Title :
Thermo-mechanical challenges of advanced solar cell modules
Author :
Gonzalez, Mario ; Govaerts, Jonathan ; Labie, Riet ; De Wolf, Ingrid ; Baert, Kris
Author_Institution :
Imec, Leuven, Belgium
Abstract :
This paper firstly summarizes the process flow developed at IMEC to integrate and interconnect thin back-contact solar cells into modules. Secondly, the process flow is simulated by Finite Element Modelling to determine critical process steps that may lead to early failures. A virtual Design of Experiment (DOE) is used to determine the best geometry and materials properties in order to minimise the induced stresses in the cells and the interconnections. The variables of this DOE are the silicon, the glue and the encapsulant thickness and the Elastic Modulus of the glue and encapsulant. The results of this DOE are presented in forms of Response Surface Models and it is observed that Young´s Modulus of encapsulant and the thickness of the solar cells are the mayor contributors to the stresses in the silicon cells. Furthermore, an analysis of the changes in distance between adjacent cells at different temperatures indicates that the stiffness of the encapsulant material will play an important role on the mechanical behavior of the metallic solar cells interconnections.
Keywords :
Young´s modulus; finite element analysis; solar cells; Young modulus; advanced solar cell module; elastic modulus; encapsulant material stiffness; encapsulant thickness; finite element modelling; induced stress minimization; metallic solar cells interconnections; response surface model; silicon cell; thermo-mechanical challenge; thin back-contact solar cells; virtual design of experiment; Copper; Deformable models; Glass; Silicon; Strain; Stress;
Conference_Titel :
Thermal, Mechanical and Multi-Physics Simulation and Experiments in Microelectronics and Microsystems (EuroSimE), 2011 12th International Conference on
Conference_Location :
Linz
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4577-0107-8
DOI :
10.1109/ESIME.2011.5765822