Photovoltaic (PV) Wafers and Cells

Renewable energy resource demands have had a direct impact on materials cost to produce PV wafers. In order to achieve industry cost savings goals, mechanical quality of the silicon wafer substrate will be critical to realizing yield improvements and reducing overall cost per watt requirements for wide-scale implementation.

PV Wafer Flatness (LineMoiré) - Heavily warped silicon wafers have a greater tendency to crack during processing which reduces production line throughput both by yield loss and equipment downtime while highly abrasive silicon shards are removed. Wafer sorting simplifies recycling of solar grade silicon which is in short supply.

PV Wafer Saw Marks (LineMoiré) - Steps, grooves and waviness in the silicon wafer surface due to irregular wire saw motion during cutting can lead to continuity defects in screen-printed electrodes and other process problems. Full-field shadow moiré can rapidly capture the entire surface profile and characterize saw marks by frequency, location and depth.

PV Cell Warpage (LineMoiré) - Finished PV cells are laminated as arrays into PV modules. Identifying warped PV cells that are more likely to fracture during the module production process ultimately increases production yield and reduces module cost.