Light annealing in a cooling chamber of a firing furnace

Abstract

One embodiment is directed to an apparatus comprising a firing furnace comprising a heating chamber configured to fire a metallization layer of photovoltaic devices and a cooling chamber configured to cool the photovoltaic devices that have been heated by the heating chamber. The cooling chamber comprises lights to light anneal the photovoltaic devices to reduce light induced degradation as the photovoltaic devices are cooled in the cooling chamber. The cooling chamber of the firing furnace is configured to use residual heat from heating performed in the heating chamber of the firing furnace as heat for the light annealing of the photovoltaic devices. Light annealing is not performed in the heating chamber of the firing furnace.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An apparatus comprising:
 a firing furnace comprising: a heating chamber configured to fire a metallization layer of photovoltaic devices and a cooling chamber configured to cool the photovoltaic devices that have been heated by the heating chamber;   wherein the cooling chamber comprises lights to light anneal the photovoltaic devices to reduce light induced degradation as the photovoltaic devices are cooled in the cooling chamber; and   wherein the cooling chamber of the firing furnace is configured to use residual heat from heating performed in the heating chamber of the firing furnace as heat for the light annealing of the photovoltaic devices; and   wherein light annealing is not performed in the heating chamber of the firing furnace.   
     
     
         2 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the cooling chamber of the firing furnace is configured to light anneal the photovoltaic devices for between 5 seconds and 45 seconds. 
     
     
         3 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the cooling chamber of the firing furnace is configured to light anneal the photovoltaic devices while each solar cell is at a temperature between 700° C. and 240° C. 
     
     
         4 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the lights comprise a plurality of zones, each zone comprising a subset of the lights, wherein an intensity of light output by the lights of each of the zones differs from an intensity of light output by the lights of at least one of the other zones. 
     
     
         5 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the lights to light anneal the photovoltaic devices comprise light emitting diodes. 
     
     
         6 . The apparatus of  claim 5 , wherein an intensity of light output by the light emitting diodes is adjustable. 
     
     
         7 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein an intensity of light output by the lights to light anneal is in a range of between 3,000 Watts/meters 2  and 48,000 Watts/meters 2 . 
     
     
         8 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the lights emit light in the visible spectrum. 
     
     
         9 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the lights emit light having a wavelength between about 300 nanometers and about 900 nanometers. 
     
     
         10 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the lights comprises light emitting diodes (LEDs) mounted to a water-cooled plate. 
     
     
         11 . The apparatus of  claim 10 , wherein the water-cooled plate is configured to enable air to pass around or through the water-cooled plate. 
     
     
         12 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the cooling chamber comprises first and second cooling sections, wherein the first section is configured to radiantly cool the photovoltaic devices and the second section is configured to convectively cool the photovoltaic devices. 
     
     
         13 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the heating chamber comprises a first and second heating sections, wherein the first heating section is configured to burn out a binder used in the metallization layer of the photovoltaic devices and the second heating section is configured to fire the metallization layer of the photovoltaic devices. 
     
     
         14 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the firing furnace comprises a high-volume production-environment firing furnace. 
     
     
         15 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , further comprising a drying furnace configured to dry the metallization layers of the photovoltaic devices prior to being conveyed to the firing furnace. 
     
     
         16 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the cooling chamber is configured to light anneal the photovoltaic devices in ambient air. 
     
     
         17 . A method of co-firing comprising:
 heating photovoltaic devices in a heating chamber of a firing furnace to co-fire metallization layers of the photovoltaic devices; and   cooling the photovoltaic devices that have been heated by the heating chamber in a cooling chamber of the firing furnace while light annealing the photovoltaic devices to reduce the effects of light-induced degradation using residual heat from heating the photovoltaic devices in the heating chamber as heat for light annealing; and   wherein light annealing is not performed in the heating chamber of the firing furnace.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein the cooling chamber of the firing furnace is configured to light anneal the photovoltaic devices for between 5 seconds and 45 seconds. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein light annealing the photovoltaic devices to reduce the effects of light-induced degradation comprises light annealing the photovoltaic devices to reduce the effects of light-induced degradation while the photovoltaic devices are at a temperature between 700° C. and 240° C. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein light annealing the photovoltaic devices to reduce the effects of light-induced degradation comprises light annealing the photovoltaic devices to reduce the effects of light-induced degradation using light emitting diodes positioned within the cooling chamber of the firing furnace.