion to avoid cell shunting while minimum base metal resistance requirements require a wide metallization pattern.
  • the base diffusion region is greater than the width of the base metal causing a reduction in the emitter fraction of the BC/BJ cell.
  • a limitation in ability to increase emitter fraction results in a very high lifetime requirement to minimize electrical shading, which in turn results in higher cell manufacturing cost.
  • the ability to utilize narrower Ml patterns, through multi-level metal design allows significant cost saving and helps minimize electrical shading.
  • the multi-level metallization systems and methods disclosed herein do not require a fully connected Metal 1, thus increasing Ml design and patterning flexibility as (for example segmented/discrete Ml lines used as base and emitter lines/fingers). For example, it is possible to only connect defined small blocks of the total area on Ml to the photon absorber while providing the inter-block level connectivity on the upper M2 level.
  • Ml segmented Ml pattern and shorter length Ml line segments (as compared to known metallization patterns which span the entire area of the solar cell).
  • Ml designs may alleviate reliability problems arising from the temperature coefficient mismatch between metal 1 and the semiconductor and also make the solar cell structure more robust to cracks - thus providing higher yields in manufacturing and better reliability in the field.
  • block level isolated connectivity on Ml allows for the formation of a plurality of mini- cells within a single traditional size solar cell, each mini-cell having its own Ml pattern and connected to each through the M2 connections.
  • Multi-level metallization schemes decouples the different attributes required of the metallization thus reducing the cost of Metal 2.
  • metallization should serve several functions including:
  • IR infrared
  • the metal stack should be designed such that the silicon lifetime reducing metal is shielded by effective diffusion barrier materials such as Ti, TiW, TiN, Ta, or TaN, TiW, or Ni.
  • effective diffusion barrier materials such as Ti, TiW, TiN, Ta, or TaN, TiW, or Ni.
  • a silicon-friendly high- conductivity, low cost metal, such as aluminum, may be used.
  • a multi-level metallization design such as a two-level solar cell metallization scheme, allows Ml to be chosen specifically for attributes related to low contact resistance as well as rear mirror properties for efficient light trapping, while M2 attributes may be chosen for low cost and high electrical (and thermal) conductance.
  • the metallization layers on different levels may be oriented to run along the same direction or independently in different directions such as orthogonal or perpendicular to each other).
  • the thicker and higher conductivity M2 may run perpendicular to the thinner on-cell Ml or may run parallel to Ml.
  • An advantage of M2 running perpendicular to Ml is the width as well as pitch dimensions of M2 may be much coarser and larger than Ml, resulting in a fewer number of M2 electrodes than the number of Ml electrodes (by a factor in the range of about 5 to 50 depending on the specific design
  • This metallization architectural attribute the combination of two-level cell metallization in conjunction with orthogonal interconnect transformation, may provide an advantage by decreasing the restraints of deposition and patterning of M2.
  • the much coarser dimensions on thicker M2 opens the door to depositing M2 using relatively cheap/simple direct write techniques such as direct write thermal spray, screen and stencil printing metallic pastes such as Cu or aluminum paste, and inkjetting or depositing by aerosol printing metallic inks such as copper or nickel inks.
  • M2 may be formed by a combination of formation of a seed layer by one of the above techniques (such as PVD) and electroplating of a high conductivity metal such as copper. Structural considerations for the pitch and width of the M2 may be dictated by the resistance of Ml which in-turn may dictate the spacing of vias to draw the current upward.
  • Cost and efficiency are important metrics when selecting a method for creating multi-level metallization in solar cell manufacturing.
  • Several methods for forming multi-level metallization for high-efficiency, cost-effective solar cells are described below in relation to dual level metallization having a sandwiched electrically insulating or dielectric layer positioned between Ml and M2; however, these methods may also extended to multi-level metallization and are equally applicable to both conventionally thick solar cells as well as very thin silicon solar cells.
  • the electrically insulating layer may also serve as part of the reinforcement and support structure of the solar cell.
  • Very thin solar cells utilizing the methods and structures disclosed herein include ultrathin crystalline silicon solar cells with crystalline silicon layers in the thickness range of about one to 100 microns and which may formed by wire saw, epitaxial lift-off, proton implant and exfoliation, stress-induced peeling, laser wafering, or other thin silicon slicing techniques.
