Silver reduction through direct wire bonding for Silicon Heterojunction solar cells

Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, vol. 282, pp. 113412

Abstract

This study introduces Direct Wire Bonding (DWB) as a low-temperature method for interconnecting finger-free Silicon Heterojunction (SHJ) solar cells using low-cost, highly conductive copper wires. The wires are attached to the SHJ cells via discrete pads of conductive paste, enabling direct current extraction from the indium tin oxide (ITO) layer and facilitating transport to sequentially connected cells. We describe the DWB fabrication process and demonstrate its potential by comparing its performance to that of traditional SHJ modules. Our test devices show that DWB modules achieve competitive efficiencies, 0.03 % abs. higher in experiments than the 0BB and multi-wire solutions—while significantly reducing material consumption. In the study we give an outlook on the possible improvement in efficiency. The economic analysis further demonstrates that DWB can reduce production costs to as low as 18 % of the cost of other SHJ metallization and interconnection techniques. These initial results suggest that DWB is a cost-effective solution that addresses both economic and material scarcity challenges in the photovoltaic industry. • Introduced an innovative method to substitute traditional silver-finger-and-ribbon designs by utilizing 30 μm copper wires to directly transport current of metallization-free SHJ solar cells, enhancing cost efficiency. • The initial prototype exhibits higher efficiency to 0BB and multi-wire configurations. • Performed numerical simulations to analyze power dissipation in the device using the new approach, comparing the results with those of traditional SHJ techniques. • The economic analysis revealed the potential of the new method to decrease consumption of SHJ on silver and other limited resources, achieving a total cost that is merely 18 % of that associated with standard SHJ solutions.

Authors 10

1. Yang Liu corresponding Aachen

   Forschungszentrum Jülich · Jülich Aachen Research Alliance · RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   IMD-3: Photovoltaics, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Wilhelm-Johnen Straße, 52425, Jülich, Germany

   Jülich Aachen Research Alliance (JARA-Energy) and Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology, RWTH Aachen University, Schinkelstr. 2, 52062, Aachen, Germany

2. Ian Marius Peters

   Forschungszentrum Jülich

   Affiliation as printed

   IMD-3: Photovoltaics, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Wilhelm-Johnen Straße, 52425, Jülich, Germany

3. Kaining Ding Aachen

   Forschungszentrum Jülich · Jülich Aachen Research Alliance · RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   IMD-3: Photovoltaics, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Wilhelm-Johnen Straße, 52425, Jülich, Germany

   Jülich Aachen Research Alliance (JARA-Energy) and Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology, RWTH Aachen University, Schinkelstr. 2, 52062, Aachen, Germany

4. Bart Elger Pieters

   Forschungszentrum Jülich

   Affiliation as printed

   IMD-3: Photovoltaics, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Wilhelm-Johnen Straße, 52425, Jülich, Germany

5. Karsten Bittkau

   Forschungszentrum Jülich

   Affiliation as printed

   IMD-3: Photovoltaics, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Wilhelm-Johnen Straße, 52425, Jülich, Germany

6. Uwe Rau Aachen

   Forschungszentrum Jülich · Jülich Aachen Research Alliance · RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   IMD-3: Photovoltaics, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Wilhelm-Johnen Straße, 52425, Jülich, Germany

   Jülich Aachen Research Alliance (JARA-Energy) and Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology, RWTH Aachen University, Schinkelstr. 2, 52062, Aachen, Germany

7. Mohamed Issifi Yacouba

   Forschungszentrum Jülich

   Affiliation as printed

   IMD-3: Photovoltaics, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Wilhelm-Johnen Straße, 52425, Jülich, Germany

8. Henrike Gattermann

   Forschungszentrum Jülich

   Affiliation as printed

   IMD-3: Photovoltaics, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Wilhelm-Johnen Straße, 52425, Jülich, Germany

9. Volker Lauterbach

   Forschungszentrum Jülich

   Affiliation as printed

   IMD-3: Photovoltaics, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Wilhelm-Johnen Straße, 52425, Jülich, Germany

10. Andreas Lambertz corresponding

    Forschungszentrum Jülich

    Affiliation as printed

    IMD-3: Photovoltaics, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Wilhelm-Johnen Straße, 52425, Jülich, Germany