Novel Interconnection Method for Micro-CPV Solar Cells

Abstract

Micro-concentrator photovoltaics (micro-CPV) consists of the reduction in size of the components of the conventional concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) technology, attaining equally high efficiencies and reducing material costs and manufacturing costs. In this publication we focus on the implementation of high throughput manufacturing methods for the interconnection of the solar cells. The goal is to enable large area interconnection of thousands of micro-solar cells with a low cost of 3€/m2. A proof-of-concept was achieved for interconnection via directly printing onto the front contact pads. Prototypes using two different cell technologies where manufactured achieving good results. The highest achieved fill factor (FF) is of 84.3% at 200X with a short circuit current (Isc) of 2.4mA and open circuit voltage (Voc) of 3.41V.