Caymax PV Cell

Where do PV cells come from?

All Photovoltaic (PV) Panels are made using various numbers of PV Cells. The individual PV cells are manufactured from Silicon which comes from the ground. There are only a small number of manufacturers in the world who can process silicon from the ground into PV Cells.

1. Wafer cutting, preparation of materials:
2. Saw damage etch
3. Texturing
4. Diffusion
5. Edge isolation:
6. ARC(Anti-reflective coating) deposition
7. Screen printing of front and back contact: the screen-printing process is a common method adopted for printing the silver/aluminum paste (Ag/Al paste) on the front and back faces of a solar cell by the use of a special printing machine and stencil so as to form positive and negative electrode leads.
8. Co-firing to form metal contact: IR belt furnace is usually adopted to perform the rapid sintering.
9. Testing and sorting: the finished cells are subjected to the test and then are classified.

Caymax panels are manufactured by one of the largest cell manufacturers in the world, which is why the cells are genuine A Grade and have exceptionally high performance. The efficiency of the Caymax Cells is as high as any Mono panels available on the market.

Most panel manufacturers do not manufacture cells, they have to buy them in from the small number of cell manufacturers. However, when cells are manufactured they are Graded A, B, C and D. A Grade Cells are rarely sold by cell manufacturers as they use them for their own panel production – this is why Caymax panels have the highest performance for the given area of any Mono Panels currently on the market. This is also why other panels cannot get the same Module Efficiency (Watts divided by Area) as they have lower performance cells.

As most cell manufacturers do not sell the A Grade cells, the B Grade is the highest levels many panel assemblers will achieve. However B grade from the Cell manufacturers becomes the A Grade for the panel assemblers, as this is their highest quality. The only method of verifying the quality of the cells is to analyse the performance of the finished panels.

What is the difference in Cell Qualities?

A simple way to understand the manufacture of PV Cells is to consider a silicon cell as you would a Diamond. There are 2 critical factors to a diamond. Firstly is the quality of the diamond. This is how pure it is when it comes out of the ground, or how many flaws does it have. Flaws cannot necessarily be seen by the naked eye, yet have a huge effect as to the purity of the diamond. Secondly is the quality with which the raw diamond is cut and finished. The combination of these two factors determine the purity and value of the finished diamond.

A finished PV cell undergoes similar stages of process in order to produce the highest levels of efficiency. Firstly the purest silicon must be mined, this means the purest silicon with the minimal amount of flaws. Secondly is the level of technology with which the silicon is then cut and processed into a high efficiency cell. Caymax cell technology is a WORLD RECORD HOLDER for the efficiency of Mono Cells. Lastly, in the case of a finished PV Panel, is the ability to accurately match the performance and quality of the cells when arranging them on a finished PV panel.

The process of checking cells is called EL testing – electroluminescence testing – which is an incredibly sophisticated and expensive method of checking each individual cell for evidence of flaws. Generally this technology is not available to panel manufacturers, only the cell manufacturers have this technology. The flaws in a PV cell show up as weak points and micro-cracks. It is these flaws which in time will cause points of resistance in the cells and therefore the PV Panel, and can quickly cause degeneration of the cell and therefore the panel - and therefore the entire PV installation.

Caymax panels undergo EL testing THREE TIMES for each panel. Firstly is when the cell is Graded for the first time. The second time is ‘pre-encapsulation’ which is when the cells are all layed out on the panel, and before any of the many critical layers are added to create the finished panel. This is done because the cells themselves are extremely fragile, and can suffer damage during any stage of the process. Lastly the finished panel undergoes EL testing to finally check the integrity of each cell, and the optimum matching of the cells. At this point the panel is tested to check the performance of the finished PV Panel.

Why is Cell efficiency important?

Cell efficiency is important because it is the clearest method of monitoring the purity of the cells which are being used in the manufacture of PV panels. The higher the purity of the cells and the higher the production techniques, then the higher the output of those cells. This means that the higher the efficiency of the cells, the smaller the finished panels are in physical dimensions. Therefore where panels have the same physical dimensions, the higher the output of the panels the purer the cells. This concludes that where a larger panel is required to achieve a given output, the cells in the panels will be low grade.

In the U.K. where we do not have exceptional light all year round, we need to have the highest efficiency cells in order that they produce with maximum efficiency, especially in lower light situations.

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