PV (Crystalline Silicon and Thin Film) Manufacturing Diagnostics

Photovoltaic (PV) technology is predicted to have a substantial impact on the nation¿s wealth and economy in the 21st century. Such an energy-generating technology offers high reliability, little maintenance, and virtually no environmental impact. It can be produced domestically and provides many other benefits to the nation¿s economy, security and ecology. However, the cost of manufacturing PV cells is prohibitive. These costs can be reduced by the used of improved in-line diagnostics, because, for large-scale PV cell manufacturing, every manufacturing step must be controlled to maximize quality and yield. Further, the use of automated methods to monitor and diagnose the manufacturing processes will reduce labor costs. This project will develop a high-throughput, in-line, automated diagnostic system that will provide the needed speed and functionality to permit fast accurate mapping of the coating uniformity, composition, and stress on a PV cell. Commercial Applications and other Benefits as described by the awardee: The energy capacity of photovoltaics is predicted to grow to 30GW in 2020 from the current level of 253MW/year, thus providing a significant and quickly growing market opportunity. This project should result in a number of products ¿ from completely automated systems for in-line diagnostics on large PV manufacturing lines to relatively simple and inexpensive table-top systems for R&D in photovoltaics. Other applications include flat panel displays and satellite imaging.