JP5518005B2 - Method for forming solar cell electrode, printer, method for manufacturing solar cell, and method for manufacturing solar cell module - Google Patents

Description

The present invention is a method of forming a solar cell electrode, a printing machine, a method of manufacturing a solar cell, and a method for manufacturing a solar cell module.

  As the 21st century begins, rising prices of fossil energy, which is said to be depleted, and global warming due to an increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere have become problems. In order to solve these problems, development of natural energy is desired. Among them, the government's energy policy has helped to promote solar power generation using solar cells.

  At present, as solar cells, those having electrodes on each of a light receiving surface of a substrate material such as silicon and a back surface on the opposite side are mainly used. In recent years, solar cells in which electrodes are formed only on the back surface of both surfaces are being put into practical use, but solar cells in which electrodes are formed on both surfaces are still widely used.

  For example, the solar cell manufacturing method described in Patent Document 1 employs the following procedure. First, an uneven structure is formed on the surface of a substrate material such as silicon by a technique such as etching, and a pn bond is formed by a technique such as diffusion. Next, an insulating film made of a silicon nitride film is formed on at least one surface of the substrate material, and a metal paste pattern is provided on the insulating film and fired. The metal paste includes glass having a property of melting the insulating film by heating. Further, the baked substrate material is immersed in an etching solution having a property of dissolving the glass component, and heat treatment is performed in an atmosphere containing hydrogen. For example, Patent Documents 2 and 3 disclose a method for manufacturing a solar cell having electrodes on both sides of a substrate material.

Japanese Patent No. 4486622 Japanese Patent No. 4319006 Japanese Patent No. 4481869

  In general, a simple method such as screen printing is employed as a method of forming a solar cell electrode. Depending on the positioning accuracy of screen printing, a position error of the order of 0.1 mm may occur. In addition, since there is a dimensional tolerance in the substrate material used, in actual screen printing, a margin outside the printing range must be secured in the peripheral area of the substrate material, for example, on the order of 1 mm. There are also many.

  On the other hand, in recent years, the solar cell module has been strongly demanded to have a large output. In order to increase the output of the solar cell module, high efficiency of the solar cell is desired. For example, if the output of one solar battery cell is increased by 0.1 watt, the solar battery module using 50 solar battery cells has an output increase of 5 watts. As described above, the power generation cost per unit power can be reduced by increasing the output of the solar battery cell.

  The requirement for the above-mentioned margin in the substrate material is a factor that hinders the high efficiency of the solar battery cell because the electrode is narrowed by the margin. Therefore, in order to secure a wide area that can contribute to power generation, as a method for manufacturing a solar battery cell, it is desired that the area of the margin in screen printing can be suppressed as much as possible.

The present invention has been made in view of the above, and includes a method for forming a solar cell electrode that enables the production of a solar cell having high power generation efficiency, a printing machine used in the method, and a method for forming the same. It aims at obtaining the manufacturing method of the photovoltaic cell including the process of forming the electrode for solar cells , and the manufacturing method of a solar cell module.

  In order to solve the above-described problems and achieve the object, the present invention provides a screen for applying a paste containing a conductive material as an electrode material to an electrode forming surface of a substrate material through a printing mask corresponding to the electrode shape. Including a printing step, and in the screen printing step, the print mask having a printable area set wider than the electrode forming surface is used, and air is directed from the periphery of the substrate material toward the peripheral area of the printable area. The paste is applied while supplying.

  According to the present invention, by using a print mask having a wide printable area with respect to the electrode forming surface, a wider range than in the case of using a print mask having a printable area in which the margin is narrowed in advance is used. An electrode can be formed. In the peripheral region that is outside the electrode forming surface in the printable region, the paste stays on the printing mask by the pressure of air, and the protrusion of the paste outside the electrode forming surface is suppressed. By suppressing the adhesion of the paste to the side surface of the end portion of the substrate material and the wrapping of the paste to the surface opposite to the electrode formation surface, it is possible to prevent short-circuiting between electrodes having different polarities on the front and back sides. Thereby, the margin in screen printing is reduced as much as possible, and the production of solar cells having high power generation efficiency is enabled. In addition, the electrode forming method of the present invention enables simple implementation without significant changes to the conventional method.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a light receiving surface of a solar battery cell including an electrode formed by the method for forming an electrode of a solar battery cell according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a back surface opposite to the light receiving surface in the solar battery cell shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the stage portion of the printer used in the screen printing process. FIG. 4 is a plan view showing an example of a substrate material on which an electrode is formed by the method of the embodiment. FIG. 5 is a plan view showing an example of a substrate material on which an electrode is formed by the method of the embodiment. FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining the relationship between the printable region of the print mask used in the electrode forming method of the embodiment and the electrode forming surface. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing details of a part of the configuration shown in FIG. FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining a relationship between a printable region and an electrode formation surface in a print mask used in the electrode formation method according to the comparative example. FIG. 9 is a diagram showing details of a part of the configuration shown in FIG. FIG. 10 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the configuration of the groove and its periphery in the printing press. FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating the arrangement of the air blowing openings. FIG. 12 is a schematic cross-sectional view illustrating the procedure of the method for manufacturing a solar cell module according to the present invention. FIG. 13: is a cross-sectional schematic diagram explaining the procedure of the manufacturing method of the solar cell module by this invention. FIG. 14 is a diagram showing characteristics of the solar cell module manufactured according to the embodiment.

