Imagine trying to draw incredibly thin, precise lines of silver on a solar cell using a giant screen, which is wasteful and slow. This technology replaces that old method with a high-tech nozzle that acts like a precision inkjet printer for metal. It uses much less silver and works faster, making solar panels cheaper and more efficient to produce.
Solar cell production relies on an outdated 30-year-old screen-printing method that wastes expensive silver and limits the efficiency of next-generation HJT cells.
A Fine Line Parallel Dispensing Printing system using multi-micro-nozzle printheads and integrated software for industrial platforms.
If you are a solar cell producer dealing with high material costs—this project developed a fine line dispensing process that provides 25% silver savings and a 1% relative efficiency gain. It replaces screen-printing to lower the cost of high-efficiency HJT cells.
If you are an equipment manufacturer dealing with slow production speeds—this project developed a printing technology with 800 mm/s speed that offers 50% higher throughput compared to flatbed screen-printing.
If you are an assembly company dealing with low-temperature cell concepts that cannot use soldering—this project developed a dispensing method for electrically conductive adhesives (ECA) creating homogeneous structures down to 200 μm.
It reduces the amount of silver needed by 25%, targeting the second most expensive step in solar cell production.
Yes, the technology has been integrated into Applied Materials' industrial platform and Mondragon Assembly's stringer platforms.
HighLine Technology GmbH, a Fraunhofer ISE spin-off, holds exclusive IP rights to the metallization process.
It achieves a 1% relative efficiency gain by reducing shadowing through the use of finer line widths (<17 μm).
The project runs from February 2023 to May 2025, with alpha testing already completed and preparations for beta customers.
The project is led by a single SME, HighLine Technology GmbH, which is a spin-off from the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems. While the consortium consists of only one partner, the business risk is mitigated by deep industrial integration with two major global players: Applied Materials and Mondragon Assembly.
Contact HighLine Technology GmbH via their corporate office in Germany.
Contact us to facilitate a partnership with HighLine Technology for next-gen PV metallization.
