1366 Technologies Introduces Solar Cell Architecture & Manufacturing Processes To Enable Record Efficiencies
1366 Technologies, a silicon photovoltaics company, unveiled what it describes as two breakthrough technologies for multi-crystalline silicon solar cells. The company’s advancements in cell texturing and metallization are said to deliver simpler, more commercially-viable solutions for multi-crystalline cell manufacturers striving to reach 18% efficiency. 1366 Technologies states that its Self-Aligned Cell (SAC) architecture breaks the historic efficiency and cost tradeoff of photovoltaics (PV) by providing mono-crystalline equivalent cell efficiencies at multi-crystalline cell costs.
"At 1366 we’ve pioneered a cell architecture and manufacturing process that’s going to change the way we think about energy," said Frank van Mierlo, co-founder and President of 1366 Technologies. "Our innovations have the potential to save manufacturers $50 billion over the next five years and help the industry deliver solar at the cost of coal."
1366 Technologies has developed two technologies that can be easily integrated into existing manufacturing lines. The first addresses cell texture, creating a distinctive honeycomb structure that introduces cross-textured surfaces to the cell that trap more light and enable up to 1% higher absolute efficiency overall than previous cell designs. The second focuses on the front-side cell metallization, wherein the company has developed the world’s finest metallization lines – just 30µ compared to the prevailing120µ – and an innovative Grooved Ribbon busbar (licensed by Ulbrich and Schlenk). Industry standard thick fingers and flat busbars typically shade 9% of the surface of a cell. 1366’s simple front-side metallization approach, however, only shades 2% of the cell delivering 75% of the efficiency gains of back-contact cell designs without the high costs and process complexity.
"The way we see it, the right technology and materials are available now to help PV reach grid parity, but the challenge for our industry is to simultaneously deliver high efficiencies and low costs," said Dr. Emanuel Sachs, co-founder and Chief Technology Officer for 1366 Technologies. "Our Self-Aligned Cell architecture addresses this challenge head-on. We believe our technologies, combined with further advancements in manufacturing, will help solar power satisfy 7% of global electricity demand over the next decade and inspire one of the largest manufacturing revolutions in history."
