Applications of fibre lasers in solar cell manufacture

Within the solar cell industry a number of critical production processes are looking to the fibre laser to provide leading edge manufacturing solutions. In silicon based cells there is a need for silicon cutting and a novel process using a CW fibre laser has demonstrated superior cutting performance over existing technologies. In thin film based solar technologies there is a requirement for a number of scribes and cell edge deletion. The application of fibre lasers to these applications has been evaluated and is discussed. There are also a number of applications in the packaging of solar cells, with applications such as welding or soldering of electrical contacts being ideally suited to laser processing. The fibre laser is shown as a versatile manufacturing tool that will have a significant impact on the future development of solar technology.