Method and Apparatus to Form Back Contacts to Flexible CIGS Solar Cells

A system for interconnecting a plurality of solar cells, comprising:

• a carrier for supplying the plurality of solar cells in succession, each cell having a conductive substrate with an exposed surface on a back side and a terminal on a front side, the exposed surface comprising a non-conductive film;
• a material remover to remove at least a portion of the non-conductive film of each cell to form a contact area on the exposed surface of the conductive substrate of each cell;
• and
• a stringing machine to serially interconnect the solar cells by electrically connecting each contact area to the terminal of one of the adjacent solar cells.

A system including a capability for forming contact areas for use in electrically interconnecting a plurality of solar cells, comprising:

• a moving mechanism for supplying a continuous flexible workpiece into the system, the continuous flexible workpiece including a continuous conductive substrate having a plurality of solar cells disposed thereon such that a back side of the continuous conductive substrate is covered with a non-conductive film;
• a material removing station provided in the section of the system to remove a portion of the non-conductive film from the conductive substrate to form contact areas at locations corresponding respectively to each of the plurality of solar cells;
• and
• a cleaning station to clean the continuous flexible workpiece after removing the non-conductive film from the conductive substrate.