Hereinafter, a method of forming such a solar cell electrode of the present invention will be described in detail with reference printing machine, a method of manufacturing a solar cell, and an embodiment of a method of manufacturing a solar cell module in the drawings. Note that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments.

Embodiment.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a light receiving surface of a solar battery cell including an electrode formed by the method for forming an electrode of a solar battery cell according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a back surface opposite to the light receiving surface in the solar battery cell shown in FIG. 1. The light receiving surface of the solar battery cell 1 is provided with a grid electrode 31 and a front bus electrode 32 arranged so as to be orthogonal to each other. A back aluminum electrode 33 and a back bus electrode 34 are provided on the back surface of the solar battery cell 1.

  Next, the electrode formation method of the photovoltaic cell concerning this Embodiment is demonstrated. FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the stage portion of the printer used in the screen printing process. In the screen printing process, the metal paste 9 is applied to the electrode forming surface of the substrate material 3 through the printing mask 2.

  4 and 5 are plan views showing examples of substrate materials for forming electrodes by the method of the present embodiment. As the substrate material 3, for example, a square shape shown in FIG. 4 or a rounded quadrangular shape having four corners of an arc as shown in FIG. 5 is used. The one side M of the square shape shown in FIG. 4 and the one side equivalent width M of the rounded square shape shown in FIG. 5 are, for example, 156 mm.

  As the substrate material 3, for example, a silicon wafer which is a thin plate-like silicon is used. The substrate material 3 may be made of any material as long as an electrode can be formed by a screen printing process.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining the relationship between the printable region of the print mask used in the electrode forming method of the present embodiment and the electrode forming surface. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing details of a part of the configuration shown in FIG. Here, the case where an electrode is formed in the square-shaped substrate material 3 is taken as an example.

  The printing mask 2 includes, for example, a stainless mesh 16, a photosensitive emulsion 15 that covers a part of the stainless mesh 16, and a mask frame 14. The printing mask 2 prevents the metal paste 9 from passing through the portion covered with the photosensitive emulsion 15 and allows the metal paste 9 to pass through the portion where the stainless mesh 16 is exposed. The mask frame 14 holds the photosensitive emulsion 15 and the stainless mesh 16.

  The configuration of the printing mask 2 may be appropriately changed as long as it has characteristics suitable for screen printing for electrode formation. For example, the printing mask 2 may use a mesh made of a synthetic fiber material or a mesh made of a metal material other than stainless steel instead of the stainless steel mesh 16. Further, the printing mask 2 may use a metal member in place of the photosensitive emulsion 15.

  The printable area of the printing mask 2 is set to be slightly larger than the outer edge 17 of the electrode forming surface of the substrate material 3. The printable region is a region where a print pattern is formed, that is, a region including a portion where the stainless mesh 16 is exposed and a portion sandwiched between the portions where the stainless mesh 16 is exposed.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining the relationship between the printable region and the electrode forming surface in the printing mask used in the conventional electrode forming method according to the comparative example. FIG. 9 is a diagram showing details of a part of the configuration shown in FIG.

  In the conventional screen printing process, in order to prevent the metal paste 9 from protruding beyond the outer edge 17 of the electrode forming surface, the printable area of the print mask 35 is slightly smaller than the outer edge 17 of the electrode forming surface. Is set as follows. The outer edge of the printable region is located inside the outer edge 17 of the electrode forming surface. For example, in the case of a 156 mm square electrode forming surface, the distance d 'between the outer edge of the printable area and the outer edge 17 of the electrode forming surface is about 0.8 mm to 1.3 mm.

