TY - JFULL AU - Tim Giesen and Christian Fischmann and Fabian Böttinger and Alexander Ehm and Alexander Verl PY - 2012/2/ TI - Development and Optimization of Automated Dry-Wafer Separation T2 - International Journal of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering SP - 107 EP - 114 VL - 6 SN - 1307-6892 UR - https://publications.waset.org/pdf/4341 PU - World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology NX - Open Science Index 61, 2012 N2 - In a state-of-the-art industrial production line of photovoltaic products the handling and automation processes are of particular importance and implication. While processing a fully functional crystalline solar cell an as-cut photovoltaic wafer is subject to numerous repeated handling steps. With respect to stronger requirements in productivity and decreasing rejections due to defects the mechanical stress on the thin wafers has to be reduced to a minimum as the fragility increases by decreasing wafer thicknesses. In relation to the increasing wafer fragility, researches at the Fraunhofer Institutes IPA and CSP showed a negative correlation between multiple handling processes and the wafer integrity. Recent work therefore focused on the analysis and optimization of the dry wafer stack separation process with compressed air. The achievement of a wafer sensitive process capability and a high production throughput rate is the basic motivation in this research. ER -