Effect of pre-welding and welding voltage on thermal fatigue property of parallel gap resistance welded joint between Ag interconnector and Au/Ag back electrode of GaAs solar cell

Abstract

Thermal reliability of Au/Ag interconnection is a crucial factor for the life of solar cell array during service in space. Although it is known that increasing the heat input can effectively improve the joint thermal fatigue resistance, such welding energy increase has to be achieved by coordination of various parameters to avoid damage to the solar cell matrix. Therefore, clarification of specific strengthening mechanism by different welding parameter is significant for the further improvement of joining quality. In this study, parallel gap resistance welding (PGRW) is used to perform micro-leveled interconnection between Au/Ag back electrode of triple-junction GaAs space solar cell and Ag interconnector. Besides the original parameter set, methods of welding voltage increase and pre-welding are used to improve the joining quality. Subsequently, the samples are subjected to temperature cycling environment between−160 °C and+120 °C for various cycles. According to the tensile-shear test results, although both methods have effectively improved the joint thermal fatigue property, quite different strengthening routes are shown. On one hand, joints strengthened by increasing welding voltage have higher tensile shear force than the ones strengthened by pre-welding. On the other hand, joints optimized by pre-welding show much stabler tensile-shear property. Material characterization by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) has explained the different strengthening routes that increase of voltage actually changes the joining mechanism from original solid-phase diffusion between Au/Ag interface into total melting, while pre-welding keeps the interface with partial solid-phase diffusion interface. Besides, electron back scattered diffraction (EBSD) results indicate that the evolution of residual stress concentration is the intrinsic reason for thermal fatigue failure of the Au/Ag interface.