Innovative and efficient production processes for silicon solar cells and modules - SOLPRO IV

Abstract

The joint project of wafer, solar cell and solar module manufacturers and research institutes called "SOLPRO" has been continued. Within SOLPRO IV the "board of experts: innovative and efficient production processes for silicon photovoltaic modules" was composed of 13 German enterprises and scientifically supported and co-ordinated by the Fraunhofer ISE and the Fraunhofer IPT. The consortium of participating enterprises covers almost completely the production chain from the as-cut-wafer to the completed module both on the production side as well as on the equipment manufacturing side. The multidisciplinarity of the SOLPRO consortium creates a fruitful ground for the identification and assessment of optimisation and innovation potentials within the production technology based on cells and modules from silicon wafers. Within the different sub-projects various results have been obtained, which are summarised in this paper. For example thorough experiments on alternatives to the standard edge isolation process in a plasma barrel etcher have shown, that the use of a fast laser ablation process instead of standard plasma barrel etching can lead to a significantly improved material flow in a production scale environment while maintaining or even improving the cell efficiency