This thesis transposes the concept of the silicon-based bypass diode, used to protect silicon photovoltaic (PV) modules under partial shading conditions, to the context of printable PV modules. Accordingly, the fabrication and characterization of a printable bypass diode are presented. The selection of materials was based on their ability to maintain a high current density and a high breakdown voltage, while remaining stable in air. The materials must also be printable, non-toxic, abundant, and non-critical. For these reasons, tin dioxide was selected for the fabrication of a Schottky diode. The device fabrication process was optimized, and the origin of the rectifying behavior was found to lie at the SnO2/Ag interface. The conduction mechanism responsible for the leakage current under reverse bias was determined from J-V-T characteristics, through which multiple mechanisms were investigated, including thermionic emission, the tunneling effect described by Miller-Abrahams, and the Mott variable-range hopping model. The device was found to remain stable when polarized at −1 V for more than 120 hours, and exhibited negligible temperature dependence in the vicinity of ambient temperature.
