PVTIME – On March 17, Suzhou Maxwell Technologies Co., Ltd.（300751.SZ）released an announcement that SunDrive, an Australian plating technology start-up, and Maxwell jointly made a breakthrough in mass production equipment of self-developed HJT high-efficiency cells on full-scale (M6 and 274.3 cm²) with efficiencies reaching 26.07%, which has been officially verified by Institut für Solarenergieforschung Hameln (ISFH), an authoritative institution in Germany.
The new record is 0.53% higher than the 25.54% released by the two parties in last September. For the new-record cell, Maxwell provided its latest generation of equipment for the Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (PECVD), using a double-sided microcrystalline structure combined with Innovated physical vapor deposition (PVD) coating process for the high mobility transparent conducting oxide (TCO). The matallization process is performed by SunDrive with its latest generation of direct copper plating technology, dramatically optimizing the planting speed, feature sizes and aspect ratios.
Maxwell has repeatedly promoted the mass production efficiency of HJT cells to reach new high by the iterative upgrade of mass production equipment since the first launch of its whole line equipment for HJT solar cells in 2019. It devotes to the mass production equipment and technology solution of HJT high-efficiency solar cell and strive to reduce its cost as the its R&D team believe that HJT will be the key technology for the sustainable future of the PV industry. The overall R&D investment in Maxwell is 311 million yuan, accounting for 10.71% of the operating income. Maxwell has more than 30 patents in the field of HJT equipment and solar cell technology so far. And its whole line production equipment for HJT solar has been export for overseas’ customers.
The cooperation between SunDrive and Maxwell will further increase the mass production efficiency of HJT solar cells via mass production equipment and technology. The two parties are confident on exploring more solutions for the HJT industry in the fields of microcrystalline, TCO, metallization and component interconnection.
