Logo: to the web site of Uppsala University

uu.sePublications from Uppsala University
Change search
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf
Reverse bias damage in CIGS modules
Uppsala University, Disciplinary Domain of Science and Technology, Technology, Department of Engineering Sciences, Solid State Electronics. (Solcell)
Uppsala University, Disciplinary Domain of Science and Technology, Technology, Department of Engineering Sciences, Solid State Electronics. (Solcell)
Uppsala University, Disciplinary Domain of Science and Technology, Technology, Department of Engineering Sciences, Solid State Electronics. Solibro Research AB.
Uppsala University, Disciplinary Domain of Science and Technology, Technology, Department of Engineering Sciences, Solid State Electronics. (Solcell)
2009 (English)In: 24th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition: Conference 21-25 September 2009 - Exhibition 21-24 September 2009, 2009 Hamburg proceedings, München: WIP-Renewable Energies , 2009, p. 2967-2970Conference paper, Published paper (Refereed)
Abstract [en]

When solar modules are partially shaded they will be under conditions of partial reverse bias. To test and evaluate the effect of reverse bias, CIGS thin film PV modules were placed under extreme conditions of reverse stress.  Stressing  caused  modules  to  exhibit  visible  “wormlike”  damages.  These  damages  were  caused  by  hot  spot activity during reverse stress. Local heating resulted in pore formation and forced the hot spot to move within the cell. This effect appeared to cause intermixing of the top ZnO layer with the CIGS absorber. Some phase segregation of an undetermined, Cu rich compound was also found near the back contact. Electrically, the observed damages caused local shunt conductance to increase resulting in irreversibly reduced module fill factors.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
München: WIP-Renewable Energies , 2009. p. 2967-2970
Keywords [en]
Cu(InGa)Se2, Modules, Stability
National Category
Other Electrical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Information Engineering
Research subject
Electronics
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-109181DOI: 10.4229/24thEUPVSEC2009-3BV.5.34ISBN: 3-936338-25-6 (print)OAI: oai:DiVA.org:uu-109181DiVA, id: diva2:249065
Conference
24th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference, 21-25 September 2009, Hamburg, Germany
Available from: 2009-10-13 Created: 2009-10-09 Last updated: 2016-04-14Bibliographically approved
In thesis
1. By Means of Beams: Laser Patterning and Stability in CIGS Thin Film Photovoltaics
Open this publication in new window or tab >>By Means of Beams: Laser Patterning and Stability in CIGS Thin Film Photovoltaics
2011 (English)Doctoral thesis, comprehensive summary (Other academic)
Abstract [en]

Solar irradiation is a vast and plentiful source of energy. The use of photovoltaic (PV) devices to convert solar energy directly to electrical energy is an elegant way of sustainable power generation which can be distributed or in large PV plants based on the need. Solar cells are the small building blocks of photovoltaics and when connected together they form PV modules. Thin film solar cells require significantly less energy and raw materials to be produced, as compared to the dominant Si wafer technologies. CIGS thin film solar cells are considered to be the most promising thin film alternative due to its proven high efficiency.

Most thin film PV modules utilise monolithic integration, whereby thin film patterning steps are included between film deposition steps, to create interconnection of individual cells within the layered structure. The state of the art is that CIGS thin film modules are made using one laser patterning step (P1) and two mechanical patterning steps (P2 and P3). Here we present work which successfully demonstrates the replacement of mechanical patterning by laser patterning methods. The use of laser ablation promises such advantages as increased active cell area and reduced maintenance and downtime required for regular replacement of mechanical tools.

The laser tool can also be used to transform CIGS into a conducting compound along a patterned line. We have shown that this process can be performed after all semiconductor layers are deposited using a technique we call laser micro-welding. By performing patterning at the end of the process flow P2 and P3 patterning could be performed simultaneously. Such solutions will further reduce manufacturing times and may offer increased control of semiconductor interfaces.

While showing promising performance on par with reference processes there are still open questions of importance for these novel techniques, particularly that of long term stability. Thin film modules are inherently sensitive to moisture and require reliable encapsulation. Before the techniques introduced here can be seen industrially they must have achieved proven stability. In this work we present a proof of existence of stable micro-welded interconnections.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Uppsala: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis, 2011. p. 98
Series
Digital Comprehensive Summaries of Uppsala Dissertations from the Faculty of Science and Technology, ISSN 1651-6214 ; 801
Keywords
Laser patterning, laser ablation, laser micro-welding, stability, Cu(InGa)Se2, CIGS, thin film solar cells, thin film photovoltaics, module technology, solar energy
National Category
Other Electrical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Information Engineering
Research subject
Engineering Science with specialization in Electronics
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-143154 (URN)978-91-554-7988-6 (ISBN)
Public defence
2011-03-04, Å4001, Ångströmlaboratoriet, Lägerhyddsvägen 1, Uppsala, 09:30 (English)
Opponent
Supervisors
Note
Felaktigt tryckt som Digital Comprehensive Summaries of Uppsala Dissertations from the Faculty of Science and Technology 731Available from: 2011-02-10 Created: 2011-01-19 Last updated: 2011-03-21Bibliographically approved

Open Access in DiVA

fulltext(619 kB)886 downloads
File information
File name FULLTEXT03.pdfFile size 619 kBChecksum SHA-512
502a3dcd0d252750cadad617bef44a4a489cd0f83c7defa28cbb3b7c02103858da7d9a941fc333a9c9cdce15ea73337e8416c65b977006829da55225f07399b6
Type fulltextMimetype application/pdf

Other links

Publisher's full text

Authority records

Westin, Per-OskarZimmermann, UweStolt, LarsEdoff, Marika

Search in DiVA

By author/editor
Westin, Per-OskarZimmermann, UweStolt, LarsEdoff, Marika
By organisation
Solid State ElectronicsSolid State Electronics
Other Electrical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Information Engineering

Search outside of DiVA

GoogleGoogle Scholar
Total: 1187 downloads
The number of downloads is the sum of all downloads of full texts. It may include eg previous versions that are now no longer available

doi
isbn
urn-nbn

Altmetric score

doi
isbn
urn-nbn
Total: 2981 hits
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf