Minimal Ag Consumption for Screen-Printed SHJ Cells in the Terawatt Production Era

This work presents approaches to reduce silver (Ag) consumption in the metallization of SHJ cells. The focus lies on flatbed screen printing using low-temperature (LT) pastes that contain Ag, Ag-coated copper (AgCu), or copper (Cu) particles. All LT pastes are applied using screens made from conventional or fine-line mesh, with the cell layout and screen technology optimized to achieve high efficiency while minimizing Ag consumption. The goal is to decrease Ag usage from below 5 mg/W to 2 mg/W at the cell level, while maintaining minimal efficiency losses associated with metallization. This work presents experimental results and extrapolations by simulation, to show a feasible pathway.