The fifth EM Asia Innovation Awards recently honored DEK Solar for the technology breakthrough represented by its PV3000 photovoltaic metallization solution. Celebrating the highest standards in manufacturing technologies, the prestigious industry accolade recognizes the significant role played by DEK Solar in the field of solar cell production.

Presented to the DEK team at a ceremony in Shanghai, the industry accolade saw the PV3000 top the hotly-contested Alternative Energy Production Equipment category. Judged by an independent panel of industry experts in relation to innovation, challenging objectives and outstanding achievements, the PV3000 impressed high profile representatives from business, trade associations and academia with its capacity to deliver advanced levels of throughput. A breakthrough photovoltaic metallization solution, the PV3000 optimizes solar cell manufacturing productivity by deploying multiple print heads in parallel. If one head halts for operator attention, the others will continue to print – virtually eliminating downtime.

Commenting on the award win, DEK Solar Alternative Energy Business Manager, Darren Brown, explains: "It's obviously an honor to be recognized by the EM Asia Awards since this really highlights our commitment to advancing commercial solar cell production in Asia and indeed, around the world. The PV3000 was born out of our drive to meet the specific requirements of customers in this industry and as such, boosts accuracy and repeatability, dramatically reduces downtime and drives throughput to unprecedented levels. Now being widely adopted by progressive manufacturers in Asia and beyond, the PV3000 is a breakthrough technology – and I’m delighted the EM Asia judges agree!"

Driven by six-sigma repeatability for capability in advance of current solar cell requirements, the PV3000's inherent accuracy is ideal for demanding technologies and processes such as Print-on-Print (PoP). As an advanced photovoltaic manufacturing process, PoP is designed to give finer grid lines more height, printing the lines twice over or more to increase the conductor's cross-sectional area and enhance current-carrying capacity without shadowing the underlying silicon substrate. Since repeatable accuracy is the central enabler in this process, the PV3000's (PoP) capability of +/- 12.5 microns at 2 Cpk finds considerable application in this field.