cSI PHOTOVOLTAICSOLUTIONS

for crystalline silicon solar cell production

PHOTOVOLTAIC cSI SOLUTIONS 4

AUTOMATION SOLUTIONS 8

METROLOGY SOLUTIONS 10

METALLIZATION SOLUTIONS 12

WET CHEMICAL SOLUTIONS 14

LASER PROCESS SOLUTIONS 16

CONTENT

PASSION FOR EFFICIENCY

Process machines and automation systems by Manz offer many advantages

for customers in the photovoltaic industry. They are characterized by maxi-

mum efficiency and reliability. Maximum process quality and, at the same time,

low cost of ownership are evidence of the high level of development and well-

designed system solutions.

The presence of the Manz group, with its own production facilities in Germany,

Slovakia, Taiwan and China, as well as worldwide service centers, guarantees short

response and delivery times. You too can share in the benefits.

PHOTOVOLTAICS

The conversion of sunlight into electrical energy is carried out in solar cells, the

core component of photovoltaic equipment. The process of manufacturing this

equipment includes a variety of steps – from extracting silicon to manufacturing

the modules. Within the value chain of manufacturing crystalline silicon solar cells,

Manz focuses on the third stage: the process of going from wafer to cell.

POWERING INNOVATION

Almost all of the world’s larger manufacturers use Manz systems for manufactu-

ring solar cells. Our core areas include: Automation, Test & Inspection, Metallization

Lines, Laser Processing Technology and Wet Chemistry.

When developing new processes, our focus is on the economical manufacture of

solar cells. Doing so means Manz has a hand in increasing efficiency and cutting

costs in the field of photovoltaics. In conjunction with high-performance image-

processing systems, precise and fast robotic systems allow for cycle times of under

one second with minimal breakage rates. With a throughput of 2,400 wafers per

hour, our integrated 60 MW back-end line is currently the fastest production line on

the market for metallization (screen printing), laser edge isolation, inspection, and

sorting of solar cells. Within this third stage of the value chain, Manz’s products

will cover approximately 90% of all investments made, including the new vacuum

coating systems of Manz Coating.

01 02 03 04 05 06 A 08 09 10 1107

13 +14 15 16 17 1812

CRYSTAllINE SIlICON SOlAR CEllS PROCESS STAGES FUllY INTEGRATED 60 MW CEll lINE

MANZ PRODUCTS

ExTERNAl SUPPlIER

01. INlINE WAFER TESTER AND SORTER

02. AUTOMATION

03. TExTURING

04. AUTOMATION

05. DOPER

06. DIFFUSION

A. OPTION: SElECTIVE EMITTER lASER PROCESS

07. AUTOMATION AND INlINE BOx BUFFER

08. PhOSPhOR GlASS REMOVAl

09. AUTOMATION

10. ANTI-REFlEx COATING (FROM Q3/2011)

11. AUTOMATION AND INlINE BOx BUFFER

12. AUTOMATION

13. METAllIZATION

14. FRONT/REAR SIDE PRINT INSPECTION

15. DRYING FURNACE

16. DRYING AND FIRING FURNACE

17. INlINE lASER EDGE ISOlATION

18. INlINE CEll TESTER AND SORTER

PHOTOVOLTAIC cSI SOLUTIONS

5

FALZSchnitt-kanteFALZ

kEy FACTS

Year of Foundation

Headquarters

Core Competencies

Worldwide locations

1987Reutlingen/Germany

Robotics, motion, metrology, control, process technology

Germany, China, Taiwan, USA, Spain, Slovakia, Hungary,

South Korea, India, Israel

LOADING AND UNLOADING OF PROCESS TOOLS

Your advantages:

Excellent uptime and lowest breakage rates

Wafer feed in Manz stack box or cassettes or inline interlinked

Integrated vision system for breakage detection and precise positioning of wafers

All inline integration from loading texturing until SiN unloading

Fully automated buffers up to 2 hour production

Standardized mechanical and electrical interfaces

Integrated control cabinet − fast installation and start up

All important measurement systems can be integrated

Standardized stack boxes and cassettes

Small footprint

SPEEDPICKER

The SpeedPicker is a new automation system which was specially developed for

the requirements of the solar market. Compared to other systems in the market,

the system is the most powerful in terms of:

Space: 50 % reduction

After sales costs: 50 % reduction

Investment: 50 % reduction

Safe wafer handling with lowest breakage rates of 0.05%

0.5% lower breakage rate than competitive products

Manz offers economical inline automation systems for the manufacture of

crystalline solar cells: These systems range from those that load and unload

processing machines to complete automation solutions with integrated buffer

systems and the ability to connect them to central manufacturing computer

systems. Precise and fast robotic systems connected with high-performance image-

processing systems ensure that breakage rates remain low while machine availa-

bility remains high.