  • the methods for forming dual level metallization may be organized into the following four categories: (1) Methods for depositing and patterning Ml; (2) Methods for forming an electrically insulating dielectric layer or sheet on top of Ml (for example by deposition, lamination, etc.); (3) Methods for forming via holes through the dielectric to connect Ml with M2 and subsequent cleaning; and (4) Methods for depositing and/or patterning M2.
  • step 1 relating to methods for depositing and patterning Ml
  • techniques such as plasma sputtering (or evaporation) followed by patterning using laser ablation or wet etching, or patterned screen printing (or stencil printing or inkjet printing or aerosol printing) may be used to deposit Ml.
  • blanket deposition techniques such as PVD (plasma sputtering or evaporation)
  • subsequent patterning may be performed using laser metal ablation or using standard lithography and etching techniques (such as with screen printing of a resist followed by wet or dry etching).
  • screen printing or inkjet printing or stencil printing, aerosol jet printing
  • the Ml layer may be directly formed as a patterned metal layer using an appropriate metal paste or metal ink.
  • Ml metal should be made to ensure mirror quality and low resistivity contacts to both n and p-type diffusions in silicon.
  • a metallic material for Ml comprises aluminum (or an alloy of aluminum and silicon) because of its high electrical conductivity, high IR reflectance, good ohmic contacts without shunts, and low cost.
  • silver and thin nickel, followed by aluminum may be used as an Ml metal stack; however, silver is typically associated with a higher cost, for example as compared to aluminum thus aluminum may be used for fabrication lower costs and to provide good ohmic contacts to both base and emitter regions.
  • step 2 related to forming an electrically insulating dielectric layer or sheet between Ml and M2
  • design considerations include the choice of material as well as the method of deposition or formation.
  • Material choice considerations should include material cost as optimally the dielectric material will only be a fraction of the conventional metallization cost.
  • material cost targets including but not limited to the prepreg materials which serve as adhesive and structural support layers in conventional printed circuit (PC) boards.
  • Further dielectric material choice considerations and constraints may depend on which step during the process flow the dielectric material is inserted formed, and if it serves additional functions beyond serving as an electrical isolation interlayer between Ml and M2.
  • this dielectric layer may also serve as a permanent reinforcement/support layer to handle and support thin silicon during processing of the cell as well as during the photovoltaic (PV) module lamination process and for the PV module lifespan in the field.
  • the dielectric layer may be inserted midstream in the solar cell formation process by laminating a sheet of insulating material to the thin silicon solar cell absorber layer, which puts additional constraints on the choice of the material to ensure compatibility with downstream solace cell formation process steps as well as dexterity to support thin silicon.
  • constraints on the choice of dielectric material may be significantly relaxed as the dielectric layer may be formed at the end of the line after completion of the main solar cell fabrication process steps up to the metallization stage.
  • active components and electrical components to build cell level intelligence may be positioned on the dielectric (for example a prepreg style dielectric material).
  • the electrically insulating layer may be pliable/flexible (such as prepreg or other polymeric materials) in order to produce flexible solar cells and flexible solar modules, or rigid for rigid solar cells and PV modules (such as glass or other ceramic materials).
  • Formation methods include depositing the dielectric layer, for example using direct write techniques such as but not limited to thermal spray, dielectric spin-on, screen printing, or stencil printing.
  • formation methods include laminating a cheap dielectric thin sheet such as a polymeric or plastic sheet (e.g., 25 microns to 200 microns thick) on the back surface of the solar cell comprising the Ml level (opposite the sunny side) for example by applying a combination of pressure and temperature whereby the electrically insulating dielectric film or laminant is reflowed to substantially conform to the Ml topography and completely encapsulate it.
  • this laminate may be a prepreg material made of aramid fibers and resin commonly utilized as the building block layer for certain PC boards. Other prepreg materials may also be used.
  • via holes connecting M2 with Ml may be formed by mechanical formation such as by mechanically punching of dielectric; however, care must be taken to avoid damaging the underlying silicon, especially in the case for thin silicon cells but also for conventionally thick solar cells.
  • laser processing may be utilized to drill the via holes using a pulsed laser beam.
  • a cost effective and fast laser such as a C02 -10 micron wavelength laser may drill holes through a prepreg laminant sheet at a very fast speed covering the entire cell substrate dielectric sheet in a few to tens of seconds or less.
  • the choice of the laser and the underlying Ml metal may be made to have intrinsic compatibility, as the laser should stop at the underlying metal cleanly without punching through it.
