Method and apparatus for printing on a substrate for the production of a solar cell
AssigneeApplied Materials Italia S.R.L.
InventorsAlessandro Voltan, Marco Galiazzo, Oscar Borsato, Davide Colla
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Abstract
A method (500) for printing on a substrate (102) for the production of a solar cell, the method comprising: printing (501) a wet pattern on the substrate (102); extracting (503) three-dimensional morphological data of the wet pattern (104′) in real-time using an in-line profilometer (101); wherein the printing of the wet pattern on the substrate is controlled in real time at least in part based on previous three-dimensional morphological data obtained by extracting the three-dimensional morphological data.
Claims19
A method for optimization of material consumption during a production of a solar cell, the method comprising:
- printing a wet pattern on the substrate;
- extracting three-dimensional morphological data of the wet pattern in real-time using an in-line profilometer, wherein the three-dimensional morphological data comprises at least one of a thickness, a width, a volume, a roughness, a height, or combinations thereof;
- determining a material consumption based on the extracted three-dimensional morphological data;
- optimizing the material consumption, wherein the material consumption is a consumption of a material used for printing the wet pattern on the substrate;
- and
- controlling the height of the wet pattern on the substrate in real time at least in part based on previous three-dimensional morphological data obtained by extracting the three-dimensional morphological data and controlling the height of the wet pattern on the substrate by controlling an amount of the material that is applied onto the substrate to form the wet pattern, wherein the real-time control compensates for variations in the height of the material due to at least one of degradation processes, temperature drifting, and consumption of used materials.
An apparatus for optimization of material consumption during printing on a substrate for a production of a solar cell, the apparatus comprising:
- a substrate holder;
- an in-line profilometer configured to extract three-dimensional morphological data of a wet pattern on the substrate placed on the substrate holder in real-time, wherein the three-dimensional morphological data comprises at least one of a thickness, a width, a volume, a roughness, a height, or combinations thereof;
- an actuator coupled to the substrate holder;
- a printer for applying the wet pattern on the substrate;
- and
- a controller coupled to the in-line profilometer, the actuator, and the printer, the controller is configured to optimize the material consumption, wherein the material consumption is a consumption of a material used for printing the wet pattern on the substrate, and control in real time a printing the height of the wet pattern on the substrate, the height of the wet pattern on the substrate being at least in part based on previous three-dimensional morphological data and wherein the real-time control compensates for variations in the height of the material due to at least one of degradation processes, temperature drifting, and consumption of used materials,
- wherein the in-line profilometer is configured to extract three-dimensional morphological data of the wet pattern on the substrate placed on the substrate holder in real-time.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.