  On the other hand, in the screen printing process in the present embodiment, the outer edge of the printable region is located outside the outer edge 17 of the electrode forming surface. For example, in the case of a 156 mm square electrode forming surface, the distance d between the outer edge 17 of the electrode forming surface and the outer edge of the printable region is about 0.1 mm to 0.5 mm. The interval d can be set as appropriate according to the positioning accuracy of the printing machine to be used, the dimensional stability of the printing mask 2, the shape accuracy of the substrate material 3, and the like.

  The printing machine shown in FIG. 3 includes a stage 6 on which the substrate material 3 is placed. A groove 7 is formed in the stage 6 along the outer edge of the substrate material 3. The printing machine also includes an air supply mechanism 8 and an air suction mechanism 4. The air supply mechanism 8 supplies air from the periphery of the substrate material 3 toward the peripheral area of the printable area. An air blowing opening for supplying air by the air supply mechanism 8 is provided on the bottom surface of the groove 7. The plurality of air blowing openings are scattered along the outer edge of the substrate material 3. The air suction mechanism 4 fixes the substrate material 3 to the stage 6 by sucking air at the stage 6.

The air supply mechanism 8 diverts the exhaust pressure of the air suction mechanism 4. Therefore, the printing machine can easily construct the air supply mechanism 8 by a simple design change from the original air suction mechanism 4. The air supply mechanism 8 can supply air at a pressure of ² kg / cm ² , for example, by using the exhaust pressure of the air suction mechanism 4. The air supply mechanism 8 may include a regulator (not shown) for adjusting the air pressure. In the present embodiment, the air supply mechanism 8 adjusts the exhaust pressure of the air suction mechanism 4 to, for example, about 1 kg / cm ² with a regulator, and supplies air.

  The metal paste 9 includes a conductive material that is an electrode material. Typical conductive materials used for the metal paste 9 include gold, silver, copper, platinum and palladium. The metal paste 9 includes one or more of these conductive materials.

  The printing machine applies the metal paste 9 to the electrode forming surface of the substrate material 3 through the print mask 2 by scanning the squeegee 13 on the print mask 2 on which the metal paste 9 is placed. In the printing mask 2, the metal paste 9 is not allowed to pass through the portion covered with the photosensitive emulsion 15, but the metal paste 9 is allowed to pass through the portion where the stainless steel mesh 16 is exposed. The pattern is transferred onto the electrode forming surface.

  The printing machine scans the squeegee 13 in one direction while supplying air from the air blowing opening 5 toward the peripheral area 11 of the printable area. The peripheral area 11 is, for example, an area between the outer edge 17 of the electrode forming surface shown in FIG. 7 and the outer edge of the printable area. The printer presses the metal paste 9 on the stainless steel mesh 16 in the peripheral region 11 by applying the pressure of the air supplied from the air blowing opening 5 to the peripheral region 11.

  The printing machine prevents the metal paste 9 from passing outside the electrode formation surface in the print mask 2 in which the printable area is formed to be slightly larger than the electrode formation surface of the substrate material 3. As a result, the printing machine suppresses the printing region from deviating from the electrode formation surface to reach, for example, the stage 6 and the adhesion of the metal paste 9 to the outer edge side surface 12 of the substrate material 3. At the same time, the printer can form a minimum margin 10 on the electrode forming surface. The margin 10 is a peripheral area outside the printing area on the electrode forming surface.

  The printing machine can prevent scattering of the metal paste 9 from the printing mask 2 by adjusting the air pressure in consideration of the viscosity of the metal paste 9. When the metal paste 9 falls around the substrate material 3, the dropped metal paste 9 is kept in the groove 7 and is prevented from adhering to the substrate material 3 placed on the stage 6.

  FIG. 10 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the configuration of the groove and its periphery in the printing press. The air blowing opening 5 has, for example, a circular shape on the bottom surface of the groove 7. The shape of the air supply mechanism 8 in the vicinity of the air blowing opening 5 may be any shape as long as the pressure in the space between the bottom surface of the groove 7 and the printing mask 2 can be increased. In the present embodiment, in order to effectively increase the pressure, the vicinity of the air blowing opening 5 of the air supply mechanism 8 has a conical shape whose diameter becomes narrower toward the air blowing opening 5.

