Upscaling of perovskite solar modules: The synergy of fully evaporated layer fabrication and all-laser-scribed interconnections

Given the outstanding progress in research over the past decade, perovskite photovoltaics (PV) is about to step up from laboratory prototypes to commercial products. For this to happen, realizing scalable processes to allow the technology to transition from solar cells to modules is pivotal. This work presents all-evaporated perovskite PV modules with all thin films coated by established vacuum deposition processes. A common 532-nm nanosecond laser source is employed to realize all three interconnection lines of the solar modules. The resulting module interconnections exhibit low series resistance and a small total lateral extension down to 160 mu m. In comparison with interconnection fabrication approaches utilizing multiple scribing tools, the process complexity is reduced while the obtained geometrical fill factor of 96% is comparable with established inorganic thin-film PV technologies. The all-evaporated perovskite minimodules demonstrate power conversion efficiencies of 18.0% and 16.6% on aperture areas of 4 and 51 cm(2), respectively. Most importantly, the all-evaporated minimodules exhibit only minimal upscaling losses as low as 3.1%(rel) per decade of upscaled area, at the same time being the most efficient perovskite PV minimodules based on an all-evaporated layer stack sequence.

Automated summary

This study introduces all-evaporated perovskite PV modules with all thin films coated by established vacuum deposition processes. A common laser source is utilized to realize interconnection lines for solar modules, resulting in low series resistance and high conversion efficiency with minimal upscaling losses. Compared to other fabrication approaches, this process shows reduced complexity and high geometrical fill factor.