  • One solution uses a laser that is highly reflected by the Ml metal - thus the laser energy is not absorbed into the Ml metal - which serves as an end-point detection and self- limiting end to the drill process.
  • stop layer thick metal pads (for example made of aluminum and/or silver paste) may be printed before the dielectric is deposited/laminated only where the via holes are drilled.
  • conductive epoxy pads may be printed on top of Ml and served as the laser drill stop layer.
  • Epoxy for the metal pads may be applied using known methods such as screen printing.
  • Al metal paste pads with a thickness in the range of about 10 microns to 40 microns may be used on top of Al paste metal lines (with thickness in the range of about 5 microns to 40 microns).
  • a fourth method for formation of the via holes utilizes direct printing of a suitable patterned electrically insulating dielectric layer by screen printing or stencil printing of a dielectric paste in which the patterned printing includes the via holes in the dielectric layer.
  • Direct writing of the patterned dielectric layer including via holes eliminates the need for subsequent formation of holes using lithography and etch or laser drilling.
  • the via holes may be cleaned after drillling to ensure a clean contact with low contact resistance between M2 and Ml.
  • cleaning methods include but are not limited to: 1) wet organic clean; 2) dry etch clean with highly oxidizing plasma such as that produced using an oxidizing gas ambient (for example oxygen or nitrous oxide); 3) plasma sputter etch; 4) ozonated treatment; 5) a subsequent laser step to burn off the carbon; or 6) hot metal deposition to burn through the residual contaminant layer.
  • step 4 relating to M2 deposition and patterning (or alternatively direct write deposition of a patterned M2 layer), conventional methods may be used such as plating on top of a seed layer formed for example by plating, inkjet printing, screen printing, or patterned PVD layer, or alternatively direct writing techniques may be used such as, but not limited to, screen printing, stencil printing, thermal (or arc or plasma) metal spray, inkjet or aerosol printing.
  • Direct patterned metal foil attachment, or foil attachment and subsequent patterning by cut design, may also be used and particularly for an orthogonal structure, foil attachment may be preceded by depositing a conductive layer in the via holes separating Ml and M2.
  • a metal foil M2 in an orthogonal bi-layer metallization structure provides a planar and mechanically reproducible structure due to large in-plane M2 pattern dimensions.
  • the M2 metal foil finger width may be much larger than the metal foil layer thickness (for example greater by a factor of 10).
  • metallization and although described in the context of back-contact/back-junction thin monocrystalline silicon solar cells using epitaxial silicon lift-off methods, the metallization methods and structures described herein may be applicable to solar cells of any thickness including standard crystalline silicon wafer-based cells (for example in the thickness range of 100 microns to 200 microns using CZ or FZ wafers).
  • Patterned deposition may use screen or stencil printing of Al paste, and/or a myriad other direct pattern writing techniques for metal deposition such as inkjet and aerosol printing or PVD followed by laser ablation.
  • the thickness of the screen printed Al/Al-Si metal may range from about 5 microns to about 40 microns depending on the conductivity requirements of the solar cell design. Alternatively,
  • Aluminum/ Aluminum Silicon may be deposited as Ml using physical vapor deposition techniques such as sputtering.
  • PVD Al or AISi deposition for Ml post deposition the blanket metal layer may be subsequently patterned using a pulsed picosecond laser (for example with a wavelength in the near infrared range of about 1 micron wavelength) which ablates metal lines to pattern and electrically isolate the emitter and the base polarity.
  • a pulsed picosecond laser for example with a wavelength in the near infrared range of about 1 micron wavelength
  • the Ml pattern for the back-junction/back-contact monocrystalline silicon cell may be an array of straight- line (rectangular, triangular or trapezoidal) interdigitated base and emitter fingers separated by isolation regions with a relatively large metal coverage area ratio, at least 70% and up to over 90% for enhanced rear mirror IR reflectivity in conjunction with the rear dielectric layer.
  • a follow up Al paste may be optional.
  • the Al paste may be printed as a periodic pattern of pads along Ml to serve as a laser stop layer as described above.
  • the second print when used in the same pattern as the first print (in contrast to a second print of pads) may also serve to reduce Ml resistance and serve as a laser stop layer.