  The diameter φ of the air blowing opening 5 is about 0.8 mm to 1.5 mm, preferably 1.0 mm to 1.2 mm. When the diameter φ is smaller than 0.8 mm, it is difficult to obtain a perfect circle by drilling, and the air supply mechanism 8 is likely to be clogged due to foreign matters. By setting the diameter φ to 0.8 mm or more, it is possible to obtain a perfect circle relatively easily and to reduce the mixing of foreign matters.

When the diameter φ is larger than 1.5 mm, it is necessary to increase the pressure of the supplied air to about 5 kg / cm ^2, for example. By setting the diameter φ to 1.5 mm or less, the metal paste 9 can be pressed onto the peripheral region 11 by using the exhaust pressure of the air suction mechanism 4 and maintaining a sufficient initial velocity of air and maintaining the pressure. . It is assumed that the shape and diameter φ of the air blowing opening 5 can be appropriately changed according to the pressure of air that can be supplied by the air supply mechanism 8.

  FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating the arrangement of the air blowing openings. Here, a portion including one corner portion of the substrate material 3 and a groove 7 formed along the portion are illustrated.

  At the start of printing and at the end of printing, much of the pressure of the squeegee 13 is applied to a portion of the printable area of the print mask 2 other than the portion in contact with the electrode forming surface. For this reason, from the groove 7 formed perpendicular to the scanning direction S toward the peripheral region 11, it is required that the pressure for pressing the metal paste 9 on the printing mask 2 can be maintained high.

  On the other hand, during the period from the start of printing to the end of printing, most of the pressure of the squeegee 13 is applied to the portion of the printable area of the print mask 2 that contacts the electrode forming surface. For this reason, from the groove 7 formed in parallel to the scanning direction S toward the peripheral region 11, a pressure as high as that from the groove 7 formed perpendicular to the scanning direction S to the peripheral region 11 is applied. It is not necessary to maintain. Therefore, it is desirable that the air blowing openings 5 be densely provided in the grooves 7 formed perpendicular to the scanning direction S with respect to the grooves 7 formed parallel to the scanning direction S. Thereby, the printing press can suppress the passage of the metal paste 9 in the entire peripheral area 11.

  In the present embodiment, the air blowing openings 5 are 5 mm apart in the grooves 7 formed perpendicular to the scanning direction S, and 10 mm apart in the grooves 7 formed parallel to the scanning direction S. The air blowing openings 5 are also provided in the vicinity of the corners of the substrate material 3, that is, at positions where the grooves 7 formed in parallel with the grooves 7 formed perpendicular to the scanning direction S intersect. In addition, the space | interval which provides the air blowing opening 5 shall be suitably changeable according to the pressure etc. of the air which can be supplied.

  Furthermore, the position where the air blowing opening 5 is disposed is not limited to the bottom surface of the groove 7 and may be any position of the groove 7. The air blowing opening 5 may be arranged on the side surface of the groove 7, for example. The air supply mechanism 8 may supply air obliquely upward from the air blowing opening 5 formed on the side surface of the groove 7 toward the peripheral region 11.

  The metal paste 9 applied to the substrate material 3 by screen printing becomes an electrode by a process generally called baking. In the baking step, heat treatment is performed so that the peak temperature is 900 ° C. or lower, preferably 750 to 800 ° C. The heat treatment time in the firing furnace is generally within 2 minutes.

  When the separation of the p-type electrode and the n-type electrode (hereinafter referred to as pn separation) is performed prior to the formation of the electrode by screen printing, in order to suppress the occurrence of leakage current due to the adhesion of the electrode material, It is necessary to suppress the adhesion of the metal paste 9 to 12 and to provide a blank 10. Also, when performing pn separation by laser processing, it is desirable to suppress the adhesion of the metal paste 9 to the outer edge side surface 12 and to provide a margin 10 in order to suppress the occurrence of leakage current.

  In the electrode forming method according to the present embodiment, the margin 10 on the electrode forming surface can be optimized for any manufacturing method by adjusting the pressure of the air supplied in the screen printing process.

  In the conventional electrode forming method, in order to make the margin 10 as small as possible, it is necessary to suppress as much as possible the printing position shift by the printing press, the dimensional tolerance of the substrate material 3, the stretching of the printing mask 2, and the like. If high accuracy is required for all these conditions, the manufacturing cost of the solar battery cell will be significantly increased.

