How are Fiber Lasers Used in Photovoltaic Cell Manufacturing?
Fiber lasers are widely used across a multitude of industries. An industry which is a heavy-duty adopter is the solar cell industry, particularly in the field of photovoltaic cell manufacturing. We go on to discuss this topic in our latest Q&A article.
The basics of a photovoltaic cell
What is a photovoltaic cell?
A photovoltaic cell allows photons (particles of cells) to enable electrons to become free from atoms, in doing so a flow of electricity is enabled. Solar panels are actually many photovoltaic cells all comprised together to form one larger unit.
How are Fiber lasers used in photovoltaic cell manufacturing?
Below we have listed a variety of fiber laser applications, which are used during photovoltaic cell manufacturing.
Laser ablation
Thin film removal is a laser ablation application, which helps to create a circuit in a solar cell by the removal of a thin layer. This is a standard application of an SPI fiber laser.
Laser cutting and scribing of silicon wafers
Using fiber laser cutting, silicon wafers can be cut and scribed with high levels of precision and speed with low heat input levels. The precision avoids melt edges (which can create an edge deletion process to be necessary) and micro cracks associated with other cutting techniques.
Laser drilling
Fiber lasers are perfectly capable of micro-drilling of silicon wafers, which is an important part of the solar cell production process. Drilling is strategically placed to enhance solar cell performance and efficiency. Patterns can be created to inter-connect solar cells without the need for any connections. Laser drilling can be achieved extremely quickly and with high levels of precision, making it ideal for integration into assembly line manufacturing processes.
Laser marking
The marking of silicon wafers and solar cells is important for traceability reasons. What are known as microglyph codes (less than 1mm x 1mm) can be added even onto wafers using fiber lasers.
Related articles
Other SPI content related to photovoltaic cell manufacturing includes:
Contact SPI Lasers
Purchase an SPI laser to support your photovoltaic cell manufacturing, but also in the knowledge that you are buying a multi-functional tool, which can be used for many other applications too. Contact us now to discuss how our pulsed and continuous wave fiber lasers can benefit your organisation.
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