Picosecond-laser structuring of amorphous-silicon thin-film solar modules

Laser scribing with nanosecond (ns) diode pumped solid-state laser sources is the industry standard in the fabrication of silicon-based thin-film photovoltaic (TFPV) modules. Reducing the interconnection area is one of the on-going challenges for the next generation of TFPV modules. In this regard, replacing ns laser sources by picosecond (ps) laser sources is one of the logical steps. Ps-laser pulses reduce the heat-affected zones compared to ns pulses, and thus enable a reduction of the interconnection zone. This work describes the substrate-side ablation of fluorine-doped tin oxide, amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) and a-Si:H with an aluminum layer on top, using a 10-ps laser with a wavelength of 1064 nm. The investigation of single-pulse ablation and trench scribing demonstrates that the complete monolithic interconnection can be achieved at the fundamental wavelength. In addition, the evaluation of the ablation efficiency shows that the best trench quality is achieved at the efficiency maximum.