SCHOTT Solar Licenses Manufacturing Technique for High-Performance Solar Cells to SCHMID Group

The PV equipment manufacturer from Freudenstadt, Germany, will then be able to offer production equipment for high-performance cells on the basis of PERC technology very shortly. This equipment allows manufacturers to immediately achieve cell efficiency of over 20 percent. Both companies signed a licensing agreement today at the industry exhibition Intersolar Europe in Munich.



PERC (Passivated Emitter and Rear Contact) is a technique on backside passivation of crystalline silicon solar cells that SCHOTT Solar has further developed for use in industrial mass manufacturing. Improvement of the backside alone can already increase efficiency by a full percentage point. Existing manufacturing lines can be retrofitted with SCHOTT Solar’s PERC technology rather easily. The technique can be applied to various types of wafer materials like mono and polycrystalline, and also quasimono. It can also be combined with high-efficiency technologies for the front sides of cells to open up even greater potential for further increases in efficiency. These also include the advanced metallization techniques and selective emitter technologies that SCHMID Group offers.



SCHOTT Solar is one of the very few solar companies on the market that are in a position to offer the PERC technology. SCHOTT Solar had already introduced a monocrystalline screen printed cell that achieved record efficiency of 20.2 percent on the basis of PERC in the fall of 2011. As part of a very fruitful collaboration, the well-established selective emitter technology that SCHMID markets was combined with SCHOTT Solar’s PERC technology. This cell was manufactured using only industrially tested techniques. The Fraunhofer ISE in Freiburg confirmed this value by performing independent tests in August 2011. In addition, by working together closely with several other manufacturers, SCHOTT Solar was able to demonstrate an increase in efficiency with PERC in a variety of different cell types.



About SCHMID Group



SCHMID Group provides highly efficient system and process solutions for the entire solar wafers, cells and modules supply chain. Starting with the single machine right up to the turnkey factory, including guaranteed performance parameters, such as production capacity and degree of efficiency. Innovative process technologies are developed in own technology centers in partnership with universities and research facilities and are made ready for the market.