  • the laser ablation metal patterning may be optionally followed by optional screen printing of reflective conductive epoxy pads (for example using an aluminum and/or silver paste) where via hole drills would be positioned/land on Ml. This may be required due to the lack of laser stopping ability if a small thickness of sputtered Ml is applied. Sputter deposited Ml thickness may be kept thin for lower costs and to increase ease of patterning, for example using a pico second IR laser.
  • the Ag and/or Al based conductive epoxy provides better reflective-pad stopping power to the C02 laser than the thin Ml layer by itself.
  • a thin polymeric (e.g., a suitable prepreg) sheet for example having a thickness in the range of about 50 up to 500 microns (in some cases 50 microns to 200 microns) is laminated, for example using a pressure-thermal lamination process, on top of Ml and cell substrate backside (in other words the side opposite the cell sunnyside).
  • a pressure-thermal lamination process on top of Ml and cell substrate backside (in other words the side opposite the cell sunnyside).
  • the dielectric should be a material conducive to being drilled using laser drilling such that Ml connections may be accessed and M2 may be deposited on top of the dielectric (for example prepreg).
  • Ml connections may be accessed and M2 may be deposited on top of the dielectric (for example prepreg).
  • it should support effective adhesion of both Ml and M2 as well as the cell isolation regions (typically covered by silicon oxide or silicon nitride and/or aluminum oxide) on the cell backside.
  • CTE Coefficient of Thermal Expansion
  • silicon for example a low CTE of well below 10 ppm/degree C such as a CTE in the range of about 0 to 5 ppm/degree C
  • the solar cell sunnyside processing steps such as texturing and front passivation may follow after the dielectric layer is formed (in one
  • the step after laminating the dielectric layer is the lift off and release of the thin silicon/dielectric sheet laminate from the reusable template which exposes the sunnyside of the cell for completion of the cell sunnyside processing), thus the backside passivation layer may be exposed to wet chemicals used for texturing and cleaning of the front surface or cell sunnyside.
  • the dielectric layer should serve as an effective sealant to protect the cell backside, including the Ml layer, during texturing and post-texture cleaning of the cell.
  • the dielectric layer must not substantially bow the solar cell due to stresses (for example the overall bowing of the cells should be limited to less than about 2 or 3 mm for a 156 mm x 156 mm solar cell).
  • the lamination process should meet the throughput speed required for high productivity solar cell manufacturing.
  • the dielectric material should have high thermal stability (for example up to at least 200 degrees C and in some cases up to at least 300 degrees C) to be able to sustain high process temperatures to ensure excellent front side passivation using PECVD passivation processes which normally utilize substrate heating in the range of 150 degrees C up to 400 degrees C, depending on the passivation process used - a pivotal process/structure for some BC/BJ solar cell embodiments.
  • the solar cell may go through a number of process steps unique to this thin silicon process flow embodiment. These steps, as outlined above, may include mechanical release of a thin silicon substrate from a template along a porous sacrificial layer, frontside texture and post texture clean, frontside silicon nitride passivation, and the formation of the M2 layer. Following completion of the frontside texture and passivation process steps, via holes are drilled in the laminated dielectric sheet to connect M2 and Ml through M1-M2 conductive via plugs using laser drilling, for example using a C02 -10 micron wavelength laser, to drill holes stopping on Ml (or alternatively, on conductive epoxy pads printed on Ml).
  • Pre-established fiducials may be used to align the via holes to the pads. Further, laser drilling holes through a dielectric laminate may create carbon residue inside the holes which may be subsequently cleaned using, for example, plasma sputter etch or directly with hot metal during the hot M2 deposition.
  • the Ml layer may be screen printed (or formed by inkjet printing, aerosol printing, stencil printing) using a suitable paste, for example a paste comprising mostly aluminum and some silicon to prevent junction spiking, and fired instead of PVD deposited and laser patterned.
  • a suitable paste for example a paste comprising mostly aluminum and some silicon to prevent junction spiking, and fired instead of PVD deposited and laser patterned.
  • This direct write method may provide further manufacturing cost reduction compared to PVD and patterning methods.
  • Dual level metallization, Ml directly on the cell and M2 separated from the cell by the dielectric sheet may also be formed as is on thicker conventional silicon solar cells.
  • multi level metallization embodiments in accordance with the disclosed subject matter may be used with thin semiconductor absorber solar cells using thin substrates not formed by conventional wire sawing from ingots or cast bricks of silicon and also with solar cells made on standard thickness wafers formed from ingots using the wire saw process.
