Dry plasma etching for edge isolation of solar cells is a proven and economic solution and widely used in cell fabrication lines. As an additional benefit, the plasma process includes in-situ micro-crack healing of the saw damage on the cell edges, thus reducing cell breakage risk. Our newest plasma system provides improved loading features for the cell stack and high capacity of up to 1600 cells per hour. Microwave plasma is known for high etch rates along with low temperature processing for easy handling. The cell stack rotates during the etching cycle for best uniformity and a telescopic stage provides excellent loading access for the operator. Fully automatic loading via robot is optionally available.

Plasma Cleaning for solar cells is very efficient to improve the surface wettability of cells before wet etch. The surface quality of incoming cells benefits largely from a short dry plasma clean step in order to improve uniformity and repeatability of the wet texturing step.