Background

Metallization is the key step in the production of c-Si solar cells. The photogenerated carriers are led out of the cell by preparing metalized electrodes on the front and the rear of the silicon wafer by screen printing and sintering of conductive paste, or copper electroplating. Solar cell paste is made up of conductive phase, binder and organic carrier, is the key material for metallization, and has an important influence on the cell’s photoelectric conversion efficiency and cost.

The era of photovoltaic grid parity is coming. It is estimated that in 2024, the global new installed photovoltaic capacity will reach 500GW, bringing a huge market of tens of billions of dollars to the solar cell paste industry. Advanced paste and metallization process are helping Heterojunction (HJT), TOPCon and XBC cells to reach 26%+ mass production efficiency. Advanced technologies such as silver coated copper, LECO, copper electroplating and busbar-free are the key to continuously reduce metallization costs and help new cells occupy the market.

The paste with silver coated copper powder greatly reduces the silver content, thereby effectively reducing the metallization cost of HJT cells. The localization of silver coated copper paste and the long-term reliability of cells are the focus of the industry. LECO has the potential to apply high-temperature sintered cell technology, especially TOPCon cells. Combined with advanced conductive silver paste, LECO can help improve the efficiency of TOPCon cells by 0.3-0.5% and enhance the reliability of cells and modules.

Copper electroplating technology is also expected by the photovoltaic industry. In June 2023, Maxwell and SunDrive achieved a record efficiency of 26.6% for copper electroplating HJT cell. In the same month, ROBO-Technik single GW-level solar cell copper electroplating equipment was shipped. Metallization with busbar-free can improve module efficiency and reduce silver paste usage, mainly through film coating and welding. In September 2023, Maxwell and Huasun signed a 20GW HJT 0BB cooperation agreement. In December 2023, Ningxia XN's first GW-level directly coated series equipment was shipped.

10^th Solar Cell Paste and Metallization Forum 2024 will be held on March 6 in Changzhou, Jiangsu, China. The conference will discuss the PV industry outlook and paste market prospects, the development trends of HJT, TOPCon and XBC cell technology and metallization processes, LECO laser equipment and advanced silver paste, silver coated copper, copper electroplating and busbar-free technology application progress, the conductive mechanism and contact mechanism of silver and aluminum paste metallization, metallization process for perovskite tandem solar cell, etc. This conference will provide ZOOM Global Online Participation and simultaneous interpretation in Chinese and English.

Topics

1. Global and China PV industry outlook and paste market prospects

2. HJT, TOPCon and XBC cell technology and metallization process

3. The key raw materials for photovoltaic paste: silver powder, aluminum powder, glass powder and organic carrier

4. Research on the conductive mechanism and contact mechanism of silver and aluminum paste metallization

5. Key points of metallization process and conductive paste for XBC cells (HPBC, TBC and HBC)

6. Laser equipment and process for achieving laser enhanced contact optimization (LECO)

7. Advanced front and rear silver paste matched with LECO technology

8. High-efficiency N-type TOPCon backside silver paste supporting ultra-thin Poly layer

9. Advanced paste and screen plate help PERC+ cell to further improve efficiency and reduce cost

10. Screen printing and cell sintering technology and equipment

11. Progress and mass production application of metalization technology with busbar-free

12. Technical characteristics and preparation process of high-reliability silver coated copper powder

13. Research on long-term reliability of silver coated copper paste metallization

14. Copper electroplating metallization equipment selection, process difficulties and solutions

15. Bifacial simultaneous electroplating metallization and direct copper electroplating process without seed layer

16. All copper grid line metalization process and copper welding technology

17. Analysis of the application advantages of copper electroplating in XBC cells

18. Prospect of metallization process for perovskite tandem cell

Program

Mar. 5

17:00-20:00  Pre-conference Registration 

Mar. 6

08:30-12:30  Speech

12:30-14:00  Networking Lunch

14:00-18:30  Speech

18:30-20:00  Banquet