Abstract: Improved flexible solar panels and photovoltaic devices, and methods and systems for producing them. A solar cell has non-transcending grooves or trenches, that penetrate some, but not all, of a silicon layer or semiconductor wafer of the solar cell. The non-transcending grooves or trenches are segmenting the solar cell into regions, and provide flexibility and mechanical resilience. Selective and localized region-constrained doping of an opposite polarity is performed at particular regions or locations of a surface or front region of the solar cell; as well as selective and localized placement of metallized electrical contacts. Grooving or trenching operations can be performed via a dopant-containing layer, to prevent or reduce recombination at or near exposed surfaces.

Abstract: An assembly for attaching SMT stencils to a substrate, which includes: a stencil (30) having a plurality of evenly distributed holes along its periphery. The assembly further includes a frame (10) for receiving the stencil (30) and a mesh substrate, attached to the frame. A unified structure of the stencil with the mesh is formed by sewing machine, which thread through the holes of the stencil.