  The gap between cell and module efficiency is a major challenge for all
photovoltaic (PV) technologies. For monolithic thin film PV modules, a
significant fraction of this gap has been attributed to parasitic shunts, and
other defects, distributed across the module. In this paper, we show that it is
possible to contain or isolate these shunt defects, using the state of the art
laser scribing processes, after the fabrication of the series connected module
is finished. We discuss three possible alternatives, and quantify the
performance gains for each technique. We demonstrate that using these
techniques, it is possible to recover up to 50% of the power lost to parasitic
shunts, which results in 1-2% (absolute) increase in module efficiencies for
typical thin film PV technologies.