With cycle times of less than a second, equipment with a total yearly output of up to

100 MW can be manufactured using only one production line.

Manz’s standard systems include:

Loading and unloading of cleaning and texturing equipment

Loading and unloading of diffusion equipment

Loading and unloading of PSG etching equipment

Loading and unloading of anti-reflective coating equipment

(the SiNA® series, for example)

Inline box buffer systems with a capacity of up to 8,000 cells

AUTOMATION SOLUTIONS

Excellent uptime

Lowest breakage rates

50 % less space and costs

Lowest breakage rates

9

SpeedPicker SpeedPicker with Bernoulli Gripper

FALZ

FALZ

FALZ

FALZ

Schnitt-kante

Testing and measuring wafers and cells during manufacturing is an important means

of controlling the quality of manufactured cells. Even the tiniest mechanical defects

in the cells – such as micro-cracks, for example – can have a negative impact on the

efficiency of the entire module or render it completely unusable.

For the purposes of quality control, Manz manufactures complete wafer testing

systems, which are used by wafer manufacturers for their end-of-line inspection and

by cell manufacturers for their receiving inspections.

After further production steps, the cell testing and sorting modules in the back-

end area of the plant measure the various levels of quality and sort each cell into

the designated module class. The cell testers are suitable for both end-of-line

inspections after manufacturing cells as well as for carrying out receiving

inspections when manufacturing modules.

All measurement systems are highly integrated into the testing machines and

therewith allow a maximum performance with respect to throughput and cross-

information usage. The availability of I/V analysis, hot spot detection and electro-

luminescence analysis integrated within one testing system will allow cell loss

analysis and automatically indicate process related issues.

METROLOGY SOLUTIONS

Loading from Manz stack box

Sorting module with 12 bins

High throughput of 3,600 wafer/h

Highly efficient

electroluminescence inspection

NEW: Identifies ‚Hot Spots‘

on solar cells and

increases the efficiency

of solar modules!

Increases cell efficiency

by precise testing and sorting

INLINE WAFER TESTER / IWT 3600

Modular design:

Available as stand-alone system or integrated into frontend

Available inspection systems:

Geometry and chips

Micro crack inspection

Saw mark measurement

Bow measurement

Inspection contamination

Conductivity measurement

Thickness measurement

TTV measurement

(Total Thickness Variation)

Charge carrier lifetime

measurement

Doping (p or n type)

INLINE CELL TESTER / ICT 2400

Modular design:

Available as inline tester within Manz backend system or as stand-alone system

Your advantages:

Minimal breakage, high throughput

Cell transport to the test modules by

vacuum conveyor belt

Vision systems for precise positioning

and chip detection

High performance I-V curve

measurement with Xenon flash (h.a.l.m.)

All systems are equipped with Manz automation systems and guarantee the lowest-

possible breakage rates as well as a high level of tool availability and throughput.

Manz’s quality-control and metrology systems also test the quality of wafers and

cells in all important process steps within the production line, thereby increasing the

productivity of the systems and assuring the quality of the products.

Available inspection systems:

Electroluminescence inspection

Front side inspection

Rear side inspection

Color inspection

Hot Spot measurement

High-performance software for

linking the results of all test stations

(classification scheme)

Optional: Laser edge isolation

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Cell Tester Cell Sorter

INLINE SCREEN PRINTING SYSTEM

High throughput: up to 2,400 cells/h

Loading module with integrated micro-crack inspection

High-accuracy cell placement on printing conveyor

Parallel cell screen printing system for enlarged process window and

fastest cycle time

Easy maintenance on screen printing parts (quick change system for

screen and squeegee)

Excellent accessibility of screen printing parts

Very safe wafer handling – lowest breakage rate

Vision system for print control and closed loop feedback function

Fully integrated horizontal drying furnace

Statistical process data collection for continuous production optimization

MES interface (optional)

HIGH ACCURACY PRINTING / HAP 2400

Your advantages of the high accuray printing process:

Single cell high accuracy screen printing system

High throughput: up to 2,400 cells/h

High precision vision system for wafer alignment

High precision vision system for recognition of pre-processed

structures on wafer

AEROSOL PRINTING

Advanced printing process for front-side metallization of solar cells

High throughput: up to 2,400 cells/h

Direct writing process: no screen cost

Non-contact printing: no breakage, possibility to handle thinner wafers

Less shadowing: increased cell efficiency up to 0.5%

High throughput up to 2,400 wafers/h

Less material consumption

METALLIZATION SOLUTIONS

Parallel screen printing

for fastest cycle time

Very safe wafer handling

Highest accuracy in

screen printing process

No contact printing: no breakage,

handling of thinner wafers possible

Metallization – printing a conductive layer onto cells – is an important process in the

manufacture of crystalline solar cells.

