Equipment for Solar Wafer Production, Solar Cell Manufacturing, and Solar Module Assembly
A typical silicon solar cell consists of a near-surface photoactive p/n junction, an ohmic contact strip with contact fingers, a full-area ohmic backside contact, and an anti-reflective coating on the front side.
For silicon solar cell production, either polycrystalline or monocrystalline material can be used. Polycrystalline silicon for photovoltaic applications is usually produced by casting processes, while monocrystalline silicon is manufactured using the Czochralski pulling process.
The polycrystalline blocks or drawn single crystals are cut into wafers. Polycrystalline material is usually processed into square wafers, while monocrystalline material results in round wafers. Often, the material is cut into pseudo-square wafers with rounded corners to allow for denser packing of finished solar cells on the solar module.
The production of solar panels can be divided into four main stages:
- Production of pure silicon from quartz sand by reduction with carbon, followed by purification of the raw silicon via conversion to trichlorosilane, distillation, and deposition of poly-silicon in a hydrogen atmosphere.
- Production of single crystals or polycrystalline blocks and subsequent cutting into silicon wafers.
- Manufacturing of the solar cell.
- Assembly of solar modules from solar cells.
The production of the raw material can only be carried out by large silicon manufacturers, so we will not go into detail on this process. The further production steps are described below. Detailed information on each process step can be accessed by clicking the links.
Solar Wafer Manufacturing
or block casting (polycrystalline)
of p-doped, boron-containing silicon
using a wire saw
An entire block is cut simultaneously with a wire saw.
Solar Cell Manufacturing
Solar Module Manufacturing
Automation and Procurement
To build a continuously operating production line, a high degree of automation is, of course, also required.
Crystec can source many of these machines, both new and used, for you. For solar module production, we can also deliver a complete turnkey production line. Please contact us with your project requirements!
