Wavelength and Pulse Duration Effects in Laser Scribing of Thin Films

    Research output: Contribution to conferencePaper

    Abstract

    We have studied the performance of six different types of laser systems for scribing of the polycrystalline thin-film PV materials: ZnO, SnO2, CdTe, CIGS, Mo, and Si. The laser systems were KrF and XeCl excimer, copper vapor, quasi-cw Nd:YAG (both Q-switched and mode-locked), and flashlamp-pumped at Nd:YAG. The wavelengths were 248, 308, 511 & 578, 532, and 1064 nm. Pulses included a 250 ns longtrain of 0.1 ns pulses (mode-locked) and single pulses from 8 ns and 250 ns. The excimer lasers (KrF and XeCl) were found to give high quality scribes for all materials, including the transparent oxides, ZnO:Al and SnO2:F; however, vaporization rates were relatively low. Longer pulse durations (e.g., 90 ns) yielded higher rates of removal (up to 4 ..mu..m per J/cm2) for some materials. The highpulse energy available from the KrF laser allowed evaluation of beam delivery to a long narrow line which could eliminate the need for beam scanning and provide other advantages for scribing. We find that glass-side scribing, as opposed to film-side scribing, works well for Mo and CdTe films.
    Original languageAmerican English
    Pages491-494
    Number of pages4
    DOIs
    StatePublished - 1997
    EventTwenty Sixth IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference - Anaheim, California
    Duration: 29 Sep 19973 Oct 1997

    Conference

    ConferenceTwenty Sixth IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference
    CityAnaheim, California
    Period29/09/973/10/97

    Bibliographical note

    Work performed by University of Toledo, Toledo, Ohio

    NREL Publication Number

    • NREL/CP-520-24974

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