The stability of laser weld interconnects in a-Si:H modules

Author

Dowd, James G O ; Johnson, B.J. ; Oswald, R.S. ; Willing, F.

Author_Institution

Thin Film Div., Solarex Corp., Newtown, PA, USA

fYear

1993

fDate

10-14 May 1993

Firstpage

926

Lastpage

929

Abstract

The widespread acceptance of amorphous silicon solar cells will require an accurate determination of their power output over time. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the environmental stability of the laser weld used to electrically connect the front contact to the rear contact. The evaluation compares the increase in interconnect resistance of modules placed outdoors to the increase measured on plates placed in an accelerated testing chamber. The measurements are made at regular intervals to compare the rate of change which is used to predict long term reliability

Keywords

amorphous semiconductors; elemental semiconductors; hydrogen; laser beam welding; life testing; reliability; semiconductor device testing; silicon; solar cells; stability; Si:H; a-Si:H modules; accelerated testing chamber; amorphous silicon solar cells; environmental stability; front contact; interconnect resistance; laser weld interconnects stability; long term reliability; power output; rear contact; Amorphous silicon; Contacts; Electrical resistance measurement; Electrodes; Laser stability; Life estimation; Power measurement; Testing; Thermal stresses; Welding;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 1993., Conference Record of the Twenty Third IEEE

Conference_Location

Louisville, KY

Print_ISBN

0-7803-1220-1

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/PVSC.1993.347097

Filename

347097