Crossover from Semiconductor to Solar Assembly Materials and Processes

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The assembly materials and assembly techniques used in semiconductor packaging have been adopted for solar assembly, especially back end assembly.

This is a new revelation to me. After a long week in San Francisco for the Semicon West trade show, I wound down this weekend and am now evaluating my follow-up items and realizing what a great show this was and how much I learned!

Personally, I have been absent from the trade show scene for a couple months and wasn't certain what level of attendance to expect; however, I was pleasantly surprised. The Semicon West show was appropriately tied together with Intersolar, and the cross-over attendance was striking. Until now, I was familiar with the materials and processes used in semiconductor assembly manufacturing as well as those used in solar assembly, but didn't realize how much these two industries have in common.

As one example, soldering in solar assembly is done using some of the most common alloys found in semiconductor assembly, SAC and Sn/Ag. Jim Hisert posted an article on his solar materials science blog about the use of these Pb-free solder alloys. In back end solar assembly, Pb-free alloys are screen printed in the form of a solder paste using a similar technique to that of the solder pastes used in semiconductor assembly.

Another example of this cross-over can be seen in the exhibitor list for Intersolar. Many of the companies who have exhibited at Semicon West in the past or are regularly involved in manufacturing semiconductor assembly equipment, have moved to or added a second booth to attract the attendees at Intersolar. Examples of those I am familiar with from my semiconductor experience and noted at the Intersolar show include:

BTU International and DekSolar

Indium Corporation also presented at both the Semicon West show and Intersolar.

Comments for Crossover from Semiconductor to Solar Assembly Materials and Processes

Sunday, August 9, 2009 by Carl Zweben:: Dear Ms. Hartnett: I find your blog articles interesting and informative. Do you have any information about the role of thermal management in design of planar photovoltaic solar arrays? I worked on concentrating photovoltaic and planar spacecraft arrays many years ago at GE. I know that heat dissipation is critical for both sysems, especially concentrators. However, I have no background in terrestrial systems. Best regards, Carl
Tuesday, August 11, 2009 by Amanda Hartnett:: Carl, Thermal management has become a top concern for manufacturers of terrestrial solar concentrator cells. I have spoken to multiple manufacturers of these and found this topic quite interesting. These concentrators can get very hot and thermal dissipation is critical to extend their life. Solar concentrators use mirrors or lenses to reflect or refract the light even hundreds of times to concentrate the light from a large area onto a small solar cell. While these devices have come a long way toward thermal efficiency, thermal management remains a big issue. When you concentrate a lot of energy on a small area, and the energy is not all used, the remaining energy is released as heat which must be dissipated. High efficiency concentrators today are claiming 40% efficiency. Thats great, however it means that still 60% of the now concentrated energy must be released through a very dense area. Thermal management materials have been taken from high power electronics such as those used for die attach in LEDs or switching modules to handle this heat.

Amanda Hartnett