Fault localization and failure modes in microsystems-enabled photovoltaic devices

Author

Yang, Benjamin B. ; Cruz-Campa, Jose Luis ; Haase, Gaddi S. ; Tangyunyong, Paiboon ; Cole, Edward I. ; Pimentel, A.A. ; Resnick, P.J. ; Okandan, Murat ; Nielson, Gregory N.

Author_Institution

Sandia Nat. Labs., Albuquerque, NM, USA

fYear

2013

fDate

14-18 April 2013

Abstract

Microsystems-enabled photovoltaic (MEPV) technology is a promising approach to lower the cost of solar energy to competitive levels. This paper describes current development efforts to leverage existing silicon integrated circuit (IC) failure analysis (FA) techniques to study MEPV devices. Various FA techniques such as light emission microscopy and laser-based fault localization were used to identify and characterize primary failure modes after fabrication and packaging. The FA results provide crucial information used in provide corrective actions and improve existing MEPV fabrication techniques.

Keywords

elemental semiconductors; failure analysis; fault diagnosis; integrated circuit packaging; integrated circuit reliability; microfabrication; micromechanical devices; monolithic integrated circuits; photovoltaic cells; silicon; solar cells; FA; IC; MEPV fabrication technique; Si; failure analysis technique; laser-based fault localization; light emission microscopy; microsystems-enabled photovoltaic device; packaging; primary failure mode identification; silicon integrated circuit; solar energy cost; Arrays; Failure analysis; Metals; Photovoltaic systems; Silicon; Substrates; failure analysis; microsystems-enabled photovoltaics; reliability;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Reliability Physics Symposium (IRPS), 2013 IEEE International

Conference_Location

Anaheim, CA

ISSN

1541-7026

Print_ISBN

978-1-4799-0112-8

Electronic_ISBN

1541-7026

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/IRPS.2013.6532010

Filename

6532010