SBIR Phase I: Cost-Effective, High Volume Emitter Wrap Through Manufacturing Process Development for Higher Efficiency Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells

该小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目旨在开发一种实用的制造工艺和EWT太阳能电池的关键硬件。 EWT技术具有重要意义，因为它可以将晶体硅太阳能电池的效率从目前的13-17%提高到20%以上。 然而，由于处理速度和成本方面的挑战，其承诺尚未实现。 该项目将利用最近开发的基于Arbor Photonics 3C光纤的高功率光纤激光器技术，沿着快速光束扫描技术，为EWT应用开发经济且可部署的工艺。 该项目的预期成果是开发一个详细的基线激光系统，该系统可以以具有成本效益的方式实现每秒10，000多个孔。该项目的更广泛/商业影响将是EWT太阳能电池的广泛采用。 EWT太阳能电池的商业化尚未实现，这是由于目前每秒不到4，000个孔的缓慢处理速度导致的高制造成本。 目前可用的商业激光器无法实现脉冲能量、持续时间和重复率的组合，以实现使该工艺在经济上可行所需的每秒超过10，000个孔的目标。Arbor Photonics最近开发的高功率光纤激光器技术扩展了可用的操作激光器参数范围，并结合了快速光束扫描技术，可以为该应用开发经济且可部署的工艺。由此产生的工艺工具有可能解决硅太阳能电池制造中使用的基于激光的工具的1亿美元市场的一部分，该细分市场在过去5年中每年以60%的速度增长。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project aims to develop a practical manufacturing process and the key enabling hardware for Emitter Wrap Through (EWT) solar cells. EWT technology is significant because it can improve the efficiency of crystalline-silicon solar cells to potentially above 20% energy conversion efficiency from the current 13-17% today. However, its promise has not been materialized because of the challenges in processing speed and cost. This project will utilize a recently developed high-power fiber laser technology based upon Arbor Photonics 3C optical fibers, along with fast beam scanning technology to enable the development of an economical and deployable process for EWT application. The expected outcome of this project is the development of a detailed baseline laser system that can achieve more than 10,000 holes per second in a cost-effective manner. The broader/commercial impact of this project will be the potential to enable the wide adoption of EWT solar cells. The commercialization of EWT solar cells has not been realized due to the high manufacturing costs resulting from slow processing speeds that is currently less than 4,000 holes per second. The currently available commercial lasers cannot achieve the combination of pulse energy, duration and repetition rate to achieve the target of more than 10,000 holes per second required to make this process economically viable. A combination of recently developed high-power fiber laser technology from Arbor Photonics that extends the range of available operating laser parameters and fast beam scanning technology can enable development of an economical and deployable process for this application. The resulting process tool has the potential to address a portion of the $100 million market for laser-based tools used in Si solar cell manufacturing, a market segment that has seen year over year growth on the order of 60% per year in the last 5 years.