  In contrast, in the electrode forming method according to the present embodiment, if the positioning between the stage 6 and the substrate material 3 is possible, the dimensional tolerance of the substrate material 3 and the printing mask 2 can be adjusted by adjusting the air pressure. The influence of change over time can be reduced. For this reason, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to stably obtain the margin 10 having a minimum and appropriate width by screen printing with the same accuracy as in the conventional case. The electrode forming method of the present invention can be easily carried out by adding a simple change of supplying air to the conventional method. The electrode forming method of the present invention is applicable to both the electrode on the light receiving surface side and the electrode on the back surface side of the solar battery cell 1.

  12 and 13 are schematic cross-sectional views illustrating the procedure of the method for manufacturing a solar cell module according to the present invention. First, the transparent resin member 19 is installed on the transparent substrate 18. The transparent resin member 19 is provided with solar cells 20 with wiring. The solar cell with wiring 20 is produced by connecting a predetermined number of solar cells 1 (see FIG. 1) in parallel and connecting adjacent solar cells 1 with a soldered copper wire or the like. The solar cell 20 with wiring is installed on the transparent resin member 19 with the back surface of each solar cell 1 facing up.

  A transparent resin member 19 and a back sheet 21 are further installed on the solar cell 20 with wiring. FIG. 12 shows a state in which the transparent substrate 18, the transparent resin member 19, the solar cell with wiring 20, the transparent resin member 19, and the back sheet 21 are stacked in order from the top of the figure.

  By performing the heat treatment in a state where these members are pressure-bonded, as shown in FIG. 13, the transparent resin layer 22 in which the solar cells 20 with wiring are sealed, the transparent substrate 18, and the back sheet 21 are formed. An integrated solar cell module is produced. A solar battery module having high power generation efficiency can be obtained by using the solar battery cell 1 including the electrode formed by the above electrode forming method.

  It is desirable to use a vacuum thermocompression bonding device called a laminator for the heating and pressure bonding processes in the production of the solar cell module. The laminator heats and deforms the transparent resin member 19 and the back sheet 21 and further thermosets them so as to integrate the solar cells in the transparent resin layer 22.

  The vacuum thermocompression bonding apparatus heats and crimps each member in a reduced pressure environment. Thereby, between the transparent substrate 18 and the transparent resin member 19, between the transparent resin member 19 and the photovoltaic cell 20 with wiring, between the photovoltaic cell 20 with wiring and the transparent resin member 19, and between the transparent resin member 19 and the back sheet 21. With respect to the above, it is possible to prevent voids and bubbles from remaining and to press-bond each member with a uniform pressure.

  The heating and pressure-bonding treatment in the vacuum thermocompression bonding apparatus is performed at a temperature of 200 degrees or less, desirably 150 degrees to 200 degrees. It is assumed that the temperature in the heating and pressure bonding processes can be changed as appropriate depending on the material of the transparent resin member 19 and the like.

  For example, a glass substrate is used as the transparent substrate 18. The transparent substrate 18 only needs to be able to transmit sunlight, and may be made of a material other than glass. The transparent resin member 19 is one of resins such as ethylene vinyl acetate, polyvinyl butyral, epoxy, acrylic, urethane, olefin, polyester, silicon, polystyrene, polycarbonate, and rubber. Includes multiple. As long as the transparent resin member 19 can transmit sunlight, any material other than those listed here may be used.

  As the back sheet 21, a sheet made of one or a plurality of resins such as polyester, polyvinyl, polycarbonate, and polyimide is used. The back sheet 21 may be made of any material other than those listed here as long as it has sufficient strength, moisture resistance and weather resistance for protecting the solar cell module. The back sheet 21 may be made of not only a resin material but also a composite material obtained by bonding metal foil materials in order to improve strength, moisture resistance and weather resistance. Further, the back sheet 21 may be obtained by bonding a metal material having a high reflectance or a transparent member having a high refractive index to a resin material by vapor deposition or the like.

  The end face of the solar cell module may be protected with a tape made of a rubber-based resin member or the like in order to improve the adhesion of the laminating process and prevent intrusion of moisture or the like from the outside. For example, butyl rubber or the like is used as the rubber-based resin member. Furthermore, the solar cell module may be provided with a frame surrounding the outer periphery in view of ease of handling as a structure. The frame is configured using a metal member such as aluminum or an aluminum alloy, for example.

  FIG. 14 is a diagram showing characteristics of the solar cell module manufactured according to the present embodiment. The graph shown in FIG. 14 represents an example of the relationship between the distance from the outer edge of the substrate material 3 to the end of the back electrode and the characteristics of the solar cell module when the back electrode is formed by screen printing using the metal paste 9. It is a thing.

