Process Engineer (Cell)

Qcells North America; Cartersville (GA); On-site; USD 70,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

Hanwha Q CELLS is seeking a Process Engineer (Cell) focused on metallization to enhance solar cell manufacturing. You will maintain and optimize metallization steps, including paste rheology, screen printing, and firing profiles, while driving process improvements and standardization across production lines.

The role emphasizes data-driven problem solving, DOE/SPC skills, and collaboration with equipment suppliers to improve cell efficiency and yield.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent combination of education and experience in Materials Science, Chemical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Physics, or a related field.
• Bachelor’s degree with industrial/research experience in above fields.
• Minimum 1 year of experience in metallization process or paste related industry.
• Strong understanding of metallization process fundamentals, including paste rheology and thixotropy, screen printing parameters, and firing profile behavior.

Responsibilities

• Process Maintenance: establish standard metallization and drying/firing parameters.
• Process Optimization: improve contact properties and sheet resistance.
• Process Development: research metallization trends and develop plans to improve efficiency.
• Process Management: analyze and troubleshoot process performance and reduce material use.
• New Product Integration: evaluate process settings for new models and transition to mass production.
• Process Development: implement development strategies to improve efficiency and reliability.
• Process Standardization: prepare SOPs, OCAPs, and define process docs.
• All other duties assigned by management or required by team.

Skills

Metallization fundamentals

Paste rheology

Screen printing parameters

Firing profile behavior

SQL data analysis

DOE SPC experience

Process optimization

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Materials Science, Chemical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Physics, or related field

Bachelor’s degree with industrial/research experience in above fields

Tools

Cross-section Analyzer

SEM

EDX

Job description

Summary

Cell Process Team maintains and develops manufacturing process mainly to enhance overall production performance, including product characteristics, yield rate, production cost, etc. Process Engineer (Metallization) is responsible for proper metallization process performance, which affects conductivity and contact resistance of solar cells. Metallization process in solar cell production consists of several different steps. Printing process generates electrical contacts to facilitate flow of electrical current by pressing metallic materials onto solar cell laser pattern. Drying and Firing process provides high temperature treatment to increase adhesion between silicon wafer and metallic electrodes.

Description

Process Engineer (Cell)

Cell Process Team maintains and develops manufacturing process mainly to enhance overall production performance, including product characteristics, yield rate, production cost, etc. Process Engineer (Metallization) is responsible for proper metallization process performance, which affects conductivity and contact resistance of solar cells. Metallization process in solar cell production consists of several different steps. Printing process generates electrical contacts to facilitate flow of electrical current by pressing metallic materials onto solar cell laser pattern. Drying and Firing process provides high temperature treatment to increase adhesion between silicon wafer and metallic electrodes.

Responsibilities

• Process Maintenance
  • Establish standard parameters of metallization process, such as printing speed, paste laydown, or screen lifetime.
  • Establish standard parameters of drying and firing process, such as furnace temperature, temperature profile, or heat capacity.
  • Analyze issues regarding solar‑cell characteristics and production quality caused by metallization process and establish preventive countermeasures.
• Process Optimization
  • Optimize contact properties and sheet resistance.
  • Confirm optimal process performance with product characteristics, such as pattern accuracy, aspect ratio, or pattern adhesion, measured with proper inspection device.
• Process Development
  • Research metallization process trend of state‑of‑the‑art solar cell manufacturing technology.
  • Establish development plans of metallization process to enhance solar‑cell efficiency and production quality.
• Process Management
  • Analyze and troubleshoot process performance and establish improvement plans.
  • Reduce raw material consumption, such as metallic paste and screens.
  • Improve process impact on cell quality.
• New Product Integration
  • Evaluate process setting and reliability of new production model in mass‑production standpoint.
  • Manage transition process of new production model testing to mass‑production.
• Process Development
  • Implement process development strategies, such as solar‑cell efficiency improvement, manufacturing cost reduction, process material implementation, etc.
  • Research foundational technology through process analysis and testing.
  • Develop and test mass production reliability of proprietary technology.
• Process Standardization
  • Provide and train Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) and Out‑of‑Control Action Plans (OCAP).
  • Decide specification of process condition, raw materials and etc.
  • Define process standard documents, such as Parameter Sheets (PAS) or Bill of Materials (BOM).
  • Establish standard process environment based on quality control standard.
  • Modify process setting based on solar cell quality requirements.
• All other duties assigned by management or that require immediate attention by Team member.

Required Qualifications

• Educational Background:
  • Bachelor’s degree or equivalent combination of education and experience in Materials Science, Chemical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Physics, or a related field.
  • Bachelor’s degree with industrial/research experience in above fields.
• Experience:
  • Minimum 1 years of experience in metallization process or paste related industry
• Technical Knowledge:
  • Basic understanding in electrical and chemical characteristics of semiconductor
  • Strong understanding of metallization process fundamentals, including paste rheology and thixotropy, screen printing parameters, and firing profile behavior.
  • Experience with screen printing and firing furnace equipment operation, process optimization, and troubleshooting.
  • Knowledge of metallic paste systems and contact formation, including Ag and Al pastes and fire-through behavior on dielectric films.
  • Analysis skills of SQL to interpret data and derive conclusions

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in solar cell, semiconductor, display manufacturing, or related industry
• Ability to analyze process data and identify process-to-performance correlations using statistical or data analysis tools.
• Experience with DOE (Design of Experiments), SPC and process optimization is preferred.
• Experience with micro analysis tools, such as Cross-section Analyzer, SEM, EDX and etc.
• Professional working proficiency in Korean is a plus, as the position involves reviewing technical documentation and collaborating with engineering teams and equipment suppliers that issue source materials in Korean.

Hanwha Q CELLS provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, or genetics.