Metallisation patterns for interconnection through holes

ECN has developed a new cell- and module-design for crystalline silicon solar cells called pin-up module (PUM). In this design a limited number of holes (typically 9 or 16) is used to interconnect the front-side metallisation to a foil at the rear side by using pins. In this way the busbars and tabs at the front side are eliminated resulting in several important benefits. The efficiency of the cell becomes independent of the cell area and the efficiency is higher compared to standard tabbed cells. Another benefit is the improved visual appearance. In this paper we discuss the design of the metallisation pattern for the cells. A theoretical analysis is presented that shows the gains of the PUM design over conventional cells.