Patent ID: 8076568

Claim:
In combination, two electrically interconnected photovoltaic cells and an interconnecting component wherein, each of said cells has transparent top light incident surface regions, said interconnecting component comprises a polymeric sheetlike substrate having a top upward facing side and a bottom downward facing side, a first portion of said sheetlike substrate comprises multiple transparent polymeric layers, a first of said transparent layers comprises a polymeric adhesive forming the downward facing side of said first portion, and a second of said transparent layers comprises a structural polymer overlaying at least a portion of said first adhesive layer, said first adhesive layer positioned over at least a portion of a first cell, such that said adhesive is in direct physical contact with a transparent top light incident surface region of said first cell, and wherein said sheetlike substrate extends beyond said first cell such that a second portion of said sheetlike substrate is positioned beneath a second of said cells, an wherein the upward facing side of said second portion of said sheetlike substrate is formed by a layer of additional polymeric adhesive, and wherein said structural polymer layer overlays a preponderance of the light incident surface of said first cell and does not overlay the light incident surface of said second cell.