Screen printing specialist DEK attracted an unprecedented amount of interest with its compelling next-generation PV1200 solar metallization line at the recent Photon exhibition in Munich.

One aspect of the heightened levels of interest, according to DEK’s Alternative Energies Business Manager Darren Brown, was the inherent accuracy and repeatability of the PVP1200 printer within the metallization line. Since launching the equipment in 2008, news of DEK’s unrivalled process expertise and compact flexible print platform has spread. The company is pre-eminent in other industry sectors – including surface mount electronics assembly and semiconductor packaging – that rely of exceptional levels of print accuracy.

Now, with new solar cell metallization process techniques comprising multiple print passes to deposit a pattern of very fine conductors, DEK’s process expertise and intrinsic print platform precision has come into its own. The PVP1200 achieves six-sigma process capability at a resolution of ±12.5 microns for maximum repeatability and advanced levels of accuracy.

“We saw significantly increased interest directly from a large number of manufacturers from Europe as well as Russia, Korea, India and Taiwan,” says Brown. “However, more notable was the fact that almost half our enquiries were from other solar industry vendors and System Integrators, many of whom were at the Photon show. Those meetings confirmed what we knew – that our metallization line is highly attractive proposition to many types of businesses from solar cell manufacturers to those delivering factory-wide turnkey commercial solutions.”

DEK’s PV1200 line offers solar cell producers a turnkey solution, which the company is able to deliver and install within a short timeframe. Visitors to the Photon show witnessed how easily new entrants to the solar cell market can benefit from DEK’s expertise and short lead times to get productive quickly and with minimal training.

Once again, the DEK PV1200 used 150 micron silicon solar cells for the continuous live cycling demonstrations from the PV1200 Coinstack Unloader and Re-Loader on all three days of the exhibition – a testimony to the product’s meticulous handling characteristics.