Forming front metal contact on solar cell with enhanced resistance to stress

A photovoltaic assembly comprising:

• a photovoltaic cell configured to convert light energy to electrical energy, wherein said photovoltaic cell comprises:
• a front metal layer comprising a bus bar on a side along a length of said photovoltaic cell and multiple finger electrodes oriented perpendicular to and extending from said bus bar with one end connected to said bus bar,
• a photovoltaic layer disposed under said front metal layer, said front metal layer being disposed closer than said photovoltaic layer to a side of said photovoltaic cell intended to face light, and
• a substrate layer disposed under said photovoltaic layer;
• a front contact disposed above of said front metal layer and thereby above said bus bar and above the end of each of said finger electrodes connected to said bus bar, and said front contact configured to conduct electrical current originated from the photovoltaic cell to external circuitry;
• a cushion layer disposed between said front contact and said front metal layer thereby closer to said side of said photovoltaic cell intended to face light than said front metal layer, wherein said cushion layer includes a nonconductive material that is less rigid than said front contact and comprises a plurality of vias filled with a conductive material, wherein each filled via is aligned with and in direct contact with one finger electrode at the end of that finger electrode that is connected with said bus bar to conduct electrical current between said front contact and said photovoltaic layer via said front metal layer, and wherein an excess portion of said front contact and said cushion layer along said length of said photovoltaic cell wraps over an edge of said photovoltaic cell;
• and
• a back metal layer disposed between said photovoltaic layer and said substrate layer, said back metal layer being configured to interconnect said photovoltaic layer with another photovoltaic layer of a different photovoltaic cell in said photovoltaic assembly,
• wherein said nonconductive material of said cushion layer includes a flexible polymer material and said substrate layer includes the flexible polymer material.