DEK Printing Equipment Platforms and Precision Screen Technology

DEK is one of the global technology leaders in advanced materials deposition, serving sectors including surface mount assembly, semiconductor packaging and alternative energies. A global provider of advanced technologies and process support to the solar cell manufacturing sector, DEK technologies include printing equipment platforms, precision screens and materials applications used in film coating, current-collector patterns deposition and metallization of bus bars in photovoltaic substrate production.

Solar cell metallization printers and handling systems

DEK’s range of solar cell metallization printers and handling systems include the award-winning PV1200 line, a technology that marked the dawn of a new range of advanced PV cell manufacturing solutions. DEK’s platform expertise has delivered major advances for today’s solar industry including proven print accuracy, dramatically faster processing speeds, a much smaller footprint, intrinsic modularity, lead times of weeks rather than months and comprehensive global support.

Metallization solution with multiple print heads

Most recently, DEK launched the eclipse platform, a pioneering high throughput metallization solution that features multiple print heads operating in parallel. This ensures that, if one head halts for operator attention, the others continue to print, which virtually eliminates downtime. Offering six-sigma repeatability for capability in advance of current solar cell requirements, the eclipse platform also achieves print-on-print capability (PoP) +/- 12.5µ at 2Cpk.

Based on an innovative modular design concept, eclipse enables manufacturers to easily scale production to 1,200wph, 2,400wph or 3,600wph. Plus, if manufacturers foresee this kind of production ramp, blank process modules can be added to the line at initial build and easily exchanged for extra print capacity when demand dictates. By introducing an unprecedented level of configurability, modularity and field scalability, Eclipse drives extremely low cost-of-ownership and future-proofs equipment investment.

Global design and production network for precision screens and stencils

DEK is also the only screen printing solutions provider with its own global design and production network for precision screens and stencils covering the full range of applications. World-class manufacturing facilities are located in the UK and China, where it builds to order on extremely short lead times using advanced JIT and kanban techniques. From 20 offices around the world, the company provides service and applications support 24/7. Spare parts are also accessible on the same basis from strategically located hubs.