Title: Nanosecond laser scribing for see-through CIGS thin film solar cells

Abstract

Building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV), especially in a semitransparent and/or see-through configuration, has attracted significant attention because of the extended surfaces available for the photovoltaic (PV) installation including roofs, facades, and windows. Here, we examine the P4 scribing process for fabricating see-through cells on a new Cu (In,Ga)Se₂ (CIGS) architecture with indium tin oxide (ITO) bottom contact, using a nanosecond laser beam of 532-nm wavelength illuminated from glass substrate side. Through parametric studies with the variations of laser beam spot size and pulse energy, we have identified that enlarged laser beam with the pulse energy near scribing threshold could suppress both damage in ITO and electrical shunt induced by molten CIGS. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) analyses unveil that the molten CIGS mediated shunt mechanism, wetting the scribing edge and forming Cu-rich metallic phase. The P4 scribing process operated near threshold fluence of enlarged laser beam clearly suppressed unwanted shunt, also minimizing the fluctuation in the desired film removal trend. Thermal analysis supports that enlarged laser beam enables scribing at reduced CIGS-ITO interface temperature assisted by buckling-based film delamination mechanism and also suppresses CIGS melting at scribing edge and its neighborhood. See-through cells fabricated for the areal fractionmore » of approximately 15% using the optimal laser scribing parameters exhibited the short circuit current reduction rate of 16.8% enabled by the low shunt resistance reduction rate of approximately 8%. Lastly, further studies are underway to elucidate precise shunt-related scribing mechanism on the basis of the cross-sectional analyses and time-resolved diagnostics and to fabricate the module level see-through PV architectures.« less

Authors:

Kuk, Seungkuk  ^[1];

• Search DOE PAGES for author "Kuk, Seungkuk"
• Search DOE PAGES for ORCID "0000-0002-8341-4916"

Wang, Zhen ^[1]; Yu, Hyeonggeun  ^[2];

• Search DOE PAGES for author "Yu, Hyeonggeun"
• Search DOE PAGES for ORCID "0000-0001-9125-1320"

Nam, Chang‐Yong  ^[3];

• Search DOE PAGES for author "Nam, Chang‐Yong"
• Search DOE PAGES for ORCID "0000-0002-9093-4063"

Jeong, Jeung‐hyun  ^[2];

• Search DOE PAGES for author "Jeong, Jeung‐hyun"
• Search DOE PAGES for ORCID "0000-0003-0147-5158"

Hwang, David  ^[1]

• Search DOE PAGES for author "Hwang, David"
• Search DOE PAGES for ORCID "0000-0002-9928-1484"

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+ Show Author Affiliations

1. State Univ. of New York (SUNY), Stony Brook, NY (United States)
2. Korea Inst. of Science and Technology, Seoul (Korea)
3. Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States). Center for Functional Nanomaterials (CFN)

Publication Date:

Thu Dec 05 00:00:00 EST 2019

Research Org.:

Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:

USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)

OSTI Identifier:

1593269

Report Number(s):

BNL-213551-2020-JAAM
Journal ID: ISSN 1062-7995

Grant/Contract Number:  

SC0012704

Resource Type:

Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:

Progress in Photovoltaics

Additional Journal Information:

Journal Volume: 28; Journal Issue: 2; Journal ID: ISSN 1062-7995

Publisher:

Wiley

Country of Publication:

United States

Language:

English

Subject:

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; 14 SOLAR ENERGY; Laser scribing; CIGS; solar cell; nanosecond laser; see‐through solar cell