  • BC/BJ solar cells require high electrical conductivity to reduce line resistance, and as cell area becomes larger, metallization designs have to use thicker metal layers to provide lower sheet resistance and enable higher current carrying capability.
  • the multi-level metallization structures and methods provided are an enabling technology for scaling up the area of BC/BJ cells to 156mm X 156mm and well beyond (for instance to cell areas up to and larger than 1000 cm ) while allowing the use of cell absorbers over a wide range of thicknesses, from about one micron up to hundreds of microns depending on the cell design and manufacturing process.
  • Figs. 78 through 80 are diagrams illustrating example multi-level metallization embodiments for interdigitated back contact (IBC) solar cells.
  • the metallization patterns of Figs. 78 through 80 use metals or metal alloys for the first layer metal 1 (Ml) as well as for the second layer metal 2 (M2) for which the design rules and feature sizes may be much more relaxed and coarser (in other words wider metallization lines and spaces).
  • M2 or both Ml and M2 may be spray deposited (thermal or ARC spray).
  • Fig. 78 is a diagram showing a top view of a portion of back contact solar cell illustrating an orthogonal pattern transfer using high conductivity metal fingers spray deposited (for example in a direct write pattern to reduce mask associated costs) or plated on top of a backplane dielectric layer (backplane layer not shown to detail underlying metal 1 pattern).
  • Metal 1 pattern comprises first level metal emitter fingers 118 (for example thermally sprayed, screen printed metal paste, or PVD deposited/laser ablated metal base fingers) and first level metal base fingers 120 (for example thermally sprayed, screen printed metal paste, or PVD deposited/laser ablated metal emitter fingers).
  • First level metal emitter fingers 118 contact underlying solar cell emitter regions through multi-level contact openings trenches 122 and trenches 126, and first level metal base fingers 120 contact underlying solar cell base regions through holes 128.
  • Second level metal emitter contact fingers 110 (for example plated Cu or thermally sprayed metal) contacts first level metal emitter fingers 118 through emitter holes 114 (for example drilled via holes) in the backplane positioned between the first and second metallization layers.
  • Second level metal base contact fingers 112 (for example plated Cu or thermally sprayed metal) contacts first level metal base fingers 120 through base holes 116 (for example drilled via holes) in the backplane positioned between the first and second metallization layers.
  • Fig. 79 is a diagram showing a cross sectional view of a back contact solar cell supported by a backplane and having parallel metallization layers. Note that this structure shows parallel metal 1 and metal 2 as opposed to the orthogonal structure shown in Fig. 78.
  • the back contact cell of Fig. 79 comprises silicon substrate 142 (for example an epitaxial silicon substrate or a wafer formed silicon substrate), shown as an n-type base, with front surface texture passivation layer 150.
  • Front surface texture passivation may comprise textured structures, such as randomly textured pyramids, optionally with a front surface field surface covered with a passivation layer (for example thermal oxide plus silicon nitride, or amorphous silicon (a- Si)/SiN, or amorphous silicon oxide (a-Si-0)/SiN, or intrinsic amorphous silicon (i-a-Si), or intrinsic amorphous silicon oxide (i-a-Si-0)/n-type amorphous silicon (n-a-Si)/SiN.
  • a passivation layer for example thermal oxide plus silicon nitride, or amorphous silicon (a- Si)/SiN, or amorphous silicon oxide (a-Si-0)/SiN, or intrinsic amorphous silicon (i-a-Si), or intrinsic amorphous silicon oxide (i-a-Si-0)/n-type amorphous silicon (n-a-Si)/SiN.
  • Backplane 132 is formed as an electrically insulating layer between the first level metallization pattern comprising first level emitter contacts 134 and first level base contacts 138 (for example Al, AISi, or thermally sprayed Al, AISi, Al+Zn) and second level metallization pattern comprising second level emitter contacts 130 and second level base contacts 144 (for example thermally sprayed Al with Al/Zn).
  • the first level metallization pattern and second level metallization pattern contacted through vias/holes formed in the backplane (for example by a laser drilling process).
  • Fig. 80 is a diagram showing a cross sectional view of a back contact solar cell supported by a backplane and having parallel metallization layers similar to the homojunction cell shown in Fig. 79 except that first level metal emitter contact 134 contacts P++ emitter layer 152 (for example a poly-SiGe emitter layer) positioned on dielectric layer 156 (for example an a- Si on tunnel dielectric layer) and first level metal base contact 138 contacts n+ base contact 154 (for example laser doped).
