Lasers in the green revolution Available to Purchase

Lasers are becoming increasingly important in the current global green revolution. Two areas of particular importance are light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and solar cells. LEDs are poised to revolutionize the general lighting industry due to their high efficiency (>150 lm/W), long useful lifetime (>50000 hours), and the fact that they do not contain mercury unlike compact fluorescent lamps. Excimer lasers excel in applications requiring homogeneous large area beam exposure, and are ideal sources for laser lift-off that separates the active layer of LEDs from their growth substrate to produce high efficiency LEDs. Scribing and cutting by diode-pumped solid-state (DPSS) lasers is replacing standard mechanical methods for LED die singulation, and new techniques continue to emerge towards faster and higher quality processes. Experimental results showing laser lift off and scribing of LEDs will be presented. Solar power represents one of the most promising renewable energy sources. Lasers are poised to play a significant role in the current effort to lower the manufacturing costs of solar cells, while increasing their conversion efficiency and overall quality and reliability. In this paper, experimental results showing high speed laser scribing and structuring of solar cells will be presented.