In this area, Manz offers both high-output printing systems as individual modules,

as well as a complete back-end line with a throughput of 2,400 cells per hour in a

single production line.

Manz also has the right solutions for new, advanced processes (selective emit-

ters, for example). The HAP (High Accuracy Printing) 2400 system is required for

double printing or printing on selective emitter structures. The system recognizes

pre-processed patterns such as a print or a selective emitter structure and prints

aligned auto-matically on this structure with a precision of +/- 10 µm.

The Manz Aerosol Printer uses an aerosol deposition procedure that allows me-

tallic front contacts to be applied without ever coming into contact with the cell.

Eliminating the use of the printing screen has additional benefits: besides cut-

ting costs (manufacturing, cleaning, and preproduction costs), it is a contact-free

procedure, which leads to a significant reduction in breakage rates.

13

High Accuracy Printer (HAP) 2400 High Accuracy Printer (HAP) 1200

Manz offers newly developed wet chemical solutions for manufacturing crystal-

line solar cells. This includes the manufacturing stages of cleaning, saw damage

removal, texturing, phosphosilicate glass removal, and one-sided etching proces-

ses. In this context, Manz uses experience and expertise from Manz Taiwan, which

has been focused on the manufacture of wet chemical equipment for over 20

years. Manz Taiwan is the market leader in the field of wet chemical equipment

for the manufacture of printed circuit boards and flat panel displays and – having

installed more than 2,000 pieces of equipment – is the market leader in the electro-

nics and FPD industries.

Wet chemical equipment from Manz is characterized by the following innovative

features: Minimal breakage through the use of sponge rollers, completely closed

system, drive mechanism using magnetic clutches for the highest level of safety,

easy to operate using the Manz touch screen, highly integrated Manz automation

solutions, extremely low manufacturing costs (CoO), extremely economical use of

chemicals and water.

WET CHEMICAL SOLUTIONS

IPSG 3000

Inline Phosphorous Glass Removal System

High throughput of 3,000 wafer/h for an 8 lane configuration based on

156 x 156 mm wafers

Minimum breakage rate due to the application of soft sponge rollers

concept with minimized mechanical stress on substrates

Sponge rollers are geared by a mechanical coupling system, which allows

wear free transport and keeps drive system out of process chamber

Minimized chemical consumption due to optimized tank design

High process flexibility

SW controlled switch - over between spray and immersion process with

individual shiftable spray function

Two step cascade rinse with standby function to reduce water consumption

Combined roll off/air knife dryer with standby function for reduced CDA

consumption

Easy to operate via GUI with touch screen

Compatible with highly integrated automation systems from Manz

Process developed with Fraunhofer ISE

High throughput of 3,000 wafer/h

Lowest breakage due to

effective sponge roller concept

Optimized tank system –

for less chemical consumption

15

PSG Etching Sponge Roller

LASER EDGE ISOLATION

Edge isolation by laser grooving

High throughput of up to 2,400 wafer/h

Safe wafer handling and lowest breakage rates

Loading/Unloading from/into Manz Box/Cassette or alternative carrier

Modular design – available as inline or stand-alone system

Combination of high performance laser process with high precision machine

allows a minimum “dead area” (≤ 100 µm)

SELECTIVE EMITTER

High throughput of up to 2,400 wafer/h

Safe wafer handling – lowest breakage rates

Increase of cell efficiency up to 0.5% in combination with high ohmic emitter

and Manz HAP (high accuracy printing)

Loading/Unloading from/into Manz Box/Cassette or alternative carrier

Modular design – available as inline or stand-alone system

Manz is working intensively on new methods to increase both the efficiency of solar

cells and throughput rates, while at the same time cutting solar cell manufactu-

ring costs. To do so, Manz uses high-efficiency laser processes to achieve this goal.

To generate a selective emitter, Manz uses a laser-based procedure developed by

the ipe (University of Stuttgart, Institute for Physical Electronics). With this technolo-

gy, using an additional laser-processing step, the level of doping under the contact

structure, which is applied in a later stage of the process, is increased significantly.

In conjunction with Manz’s HAP (high accuracy printer), an increase in the solar cell’s

efficiency of up to 0.5% can be achieved. During the development of these systems,

Manz ensured that existing cell production lines can be upgraded.

Manz’s laser systems are applied for many other Manz high accuracy processes

such as: Laser edge isolation, dielectric layer opening or laser drilling to generate

back-contact cells such as MWT and EWT.

LASER PROCESS SOLUTIONS

Minimum dead area

of ≤ 100 µm

Lowest breakage rates

Increase cell efficiency up to 0.5%

17

Laser Edge Isolation Selective Emitter

Manz Automation AG

Steigaeckerstr. 5

72768 Reutlingen

Germany

Phone +49 7121 9000 0

Fax +49 7121 9000 99

info@manz.com

www.manz.com