EU PVSEC: Meyer Burger has nickel coating process with 50 – 70% silver consumption savings

September 21, 2012
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Reddit
Email

During EU PVSEC, Meyer Burger’s subsidiary, Roth & Rau will be presenting a new front and rear side c-Si solar cell process that employs nickel within busbar metallisation for electrical contacts, which is claimed to save on silver usage between 50 and 70%, dependent on the contact technology deployed.

The company said that the new process, used with its HELiA system that was developed primarily for the production of high efficiency heterojunction cells was available immediately.

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Try Premium for just $1

  • Full premium access for the first month at only $1
  • Converts to an annual rate after 30 days unless cancelled
  • Cancel anytime during the trial period

Premium Benefits

  • Expert industry analysis and interviews
  • Digital access to PV Tech Power journal
  • Exclusive event discounts

Or get the full Premium subscription right away

Or continue reading this article for free

The HELiA system is said to enable both the front and rear cell surfaces to be coated and processed simultaneously, further reducing costs.

Development work using nickel was said to have demonstrated excellent adhesion of the cell connectors to the front and rear surfaces with standard industry soldering processes.

This would enable the metallisation of the cell fingers to be undertaken irrespective of the electrical characteristics of the busbar, allowing full optimization and de-couples the fingers from the solderability of the busbar. This ability allows the adoption of new pastes compositions and metallisation processes that do could improve the reliability of the soldering process.

Meyer Burger said that the performance of cells coated with this new process were comparable with conventional screen printing processes. 

Read Next

Premium
October 20, 2025
New data suggests the traditional assumptions behind hail stow modelling may be underestimating the likelihood of damage to a PV system.
October 20, 2025
Independent power producer (IPP) Atlas Renewable Energy has secured up to US$475 million in financing for a 357MW solar-plus-storage project in Chile.
October 20, 2025
New federal policies in the US will 'cloud' the country’s renewable energy sector, according to a webinar hosted by Wood Mackenzie.
October 20, 2025
Spain has amended its national common agricultural policy (PAC) framework to include agrivoltaic (agriPV) systems to be eligible for subsidies.
October 20, 2025
Details of tariffs on US imports of polysilicon products may be announced as early as the end of this month, according to a note from investment bank Roth Capital.
October 20, 2025
Bahrainian authorities are inviting initial proposals from developers to build a 100MW solar project in the country, due for commercial operation by September 2027.

Subscribe to Newsletter

Upcoming Events

Solar Media Events
October 21, 2025
New York, USA
Solar Media Events
November 25, 2025
Warsaw, Poland
Solar Media Events
December 2, 2025
Málaga, Spain
Solar Media Events
February 3, 2026
London, UK