Focus this week: Yantai Jereh Oilfield Services Group Co.Ltd(002353) , Jilin Carbon Valley, Tiandi Science & Technology Co.Ltd(600582) , Jiangsu Shentong Valve Co.Ltd(002438)
Core view of this week: since the beginning of the year, the pressure for steady growth has increased, and the intensity of infrastructure investment is expected to increase. We believe that relatively weak public utilities construction is expected to become a hot spot for investment, including “double carbon” related nuclear energy, hydrogen energy, water network and smart water construction, oil and gas pipeline network construction, which will bring equipment investment demand.
Theme of this week: cost reduction and technical progress of non-contact metallization
Metallization affects battery cost and conversion efficiency, and ultimately relates to the choice of battery path. Battery metallization is one of the important links in the manufacturing process of photovoltaic cells. Through conductive paste printing and sintering, metallized electrodes are prepared on the front and back of silicon wafers to form close and efficient ohmic contact between electrodes and cells, and lead photogenerated carriers out of the cell. Metallization is related to the production cost and conversion efficiency of battery chips, and ultimately affects the choice of battery path in the future. Therefore, the optimization of metallization process has not only become a key field for battery manufacturers to achieve cost reduction plan, but also become the focus of the industry.
The traditional metallization is mainly contact type, and the equipment and slurry are optimized to realize resonance. In terms of cost reduction, in addition to using domestic silver slurry and new slurry (silver clad copper), metallization adopts new technology and process to reduce cost and improve conversion efficiency. According to different printing methods, metallization can be roughly divided into contact and non-contact. 1) Contact metallization is represented by screen printing, and the technical improvement mainly focuses on increasing the number of grid lines. In addition, it also includes smbb technology jointly developed by Maiwei Huasheng, meyerberg no main grid technology and full opening steel sector printing technology newly launched by Maiwei; 2) Non contact metallization mainly refers to battery technology other than screen printing technology, including electroplating, Deere’s laser transfer technology, etc. This paper will focus on the cost reduction and technical progress of non-contact metallization.
Copper electroplating technology: the most effective attempt to break through screen printing. The biggest advantage of copper electroplating technology is to replace all metal silver paste with copper, which fundamentally solves the problem of high material cost. At the same time, copper electroplating can realize double-sided metallization and improve production efficiency. However, environmental protection and high equipment investment have become important factors hindering the industrialization of copper electroplating technology. At present, Jiejia, Junshi and Maiwei all have copper electroplating technology to varying degrees. At present, Jiejia, Sunwell and jiedebao all have copper electroplating equipment, which is fully prepared for the cost reduction of silver slurry of heterojunction battery.
Laser transfer: a successful attempt of non-contact metallization. Laser transfer printing technology is a new non-contact printing technology, which mainly includes two steps: slurry filling and slurry transfer. The practical application of this technology has high requirements for the accuracy of laser operation. Too high or too low will lead to the grid line printing effect less than expected. At present, the main layout of laser transfer technology is Wuhan Dr Laser Technology Corp.Ltd(300776) . According to the announcement of the company, this technology can save 30% of the amount of silver paste of secondary grid line, have excellent grid line height consistency and uniformity, and be compatible with different battery technologies and different pastes. At present, the prototype has been tested and verified on the client.
Inkjet printing: still in the initial stage of research and development. Inkjet printing technology is a technology that can directly program complex patterns. Using the patterning control ability of inkjet printing, it can realize the fine control of the geometric size of metal grid. The technical advantages include 1) non-contact printing, which can be applied to ultra-thin or flexible batteries; 2) Due to the low metal consumption and no consumables such as screen sector or scraper, the low-cost metallization process is realized; 3) Nano materials can be used in low surface doping concentration contact and other aspects. At present, Suzhou Maxwell Technologies Co.Ltd(300751) is carrying out the project of inkjet printing test platform, but it has not been industrialized in the downstream.
Investment suggestion: it is suggested to pay attention to the advanced equipment manufacturers Suzhou Maxwell Technologies Co.Ltd(300751) , Wuhan Dr Laser Technology Corp.Ltd(300776) , Shenzhen S.C New Energy Technology Corporation(300724) , Yingkou Jinchen Machinery Co.Ltd(603396) . At present, all equipment manufacturers promote the verification of mass production line with new metal technology in the downstream production line. Once a breakthrough is made, they will take the lead in benefiting from the change of technology and seize a broader market space.
Risk warning: the downstream demand of photovoltaic is less than expected; Changes in battery technology path; The verification effect of the new technology in the mass production line is not as good as expected
