Extended Thermal Cycling Of Shingled Cell Interconnects

For a long time, the solar module market was dominated by the two busbar solar cells interconnected by tabbing ribbons. Over the last decade however, a rapid development and diversification has happened in cell interconnection technology: both a steady increase of the number of busbars/ribbons, as well as the introduction of new interconnection concepts into mass production. One of these is the shingled interconnection design, offering several promising advantages such as reduction of inactive module area, better aesthetics, and lower resistive losses. However, little is so far known about the long-term reliability of this interconnect design.In this contribution, we report on extended thermal cycling of modules with shingled interconnects, comparing the performance and durability of two different commercially available electrically conductive adhesives. We find little or no degradation in the shingled modules after 1000 thermal cycles. This is a promising result for the ability to achieve high durability modules with the shingled interconnect technology.