Methods and structures for improving the structural integrity of solar cells

1. A method for manufacturing a solar cell, the solar cell having a front side which faces the sun during normal operation, a back side opposite the front side, and four side edges, the method comprising:

forming first and second doped regions on the back side of the solar cell;

before forming metal contact fingers that are electrically coupled to the first and second doped regions, forming a first insulating material in a printable suspension at least on one side edge of the solar cell, wherein the first insulating material forms a continuous first protective film with an elastic modulus of at least 3 GPa and the first protective film envelops a portion of the front side, the at least one side edge, and a portion of the back side of the solar cell comprising the first and second doped regions;

forming a first plurality of interdigitated metal contact fingers electrically coupled to the first doped region; and

forming a second plurality of interdigitated metal contact fingers electrically coupled to the second doped region.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein forming the first doped region comprises forming a continuous diffusion region, forming the second doped region comprises forming dotted diffusion regions each surrounded by the continuous diffusion region, and

the method further comprises forming a second insulating material in a printable suspension between the first doped region and the second plurality of interdigitated metal contact fingers, wherein the second insulating material forms a second protective film with an elastic modulus of at least 3 GPa.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the first and second insulating materials are of the same material.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein forming the first and second doped regions comprises forming first and second diffusion regions in an interdigitated pattern and,

the method further comprises ablating a first plurality of contact holes through a first dielectric layer to allow the first diffusion region to be electrically coupled to the first plurality of interdigitated metal contact fingers and ablating a second plurality of contact holes through the first dielectric layer to allow the second diffusion region to be electrically coupled to the second plurality of interdigitated metal contact fingers.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein forming the first and second doped regions comprises forming the first and second doped regions in an interdigitated pattern and,

the method further comprises forming a first dielectric layer between a silicon substrate of the solar cell and the first and second doped regions, etching a trench region between the first and second doped regions, and forming a second dielectric layer within the trench region.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first protective film has an elastic modulus of 3 GPa.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first protective film has a glass transition temperature of at least 250 degrees Celsius.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first protective film has an elongation break point of 13 percent.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein forming the first and second plurality of interdigitated metal contact fingers comprises performing an electroplating process, wherein the first protective film is adapted to protect at least one edge of the solar cell from being plated with metal during the electroplating process.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein forming the first protective film comprises thermally curing the first insulating material to form the first protective film along the at least one side edge of the solar cell.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein forming the first insulating material comprises depositing a polymer material.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein forming the first insulating material comprises depositing polyvinyl chloride (PVC).

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein forming the first insulating material comprises depositing polyimide.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein forming the first and second doped regions comprises doping a silicon substrate of the solar cell with a dopant selected from the group consisting of boron and phosphorus.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein forming the first insulating material comprises screen printing the first insulating material in the printable suspension unto at least one side edge.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein forming the first insulating material comprises depositing the first insulating material using an edge coating process.

17. A method for manufacturing a solar cell, the solar cell having a front side which faces the sun during normal operation, a back side opposite the front side, and four side edges, the method comprising:

forming first and second doped regions on a thin silicon substrate with a thickness in a range of 50-140 microns;

before forming metal contact fingers that are electrically coupled to the first and second doped regions, depositing a first insulating material in a printable suspension along at least one side edge of the solar cell, wherein the insulating material forms a continuous first protective film with an elastic modulus of at least 3 GPa and a glass transition temperature of at least 250 degrees Celsius and the first protective film envelops a portion of the front side, the at least one side edge, and a portion of the back side of the solar cell comprising the first and second doped regions; and

forming first and second plurality of interdigitated metal contact fingers through an electroplating process, wherein the first and second plurality of interdigitated metal contact fingers are electrically coupled to the first and second doped regions.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein depositing the first insulating material comprises depositing the first insulating material on at least one side edge toward an inner portion of the front and back side of the solar cell at a thickness of at most 1 millimeter.

19. The method of claim 17 , wherein the first protective film is formed using a thermal curing process, the thermal curing process comprising:

ramping up the temperature from a first curing temperature to a second curing temperature over a first curing duration;

maintaining the curing temperature for a second curing duration; and

ramping down the temperature from the second curing temperature back to the first curing temperature over a third curing duration.

20. A method for manufacturing a solar cell, the solar cell having a front side which faces the sun during normal operation, a back side opposite the front side, and four side edges, and the method comprising:

forming a P-type doped region and an N-type doped region on the back side of the solar cell on a thin silicon substrate;

before forming metal contact fingers that are electrically coupled to the P-type and N-type doped regions, depositing a polyimide paste along at least one side edge of the solar cell;

forming a continuous polyimide film on the at least one side edge, a portion of the front side, and a portion of the back side of the solar cell comprising the first and second doped regions;

forming a first plurality of interdigitated metal contact fingers electrically coupled to the P-type doped region; and

forming a second plurality of interdigitated metal contact fingers electrically coupled to the N-type doped region.