3M Renewable Energy has debuted its 3M Backside Busbar Tape 4706.
The company says its product is a copper foil tape coated with heat-curable adhesive on one side. 3M adds that the tape can be bonded to aluminum pastes commonly used on the back surface of crystalline solar cells and provide reliable, low-resistance electrical contact comparable to backside silver busbars.
The busbar tape can be incorporated into existing manufacturing processes with an automated tape bonder, 3M notes.
According to the company, the tape allows manufacturers to eliminate silver-based backside busbars, enabling cost savings and protecting against the volatility of silver prices. In addition, 3M reports that its tape-based solution has the potential to improve absolute efficiency by approximately 0.2%.
