JA Solar, a Chinese tier-one manufacturer of solar cells, placed an order with the SCHMID Group for the construction of several texturing and edge isolation systems and the related automation equipment, to expand its already existing photovoltaic production in Southeast Asia by about 400MW. According to the customer the decisive factor for the conclusion of the contract mainly was the high quality of the SCHMID systems which will be delivered in July 2015, as well as the patent protected processes for edge isolation, which were specially developed by SCHMID and which are ideally suited for the production of highly efficient solar cells.
SCHMID’s in-line system combines the edge isolation with the phosphorus silicate glass removal. The emitter layer on the wafer back generated during the diffusion process is unilaterally isolated from the front side of the wafer in order to prevent malfunction of the solar cell. In the subsequent machine-integrated process the phosphorous glass is then removed from the wafer surface.
Further key benefits of the systems for edge isolation and acidic texturing of the SCHMID Group are the significantly lower chemistry consumption compared to the competitors and the automatic and controlled dosing, which ensures extremely stable and reproducible process values. The gentle roll transport minimizes the breakage rate thanks to a small contact area. The SCHMID systems enable a particularly high throughput of up to 7,600 wafers per hour.
