Dirk Reinwand was born at February 26th 1977 in Haßfurt.
He studied supply engineering with a focus on energy technology at Hochschule Offenburg from 2003 to 2007. During his diploma thesis he worked at the Fraunhofer ISE (Institute for Solar Energy) in Freiburg with the development of temper and firing processes for dielectric passivated silicon wafer. In addition to the characterization of the individual process sequences, several series of experiments for a various number of metallization concepts for crystalline silicon solar cells with regard to contact formation and passivation quality were investigated. After the successful completion of his studies in August 2007 he received permission to the doctoral studies at the Albert-Ludwigs University in Freiburg for FH highly qualified graduates.
Besides studying he has been working at the Fraunhofer ISE since 2003. During this time he gained experience in the field of surface passivation, anti-reflection coating, the metal-semiconductor contact formation and a different number of characterization tools.
"PVD metallization for crystalline silicon solar cells."
Besides using thinner and larger material, higher efficiencies in the production of crystalline silicon solar cells are required for further cost reduction. Comparable to laboratory scale cells and processes, on industrially produced solar cells high efficiencies are limited by various factors and existing process technologies. As part of the thesis a prototype system for flexible metal coating of crystalline silicon solar cells is characterized and further optimized. The system holds the possibility for thermal evaporation and sputtering various metal layers. In addition to other laboratory equipment and reference processes, fundamental research can be conducted.
The thesis is divided thematically into different areas:
Definition of requirements for the generation of a sufficiently good metallization. Main topics of interest are the target and system purity or the vacuum quality.
Analysis of the physical and mechanical properties of the applied layers. This includes factors such as adhesion, conductivity, solder ability, and their suitability for various subsequent processes such as a galvanic reinforcement.
Process and layer influence on the solar cell. Here topics like thermal impact on the sample (e.g. during thermal evaporation elevated temperatures can harm dielectric layers) or the radiative damage during sputter deposition are investigated.
Manufacturing of solar cells using the optimized processes. After a thorough evaluation of the PVD processes on test structures high-efficiency solar cells will be manufactured.
