Summary of the 8th Workshop on Metallization and Interconnection for Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells

This article gives a summary of the 8th Metallization and Interconnection workshop and attempts to place each contribution in the appropriate context. The field of metallization and interconnection continues to progress at a very fast pace. Several printing techniques can now achieve linewidths below 20 mu m. Screen printing is more than ever the dominating metallization technology in the industry, with finger widths of 45 mu m in routine mass production and values below 20 mu m in the lab. Plating technology is also being improved, particularly through the development of lower cost patterning techniques. Interconnection technology is changing fast, with introduction in mass production of multiwire and shingled cells technologies. New models and characterization techniques are being introduced to study and understand in detail these new interconnection technologies.