  • P++ emitter layer 152 for example a poly-SiGe emitter layer
  • dielectric layer 156 for example an a- Si on tunnel dielectric layer
  • first level metal base contact 138 contacts n+ base contact 154 (for example laser doped).
  • the metallization contacts shown in Figs. 79 and 80 may be formed in line patterns as shown in Fig. 78.
  • the metal lines, particularly for the first level metal may contain the same metal, alloy, or metal stack, or alloy stack for both the emitter and the base contact. However, same level emitter contact metal and base contact metal may be different.
  • Final thermal processing after metallization as well as thermal treatment during a spray application may be used to reduce built-in stress in the resulting sprayed workpiece and thus improve metal layer adhesion and further reduce substrate bow.
  • metal lines or patterns on the substrate may also be possible to directly write the metal lines or patterns on the substrate by writing multilayer structures (for example, a first layer of metal comprising aluminum contacting the solar cell base and emitter regions followed by top layer made of aluminum- zinc alloy for lower contact resistance with the second level metal, metal 2, through the vias).
  • multilayer structures for example, a first layer of metal comprising aluminum contacting the solar cell base and emitter regions followed by top layer made of aluminum- zinc alloy for lower contact resistance with the second level metal, metal 2, through the vias).
  • Fig. 81 is a cross sectional diagram of a back contact solar cell with a backside multilevel metallization design.
  • Ml metal for example aluminum
  • Dielectric material fills gaps and voids in the Ml metal pattern and dielectric cured prepeg provides electrical isolation between the Ml and M2 layers.
  • Conductive plugs (for example made of the same material as M2 and formed in the same M2 formation process) provide contact from Ml to M2 orthogonal fingers pattern (for example made of aluminum or copper).
  • Fig. 82 is a cross sectional diagram of yet another back contact solar cell with a backside multi-level (dual level) metallization design.
  • the back contact solar cell of Fig. 82 may be formed using an epitaxial deposition process on a reusable template.
  • the solar cell fabrication process starts with a reusable crystalline silicon template, typically made of a p-type monocrystalline silicon wafer, into which a thin sacrificial layer of porous silicon is formed (for example a porous silicon bilayer formed by an electrochemical etch process, anodic etch, through a surface modification process in an HF/IPA wet chemistry in the presence of an electrical current).
  • a thin layer for example a layer thickness in the range of a few microns up to about 100 microns, or a few microns up to about 60 microns
  • epitaxial growth also called epitaxial growth.
  • the in-situ-doped monocrystalline silicon layer may be formed, for example, by high-productivity atmospheric -pressure epitaxy using a chemical-vapor deposition or CVD process in ambient comprising a silicon gas such as trichlorosilane or TCS and hydrogen
  • a silicon gas such as trichlorosilane or TCS
  • HCS trichlorosilane
  • At least one layer of borosilicate glass, or alternatively two layers of borosilicate glass (BSG 1 and BSG2 2) may then be deposited each in separate atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition (APCVD) processes and each APCVD process followed by a pico second laser ablation process to form openings for emitter (p+) and base contact diffusion (n+) regions in the BSG layers.
  • APCVD atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition
  • a phosphosilicate glass layer is then formed using an APCVD process followed by a thermal anneal (to form the emitter junction, base and emitter contact diffusion, and improved backside passivation) followed by a pico second laser ablation process to form contact hole openings to emitter (p+) and base (p+) regions in the dielectric stack layer.
  • Patterned Ml is then formed on emitter (p+) and base (n+) regions for example in a screen print process (e.g., screen printing of aluminum or aluminum- silicon paste).
  • the backplane is laminated on the backside of the solar cell for permanent cell support and reinforcement as well as to support the high-conductivity cell metallization of the solar cell.
  • the mostly-processed back-contact, back-junction backplane -reinforced large-area for instance, a solar cell area of at least 125 mm x 125 mm or larger up to or larger than 1000 cm
  • solar cell is then separated and lifted off from the template along the mechanically- weakened sacrificial porous silicon layer (for example through a mechanical release or MR process) while the template may be re-used many times to further minimize solar cell manufacturing cost.
  • Final cell processing may then be performed on the solar cell sunny-side which is exposed after being released from the template.
