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Enabling technology for ultra fine line solar cell metallisation

Paul Boughton

DEK Solar's Fine Line Stencil - launched at this year’s Shanghai New International Expo Centre (SNEC) Photovoltaic Power Expo in China - is an enabling technology for ultra fine line solar cell metallisation.

Through lowering manufacturing costs and by increasing solar cell efficiency, Fine Line Stencil could make impact on the PV industry.
 
Reducing screen printed line width helps reduce shadowing losses, but can also lead to higher line resistance. However, DEK Solar’s Fine Line Stencil ensures superb printed line height uniformity. This gives excellent line conductivity with almost no wasted silver, thereby enabling sub-40µm line widths with no increase in line resistance. Recently published results indicate that a cell efficiency improvement combined with a 40% reduction in frontside paste consumption is a realistic prospect for many cell manufacturers.
 
When used in the dual print process, the Fine Line Stencil creates the win-win scenario of higher efficiencies and lower silver consumption by firstly printing the busbars with a fine mesh screen, and then separately printing the conductors with the Fine Line Stencil. This allows an optimised paste to be used for each print process which not only gives precise control over the relative print height of the busbars and the fine lines, thereby saving silver, but also allows a non-contacting busbar paste to increase Voc and therefore cell efficiency.
 
For more information, visit www.deksolar.com

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