Thin-Film Solar Cells are Big Talk at Solar 2008...

Thin-Film Solar Cells were widely talked about at this year's Solar 2008 in San Diego. The solar industry as a whole has been looking at different opportunities to reduce the cost per watt of solar panel cells to make solar energy more cost efficient. Currently thin-film solar cells seem to be the most cost effective way to eliminate demand on limited fossil fuels. Many companies have reported $2.50/watt, others say that they can bring down the per watt cost to close to the one dollar mark. To become competitive, the cost per watt needs to be reduced to less than one dollar. 

Current industry leaders are looking at fiber lasers to help make the one dollar per watt mark a near future reality. Fonon Technology International (FTI), created in 1991 as an R &D company, is the parent company of Advanced Solar Photonics. FTI developed patented zero width scribing technology applicable in the Flat Panel Display industry. Advanced Solar Photonics (ASP) is using this proven technology in a similar way to develop custom systems specifically for the solar panel processing industry. Currently, Advanced Solar Photonics has been researching the use of fiber lasers in the mass production of G8-G10 solar panels. There are three major areas fiber lasers are reducing production costs of thin-film solar panels. 

• Fiber lasers would be used to scribe through the various unaligned thin film layers on glass or flexible substrates with high speed precision and less energy consumption than current methods. With ASP's custom systems developed it offers the industry needed precision and control, solar cell manufacturers are able to scribe through the thin film layers without penetrating the substrate allowing for higher efficient manufacturing.

• Currently the thin film devices are produced in very large sizes, approximately 1 meter square. These large thin film devices can be divided into 200 smaller electrically connected series. This subdivision and patterning would occur after each layer is deposited. ASP's systems are designed to control the depth of each scribe and create higher yields resulting in less waste. With the glass substrates as the base, ASP systems will also be able to take advantage of the substrate transparency and scribe from the rear.

• Fiber lasers can be used to mark the solar cells with alphanumerics, barcodes and 2-D matrix to help track the solar cell  and panels through its process. This is going to be a very important part of the entire solar industry and only fiber lasers will be able to mark these cells with the speed and efficiency needed. 

The fast growing solar and fiber laser industries seem to be the perfect match for each other. The solar industry is trying to reduce the cost of creating solar panels while increasing energy and ASP's fiber laser systems are the most cost and energy efficient solution. Advanced Solar Photonics is very excited about the solar future and is currently partnering, researching and creating custom fiber laser systems for many key players in the solar industry. Helping companies compete in this $400 billion industry and finding more economic ways to help the world become less dependent on fossil fuels is Advanced Solar Photonics main goal. 

If you missed Solar 2008, you can still have the opportunity to see our Fiber Laser systems in October at Solar Power 2008 in San Diego.  We will be happy to answer all your questions and introduce you to the Laser Revolution.