  • Sunny-side processing may include, for instance, completing frontside texturization (for example by wet etch or laser texturing processing), passivation (for example using a PECVD process), and anti-reflection coating deposition process.
  • Backplane vias may then be formed in the backplane, for example using a C02 laser, and Metal 2 seed is deposited on the backplane, for example using PVD of aluminum and nickel.
  • Metal 2, for example tin and/or copper plating, is then formed on the backside of the solar cell.
  • the backplane material may be made of a thin (for instance, about 50 to 250 microns), flexible, and electrically insulating polymeric material sheet such as an inexpensive prepreg material commonly used in printed circuit boards (PCB) which meets the process integration and reliability requirements.
  • prepregs are reinforcing materials pre-impregnated with resin and ready to use to produce composite parts (prepregs may be used to produce composites faster and easier than wet lay-up systems). Prepregs may be manufactured by combining
  • prepregs may be easily handled and remain pliable for a certain time period (out-life) at room temperature. Further, prepreg advances have produced materials which do not require refrigeration for storage, prepregs with longer shelf life, and products that cure at lower temperatures. Prepreg laminates may be cured by heating under pressure. Conventional prepregs are formulated for autoclave curing while low-temp, prepregs may be fully cured by using vacuum bag pressure alone at much lower temperatures.
  • the viscosity of a prepreg resin affects its properties, and it is affected by temperature: At 20°C a prepreg resin feels like a 'dry' but tacky solid. Upon heating, the resin viscosity drops dramatically, allowing it to flow around fibers, giving the prepreg the necessary flexibility to conform to mold shapes. As the prepreg is heated beyond the activation temperature, its catalysts react and the cross-linking reaction of the resin molecules accelerates. The progressive polymerization increases the viscosity of the resin until it has passed a point where it will not flow. The reaction then proceeds to full cure. Thus prepeg material may be used to "flow" around and in gaps/voids in the Ml metallization pattern.
  • PCBs are alternating layers of core and prepreg where core is a thin piece of dielectric with copper foil bonded to both sides (core dielectric is cured fiberglass- epoxy resin) and prepreg is uncured fiberglass-epoxy resin.
  • core dielectric is cured fiberglass- epoxy resin
  • prepreg is uncured fiberglass-epoxy resin.
  • Prepreg will cure and harden when heated and pressed.
  • prepregs are rolls of uncured composite materials in which the fibers have been pre-impregnated (combined) with the resin.
  • the prepreg sandwich is heated to a precise temperature and time to slightly cure the resin and, therefore, slightly solidify through crosslinking. This is called B-Staging.
  • prepregs Care must be taken to insure that the sandwich is not heated too much, as this will cause the prepreg to be too stiff and seem “boardy.”
  • the solvent is removed during B-Staging so that resin is relatively dry of solvent.
  • Typical thermoset resins and some thermoplastic resins are commonly used in prepregs.
  • the most common resin is epoxy as the major markets for prepregs are in aerospace, sporting goods, and electrical circuit boards where excellent mechanical, chemical, and physical properties of epoxies are needed.
  • prepregs typically have a thickness in the range of as little as about 1 mil (-25 ⁇ ) up to a multiple of this amount.
  • prepegs may be made of thermoplastics (not as common as thermosets).
  • Thermoplastic prepegs are often used for their toughness, solvent resistance, or some other specialized purpose. Most of the thermoplastics used are very high performance resins, such as PEEK, PEI, and PPS which would compete with 350°F cure epoxies in aerospace applications. Some new applications such as automotive body panels which depend up special properties, such as toughness, are using thermoplastics either alone or mixed with thermosets.
  • Fig. 83 is a cross sectional diagram of yet another back contact solar cell with a backside multi-level (dual level) metallization design mini-cell example.
  • the back contact solar cell of Fig. 82 may be formed using an epitaxial deposition process on a reusable template along with similar backside and frontside processing steps except Metal 2 may be deposited using a PVD process followed by a laser patterning process (for example using a pulsed nano second laser metal ablation) to pattern and form isolated metallization regions on M2.
  • Fig. 84 is a graph showing design related calculation results for power loss as a function of metal 1 design, specifically lateral majority carrier transport ohmic losses in emitter regions for a 25 micron thick epitaxial silicon back contact solar cell.
