Information Technology Strategies for the Production of Solar Cells

Solar cells are photovoltaic devices made up of different layers of materials: substrates, semiconductors, dielectrics, metals, transparent conducting oxides (TCOs), anti-reflection coatings, encapsulants, etc. Each layer serves a particular role in the overall functioning of the device. In these structures, the semiconductor layers serve the purpose of converting solar photons to electron-hole pairs and establishing the electric field necessary to separate charge and generate external power. Different cell technologies are known primarily by which semiconductor(s) performs this task. As with most manufacturing processes, information technology is playing an ever-increasing role in the production of solar cells. Currently, NREL´s polycrystalline thin film group uses a client-server architecture for collecting data from both measurement-test apparatus and prototype manufacturing equipment. Data from these machines is transferred to a central data warehouse where analytical and data mining techniques are used to study both existing and yet unknown correlations between solar cell fabrication and performance/stability metrics. In an effort to facilitate data exchange with future systems we are developing an information technology strategy based upon the CAMX (Computer Aided Manufacturing using XML) standards to facilitate the efficient transfer of data between data publishers and consumers. By making use of CAMX, we feel that it can greatly reduce the cost and effort of exchanging information and will allow us to focus more resources on our core mission