PROCUREMENT NOTES
Cell technology compatibility: TOPCon, HJT, back-contact and perovskite claims
What a buyer should check when equipment or materials are described as compatible with a particular cell route.
By PVYard Editorial · Updated 2026-11-06
Why compatibility claims multiply
Cell technology has moved quickly. The International Technology Roadmap for Photovoltaic (ITRPV), published by VDMA, reported in its 2026 edition that TOPCon kept its leading position in 2025, that p-type PERC continued to lose share and that heterojunction and back-contact concepts are expected to grow, with tandem cells likely to enter mass production after 2027. Equipment and material suppliers respond by labelling products for several routes at once. A label tells the buyer which route the supplier has in mind. Ask for an accepted result on that route before relying on it.
Cell process equipment: films, temperatures and steps
Cell routes differ in the films they deposit, their temperature limits and their process sequence. Deposition and diffusion tools are therefore route-specific in ways that matter. The NAURA HORIS TA12 is offered for passivating wafer surfaces and edges on TOPCon and TBC lines, and the HORIS P12 PECVD and VERIS vertical diffusion furnace pages name TOPCon, TBC and HTBC. Our NAURA profile treats these route names as architecture descriptions rather than complete recipes.
Heterojunction cells use low-temperature amorphous silicon layers and transparent conductive oxides, so their equipment set differs. Ideal Energy attributes client HJT, HBC and tandem efficiency results to external institutes, and its R&D PECVD offering is linked to the supplier's HJT process laboratory. Ask which results were measured on production configurations and which on laboratory tools.
Laser steps are route-specific as well. The Hymson laser doping machine is described as TOPCon laser doping from BSG, a step that has no direct equivalent on an HJT line. Laser doping and laser scribing claims should always name the layer and the cell route.
Module equipment: geometry and joining
Back-contact cells move all contacts to the rear, which changes stringing, layup and busbar joining. The Ooitech SS-1500B stringer table gives different throughput for BC and for TOPCon or PERC cells. The HORAD BC gantry layup station describes AB and BC layout claims, while the HORAD integrated layup and busbar station presents BC compatibility as a modification capability rather than the base configuration. A general compatibility statement, as on the Confirmware AMS120CA stringer, defines where testing should start; run a trial on each cell design you plan to use.
Heterojunction cells are temperature sensitive during joining, which is why low-temperature ribbons and adhesives appear in HJT module lines. The Yitong low-temperature round ribbon listing avoids a blanket HJT claim; the buyer has to show good joints and undamaged cells at the line settings it plans to run.
Process parts and materials
Consumables and process parts change with the route too. Graphite boats for TOPCon and BC have separate rows in the Honsin catalogue. For metallization materials, the Jingxin silver-powder page recommends confirming TOPCon, HJT, PERC or back-contact suitability with paste trials rather than from powder morphology alone. Encapsulants are chosen for cell type and module construction; the FIRST F406P/F406PS EVA film lists front and rear PERC and rear-side TOPCon among its published applications.
Perovskite: separate the laboratory from the line
Perovskite and tandem equipment is the area where laboratory and production claims are most often mixed. The DR Laser perovskite scribing system is built on a gantry with several laser channels working in parallel across large substrates. The Dingneng laboratory sputtering system catalogue uses megawatt and gigawatt labels in places, yet its laboratory table does not demonstrate the capacity of a complete perovskite line. The HORAD perovskite line offering gives no validated device recipe, efficiency or stability result. For any perovskite purchase, ask for results on the buyer's stack and substrate size, with stability data alongside efficiency.
How to test a compatibility claim
Ask the supplier to name the cell route, the specific layers or contacts involved and a reference customer or test on that route. Then run a trial on your own cells or wafers, measured by the results your route depends on. Certification still happens at module level under IEC 61215-2, whose 2021 edition added test methods for bifacial modules, so a route change can also mean new module tests. The cell production and module assembly stage pages list the equipment classes affected by a route change.
Sources
- www.vdma.org — source document
- www.pv-magazine.com — source document
- webstore.iec.ch — source document
Manufacturer specifications are source statements. Confirm configuration and acceptance conditions with the supplier. Our editorial standards