Selective removal and contacting of thin film solar cells

A method for manufacturing a thin film solar cell device comprising the steps of:

• providing a substrate (2) with a back contact (5), wherein the back contact (5) is patterned into a plurality of longitudinal segments;
• providing a multilayer structure (13) with at least a CIGS layer (7) and a front contact (15) on the substrate (2), wherein the multilayer structure (13) is patterned into a plurality of longitudinal segments, each of them overlapping a respective longitudinal segment of the back contact (5) and together forming longitudinal thin film solar cell segments (18) that are serially connected in order to form a thin film solar cell module (17);
• characterized in that the method further comprises the subsequent steps of
• selectively removing the multilayer structure (13) in at least a first peripheral area (22) of the thin film solar cell module (17) to expose the back contact (5) in at least a first longitudinal portion (3) of the first peripheral area (22) adjacent a first longitudinal thin film solar cell segment (18) by blasting;
• and
• connecting a first contacting means (27) to the exposed back contact (5).