Optimizing Solar Cell Fabrication with Digital Light Microscopy
Driving the global spread of renewable solar energy, French company S’Tile is developing an innovative solar cell, saving on manufacturing costs and enhancing performance compared to conventional designs. Known as the i-Cell, this device consists of four thin subcells interconnected in series on an integrated silicon substrate.
Through utilizing a low-cost sintered silicon support, this saves on precious materials and leads to cost savings of 30%, while the subcell format reduces electrical resistive losses. The manufacturing process involves many steps, each of which must be carefully and individually optimized for maximizing solar cell performance, and the Olympus DSX500 and LEXT OLS4100 have proved instrumental in optimizing i-Cell fabrication.
