This invention comprises deposition of thin film photovoltaic junctions on
metal substrates which can be heat treated following deposition in a
continuous fashion without deterioration of the metal support structure.
In a separate operation an interconnection substrate structure is
produced in a continuous roll-to-roll fashion. In this way the
interconnection substrate structure can be uniquely formulated from
polymer-based materials since it does not have to endure high temperature
exposure. Cells comprising the metal foil supported photovoltaic
junctions are then laminated to the interconnection substrate structure.
Conductive interconnections are deposited to complete the array. The
conductive interconnections can be accomplished with a separately
prepared interconnection component. The interconnected array is produced
using continuous roll-to-roll processing which avoids the need to use the
expensive and intricate material removal operations currently taught in
the art to achieve electrical interconnections among arrays of
photovoltaic cells.