Oxidation characteristics of solder alloys for the photovoltaic module

Photovoltaic (PV) cell is considered as one of the finest ways to utilize the solar power. A study of improving solar cell's efficiency is important because the lifetime of solar cell is determined by photovoltaic module technology. Therefore, oxidation (and/or corrosion) of solder materials will be one of the primary yield and long-term reliability risk factor. Recently, the development of lead-free solder alloy has been done actively about lead-free solder alloys of the thermodynamic and mechanical properties. However, the oxidation behavior have rarely been investigated In this study, the oxidations of 60 wt% Sn-40 wt% Pb, 62 wt% Sn-36 wt% Pb -2 wt% Ag, 50wt% Sn-48 wt% Bi-2 wt% Ag alloys for the interconnect ribbon after exposure in atmosphere at $100^{\circ}C$ for several times were investigated. The wettability of 62 wt% Sn-36 wt% Pb-2 wt% Ag and 50 wt% Sn-48 wt% Bi-2 wt% Ag solders was also studied to compare with that of 60 wt% Sn-40 wt% Pb alloy. The results howed that the zero cross time and the wetting time of 50 wt% Sn-48 wt% Bi-2 wt% Ag solder were better than other two samples. The surface of tested samples was analyzed by XPS. The XPS result showed that in all samples, SnO grew first and then the mixture of SnO and $SnO_2$ was detected. $SnO_2$ grew predominantly for the long time aging. Moreover XPS depth profile analysis has found surface enrichment of tin oxide.

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