  • Designing dual metallization structures using an orthogonal interconnect pattern may utilize analytical models to determine the minimal number of M2 orthogonal fingers required. Among other factors, minimizing M2 metallization reduces costs associated with M2 metal as well as reduces stresses induced on a semiconductor substrate by a the metallization pattern.
  • the minimum number of M2 backplane orthogonal fingers may be calculated as follows, assuming ohmic losses dominated by on-cell metallization and not the backplane Al metal foil, as is the case when on-cell backplane Ml Al metal foil thickness less than 80 ⁇ or M2 Al metal foil thickness is greater than 200 ⁇ .
  • the loss factor [(W BM +W EM ) / (W BM -W EM )] is independent of pitch (e.g., same for 800 ⁇ and 1,300 ⁇ pitch).
  • the factor [(W BM +W EM fl (W BM -W EM )] in the P tot solution is on the order of -4.0 to 4.4. The smallest factor (4.0) is obtained for on-cell base metal ratio of 50%.
  • a base metal ratio as small as 35% results in an acceptable small increase to 4.40.
  • Fig. 85 is a graph based on the results calculated in Table 1 highlighting the relative sensitivity of the number of M2 backplane orthogonal fingers to metallization pitch and Ml base-to-emitter metal width ratio.
  • Table 2 below compares the number of backplane orthogonal Al-foil finger pairs (M2) to on-cell Al (Ml) sheet resistance and thickness.
  • Ml on-cell aluminum metal
  • M2 backplane orthogonal aluminum-metal-foil fingers pairs
  • F 4 pairs of orthogonal Al fingers in the backplane
  • F 3 pairs of orthogonal Al fingers in the backplane.
  • Table 3 summarizes results for the number of backplane orthogonal finger pairs (M2) as compared to on-cell metallization thickness (Ml).
  • the multi-level metallization structures for example dual level metallization comprising Ml and M2 including orthogonal and non-orthogonal transformations, disclosed herein provide the following M1/M2 design flexibility advantages relating to performance, cost, mechanical yield, and architecture:
  • Ml design flexibility allows for thinner Ml patterns which reduce the stress and bowing associated with metal on silicon (thin silicon substrates as well as wafer based thicker silicon substrates) without compromising performance. Further, Ml may act as a support structure for thin silicon substrate in a large area back contact solar cell.
  • Busbarless Ml pattern - The Ml pattern may run to the edges of the solar cell and the busbar formed on M2, thus preventing electrical shading due to Ml busbars.
  • M2 may be decoupled from the silicon substrate by positioning a dielectric layer between M2 and the silicon thus reducing stress of M2 and allowing for thicker M2 designs.
  • An orthogonal M2 pattern allows for highly coarse M2 dimensions which may reduce the cost of forming M2 as additional metallization formation methods may be utilized.
  • orthogonal pattern may allow for the insertion of active components such as bypass diodes and MPPT electronics components.

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US10985688B2 (en) 2017-06-05 2021-04-20 Tesla, Inc. Sidelap interconnect for photovoltaic roofing modules
US10734938B2 (en) 2017-07-21 2020-08-04 Tesla, Inc. Packaging for solar roof tiles
US10857764B2 (en) 2017-07-25 2020-12-08 Tesla, Inc. Method for improving adhesion between glass cover and encapsulant for solar roof tiles
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US10978990B2 (en) 2017-09-28 2021-04-13 Tesla, Inc. Glass cover with optical-filtering coating for managing color of a solar roof tile
US10454409B2 (en) 2018-02-02 2019-10-22 Tesla, Inc. Non-flat solar roof tiles
US11437534B2 (en) 2018-02-20 2022-09-06 Tesla, Inc. Inter-tile support for solar roof tiles
US10862420B2 (en) 2018-02-20 2020-12-08 Tesla, Inc. Inter-tile support for solar roof tiles
US11190128B2 (en) 2018-02-27 2021-11-30 Tesla, Inc. Parallel-connected solar roof tile modules
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US11082005B2 (en) 2018-07-31 2021-08-03 Tesla, Inc. External electrical contact for solar roof tiles
US11245354B2 (en) 2018-07-31 2022-02-08 Tesla, Inc. Solar roof tile spacer with embedded circuitry
US11245355B2 (en) 2018-09-04 2022-02-08 Tesla, Inc. Solar roof tile module
US11581843B2 (en) 2018-09-14 2023-02-14 Tesla, Inc. Solar roof tile free of back encapsulant layer
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