Patent ID: 7898054

Claim:
An article combining a first photovoltaic cell and a unit of interconnection substrate designed to promote facile series electrical and mechanical assembly of a multiple of said articles, said first photovoltaic cell having an upwardly facing top surface electrode comprising a transparent conductive material, said cell further comprising thin film semiconductor material supported on an upwardly facing surface of a metal based cell foil, said metal based cell foil also forming a conductive bottom surface electrode and being self supporting, said unit of interconnection substrate having a sheetlike form with a substantially planar upwardly facing surface and comprising conductive and non-conductive materials in addition to those associated with said cell structure, said article characterized by having overlapping portions of said first cell and the unit such that said first cell portion overlays an upwardly facing surface of a first portion of said additional conductive material of said unit and a second portion of said additional conductive material extends outside a terminal edge of said cell and further that a portion of said additional non-conductive material forms an insulating barrier positioned between said first portion of said additional conductive material and said metal based cell foil, such that said additional conductive material does not have ohmic electrical communication with said cell foil of said first cell.