GT Advanced Technologies Inc. announced an innovative cell metallization and interconnect technology that is expected to provide substantial savings in both the manufacture and installation of solar modules. Marketed under the name Merlin(TM), a key component of the new technology includes a flexible grid that replaces the three silver bus bars. The novel attributes of Merlin technology are expected to significantly reduce the amount of expensive silver paste while improving panel efficiency.

The resulting modules are expected to be more reliable and durable and enable form factors that are lighter and easier to handle resulting in lower shipment and installations costs. GT's patented Merlin technology easily integrates into existing cell and module manufacturing lines with simple changes to the screen used for patterning segmented fingers onto the solar cell. The segmented fingers are thinner and produce less shading than conventional fingers.

The combination of the flexible grid and the segmented fingers results in lower resistive losses thereby increasing cell and module efficiency. Additionally, the on-cell and cell-to-cell interconnect features of the grid make the module substantially more resilient when subjected to temperature cycling and mechanical flexing. Merlin technology will enable customers to design highly reliable, lightweight, lower cost modules that are less expensive to install.