GRIPPING-IN-LIQUID: HANDLING CHALLENGES FOR AUTOMATED ULTRA-THIN WAFER PRODUCTION

摘要

New approaches for future photovoltaic cell concepts issue a challenge to crystalline wafer handling.Especially concepts based on ultra-thin silicon wafers force automation developers to look even beyond the aims ofthe international PV manufacturing roadmap. As widely known, crystalline photovoltaic wafers are a very sensitiveobject for industrial production, especially for gripper-based handling solutions. The known wafering method"SLliM-cut" requires an additional cleaning step after a single wafer was detached from the parent substrate. To cleanorganic residues off substrates an etching bath is applied. In general, the investigation takes a look on the potentialthreads for thin foils such as cleaning a particle contamination off the substrate`s surface. The paper further discussesthe opportunities and limits for the automated handling of ultra-thin objects in cleaning baths and presents anapproach for a high-volume process control. The tested gripping principles and processing parameters for underwatergripping of ultra-thin wafers and the opportunities for withdrawing the ultra-thin wafers out of a liquid are presented.