Solar cell wafer wire bonding system and method
AssigneeMaxeon Solar Pte. Ltd.
InventorsVergil R. SANDOVAL, Emmanuel C. ABAS, Yafu LIN
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A wire bonding system attaches wires to a solar cell wafer. The wire bonding system includes a feed tube through which a wire is drawn. Rollers contact the wire through openings in the feed tube to facilitate movement of the wire. The wire bonding system includes a soldering heater tip and a wire cutter. The solar cell wafer is placed on a platform, which moves the solar cell wafer. The system has multiple lanes for attaching multiple wires to the solar cell wafer at the same time in parallel operations.
Claims20
A method of attaching wires to a solar cell wafer, the method comprising:
- soldering a first portion of each of a first plurality of wires on a solar cell wafer;
- in a first instance, moving the solar cell wafer to draw the first plurality of wires across the solar cell wafer;
- after moving the solar cell wafer in the first instance, soldering a second portion of each of the first plurality of wires on the solar cell wafer;
- cutting each of the first plurality of wires;
- and
- in a second instance, moving the solar cell wafer to create a gap between the first plurality of wires and a second plurality of wires on the solar cell wafer.
A solar cell wafer wire bonding system comprising:
- a movable platform that supports a solar cell wafer;
- a plurality of feed tubes, each feed tube of the plurality of feed tubes being configured to receive a wire of a plurality of wires;
- for each feed tube of the plurality of feed tubes, a soldering heater tip that is disposed in a vicinity of an exit end of the feed tube, the heater tip being configured to solder a wire drawn through the feed tube to the solar cell wafer;
- and
- for each feed tube of the plurality of feed tubes, a cutter that is configured to cut a wire drawn through the feed tube.
A method of attaching wires to a solar cell wafer, the method comprising:
- feeding a wire through a feed tube;
- positioning a first end of the wire on the solar cell wafer;
- soldering the first end of the wire to a first attachment point on the solar cell wafer;
- moving the solar cell wafer while drawing the wire through the feed tube;
- after moving the solar cell wafer, soldering the wire to a second attachment point on the solar cell wafer;
- after soldering the wire to the second attachment point on the solar cell wafer, cutting the wire to form a second end of the wire;
- and
- moving the solar cell wafer to create a gap between the wire and a next following wire to be attached to the solar cell wafer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.