Accelerated Durability Evaluation of Emerging Cell Interconnect Technologies

In this study, we investigate the durability of four different cell interconnect technologies using three long-term accelerated stress tests. The interconnect technologies investigated in this study are: conventional five busbar, tabbed interconnect ribbons (ribbon-tabbed); 12 busbar, soldered wire interconnects (soldered wire); shingled cell interconnects attached with an electrically conductive adhesive (shingled); and laminated wire interconnects with no busbar (laminated wire). The accelerated stress tests implemented in this study are: dynamic mechanical load followed by thermal cycling and humidity freeze (sequence 1); thermal cycling (500 cycles; sequence 2); damp heat (2000 hours; sequence 3). Overall, the average degradation of both modules in all the three sequences is found to be the lowest for the solder wire technology among the four investigated technologies assuming the influence of encapsulant and backsheet is identical in all the constructions.