High productivity in-line screen printing system for crystalline solar cell manufacturing

To develop a high performance in-line screen-printing system, the NPC Group defined an appropriate benchmark for characterizing the industrial efficiency of the operation and carried out a full analysis of the factors affecting this benchmark. A screen-printing system design based on careful cost analysis can produce a machine with a high effective throughput and low cell breakage. As a result, NPC is now offering advanced in-line, high precision systems to the photovoltaic industry. Future design changes results in machine speeds of 1,600 wafers per hour at a breakage below 0.5% for the three prints typical of the current cell manufacturing process.