Trident Solar (www.tridentsolarcell.com) will be announcing two new inkjet product offerings for solar applications at the 26h Annual European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference (September 5-9, 2010 – Hamburg, Germany).
Trident will be introducing, a new single step, jettable material that performs as both an etchant and dopant. The material is used as a precursor to screen printing of contacts. This efficient and effective removal of the anti-reflective top layer allows for maximum contact between silver contacts and silicon. It then works as an n-dopant as it penetrates the silicon emitter directly below the contacts. This combination of etchant and dopant can create up to a 0.5% increase in solar cell efficiency.
In addition, Trident will be introducing the new industrial inkjet printhead, featuring an industry-leading lifetime of 1 year (up to 12x longer than alternative inkjet printheads) while also providing unmatched precision performance (contact line widths can be as narrow as 50 microns). Unlike alternative inkjet printheads that are simply adapted from graphic applications, the industrial inkjet printhead is specially designed for optimum performance in non-contact printing of a wide variety of acid and alkaline etchants and conductive materials for direct write, printable photovoltaic production processes.
