Recently, research on cost reduction and efficiency improvement of crystalline silicon(c-Si) photovoltaic(PV) module has been conducted. In order to reduce costs, the thickness of solar cell wafers is becoming thinner. If the thickness of the wafer is reduced, cracking of wafer may occur in high temperature processes during the c-Si PV module manufacturing process. To solve this problem, a low temperature process has been proposed. Conductive paste(CP) is used for low temperature processing; it contains Sn57.6Bi0.4Ag component and can be electrically combined with solar cells and ribbons at a melting point of 150℃. Use of CP in the PV module manufacturing process can minimize cracks of solar cells. When CP is applied to solar cells, the output varies with the amount of CP, and so the optimum amount of CP must be found. In this paper, in order to find the optimal CP application amount, we manufactured several c-Si PV modules with different CP amounts. The amount control of CP is fixed at air pressure (500 kPa) and nozzle diameter 22G(outer diameter 0.72Ø, inner 0.42Ø) of dispenser; only speed is controlled. The c-Si PV module output is measured to analyze the difference according to the amount of CP and analyzed by optical microscope and Alpha-step. As the result, the optimum amount of CP is 0.452 ~ 0.544 g on solar cells.

This study investigates Ag coated Cu2O nanoparticles that are produced with a changing molar ratio of Ag and Cu2O. The results of XRD analysis reveal that each nanoparticle has a diffraction pattern peculiar to Ag and Cu2O determination, and SEM image analysis confirms that Ag is partially coated on the surface of Cu2O nanoparticles. The conductive paste with Ag coated Cu2O nanoparticles approaches the specific resistance of 6.4 Ω·cm for silver paste(SP) as (Ag) /(Cu2O) the molar ratio increases. The paste(containing 70 % content and average a 100 nm particle size for the silver nanoparticles) for commercial use for mounting with a fine line width of 100 μm or less has a surface resistance of 5 to 20 μΩ·cm, while in this research an Ag coated Cu2O paste has a larger surface resistance, which is disadvantageous. Its performance deteriorates as a material required for application of a fine line width electrode for a touch panel. A touch panel module that utilizes a nano imprinting technique of 10 μm or less is expected to be used as an electrode material for electric and electronic parts where large precision(mounting with fine line width) is not required.

In recent years, solar cells based on crystalline silicon(c-Si) have accounted for much of the photovoltaic industry. The recent studies have focused on fabricating c-Si solar modules with low cost and improved efficiency. Among many suggested methods, a photovoltaic module with a shingled structure that is connected to a small cut cell in series is a recent strong candidate for low-cost, high efficiency energy harvesting systems. The shingled structure increases the efficiency compared to the module with 6 inch full cells by minimizing optical and electrical losses. In this study, we propoese a new Conductive Paste (CP) to interconnect cells in a shingled module and compare it with the Electrical Conductive Adhesives (ECA) in the conventional module. Since the CP consists of a compound of tin and bismuth, the module is more economical than the module with ECA, which contains silver. Moreover, the melting point of CP is below 150 ℃, so the cells can be integrated with decreased thermal-mechanical stress. The output of the shingled PV module connected by CP is the same as that of the module with ECA. In addition, electroluminescence (EL) analysis indicates that the introduction of CP does not provoke additional cracks. Furthermore, the CP soldering connects cells without increasing ohmic losses. Thus, this study confirms that interconnection with CP can integrate cells with reduced cost in shingled c-Si PV modules.

In this study, the properties of Ag-coated TiO2 nanoparticles were observed, while varying the molar ratio of water and Ag+ for the surfactant and TiO2. According to the XRD results, each nanoparticle showed a distinctive diffraction pattern. The intensity of the respective peaks and the sizes of the nanoparticles increased in the order of AT1(R1 = 5)(33.3 nm), AT2 (R1 = 10)(38.1 nm), AT3(R1 = 20)(45.7 nm), AT4(R1 = 40)(48.6 nm) as well as AT5(R2 = 0.2, R3 = 0.5)(41.4 nm), AT6(R2 = 0.3, R3 = 1)(45.1 nm), AT7(R2 = 0.5, R3 = 1.5)(49.3 nm), AT8(R2 = 0.7, R3 = 2)(57.2 nm), which values were consistent with the results of the UV-Vis. spectrum. The surface resistance of the conductive pastes fabricated using the prepared Ag-coated TiO2 nanoparticles exhibited a range 7.0~9.0(274~328 μΩ/cm2) times that of pure silver paste(ATP)(52 μΩ/cm2).

Conductive pastes consist of conductive fillers( Au, Ag, Ni, Cu etc.), organic binders, solvents and additives. Meanwhile, there are some metal powders such as copper, nickel etc that are used for pastes which have serious surface corrosion problems. This problem leads to change of the color and decrease in conductivity and affect storage stability of conductive pastes. By using silane coupling agent and dispersion agent, we can ensure both the corrosion stability and long term storage stability, and enhance the high performance electrical and mechanical properties of EMI shielding silicone sealant.