Direct Write Processes to Fabricate Solar Cells

A direct write machine capable of writing metals, dielectrics, ferrites and resistive materials, would be an effective tool for rapid prototyping and design for electronic circuits. A versatile machine of this nature could also be implemented with the capability to deposit the necessary materials to directly write a solar cell. This added benefit to the feasibility of using specialized devices that would only be made by the tool such as an advanced unattended sensor. This would also provide a mechanism to study various new designs with solar cells. The rapid prototyping concept could apply to sophisticated solar cell lensing designs. New high efficiency crystalline techniques are being studied with chemical vapor deposition techniques. Adding a laser to these techniques gives direct write accessibility. Providing direct write capabilities to the solar cell design tool box could shorten the design time and provide more efficient solar cells in shorter time periods.