Patent ID: 8779326
Filing Date: 2014-07-15
Classification: B23K,H01L,Y10T

Abstract:
1. A device for accurately positioning laser scribed lines by processing a thin top layer of material which overcoats one or more other lower layers in which lines have already been scribed for the purpose of making solar panels, said device comprising: an optics unit for generating one or more laser beams in order to scribe one or more lines in the top layer of the solar panel; an alignment detector system that is attached to the optics unit, the alignment detector system being displaced from the optics unit by a distance such that the alignment detector system measures the position of one of the scribes in one of the lower layers in the area of the panel that will be scribed at a subsequent time; a motion system for moving the solar panel with respect to the optics unit, wherein the alignment detector system is configured to follow the path of one or more of the lines scribed in the one of the lower layers and to measure the position of said line or lines over the full length while the optics unit proceeds with laser scribing of the top layer in a different area of the panel; and a control and motion system for receiving data from the alignment detector system attached to the optics unit for correcting the relative position of the optics unit with respect to the solar panel in the direction perpendicular to the scribe direction in order to allow the laser scribed lines to be accurately placed with respect to lines already scribed in a lower layer.