  The vertical axis of the graph shown in FIG. 14 represents a fill factor (FF). FF is a numerical value representing the ratio of the maximum output to the theoretical output, and is regarded as one of the standard of the quality of the solar cell module. The theoretical output corresponds to the product of open circuit voltage and short circuit current. FF represents the case where the maximum output is the same as the theoretical output, with the maximum value being 1, and the closer the value is to 1, the higher the power generation efficiency. The horizontal axis of the graph represents the distance from the outer edge of the substrate material 3 to the end of the electrode in the solar battery cell 1, that is, the width of the margin 10.

  From the relationship shown in FIG. 14, the smaller the distance from the outer edge of the substrate material 3 to the end of the electrode, the higher the FF. Theoretically, if the processing state of the electrode forming surface is uniform over the entire surface, the graph is estimated to be close to a straight line. As the electrode forming surface of the actual substrate material 3 is closer to the outer edge, the processed state often deteriorates. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 14, the smaller the distance from the outer edge of the substrate material 3 to the end of the electrode, the smaller the increase in FF, and the FF tends to converge.

  In the conventional electrode forming method, generally, the distance from the outer edge of the substrate material 3 to the end of the electrode is, for example, 0.8 mm to 1.3 mm. The FF in this case is approximately 0.786 to 0.777 in the example shown in FIG.

  In contrast, it is assumed that the distance from the outer edge of the substrate material 3 to the end of the electrode is adjusted to, for example, 0.3 mm by the electrode forming method according to the present embodiment. The FF in this case is approximately 0.790 in the example shown in FIG. According to this example, in this embodiment, it is possible to improve the FF by about 0.004 to 0.013 as compared with the conventional case.

  The present invention is very useful industrially because a high-performance solar cell module can be obtained by a simple technique without significant changes to the conventional technique.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Solar cell 2 Print mask 3 Substrate material 4 Air suction mechanism 5 Air blowing opening 6 Stage 7 Groove 8 Air supply mechanism 9 Paste (metal paste)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Margin 11 Peripheral area | region 12 Outer edge side surface 13 Squeegee 14 Mask frame 15 Photosensitive emulsion 16 Stainless steel mesh 17 Outer edge 18 Transparent substrate 19 Transparent resin member 20 Solar cell with wiring 21 Back surface sheet 22 Transparent resin layer 31 Grid electrode 32 Table bus electrode 33 Back aluminum electrode 34 Back bus electrode

Claims (9)

Including a screen printing step of applying a paste containing a conductive material, which is an electrode material, to the electrode forming surface of the substrate material through a printing mask corresponding to the electrode shape;
In the screen printing step, the print mask having a printable area set wider than the electrode formation surface is used, and air is supplied from the periphery of the substrate material toward the peripheral area of the printable area. A method for forming a solar cell electrode, comprising applying a paste.   The stage for placing the substrate material is formed with a groove along an outer edge of the substrate material, and air is supplied from an air blowing opening formed in the groove. A method for forming a solar cell electrode. The substrate material is fixed to the stage by air suction in the stage,
The method for forming a solar cell electrode according to claim 2, wherein the exhaust pressure due to the suction is used for supplying air from the air blowing opening. A printing machine that applies a paste containing a conductive material, which is an electrode material, to an electrode forming surface of a substrate material through a printing mask corresponding to the electrode shape,
When applying the paste using the printing mask having a printable area wider than the electrode formation surface, air is supplied from the periphery of the substrate material toward the peripheral area of the printable area. A printing machine comprising an air supply mechanism. A stage for mounting the substrate material;
The stage includes a groove along an outer edge of the substrate material,
The printing machine according to claim 4, wherein the groove is provided with an air blowing opening for supplying air by the air supply mechanism.   The printing press according to claim 5, wherein a diameter of the air blowing opening is 0.8 to 1.5 mm. An air suction mechanism for fixing the substrate material to the stage by sucking air in the stage;
The printing machine according to claim 4, wherein the air supply mechanism uses the exhaust pressure of the air suction mechanism. The manufacturing method of the photovoltaic cell characterized by including the process of forming the electrode for solar cells using the formation method of the electrode for solar cells as described in any one of Claim 1 to 3. A method for producing a solar cell module , comprising a step of producing a solar cell using the method for producing a solar cell according to claim 8.

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