R&D Lead - Solar PV Cells Metallization (Copper Paste)

R&D Lead — Solar Cell Metallization (Copper Paste)

Location: Peenya, Bengaluru (on-site only)

Type: Full-time — foundational hire

Compensation: Competitive fixed salary + meaningful ESOP

Experience: 3+ years in PV metallization paste development or cell process R&D

About Anuna Labs

Anuna Labs is an advanced materials deeptech startup developing air-stable copper nanoparticle inks and pastes as a drop-in replacement for silver. Our core differentiation is sintering in ambient air at low temperature — no inert atmosphere, no vacuum, no specialised equipment — which removes the oxidation barrier that has kept copper out of high-volume metallization for three decades.

We are commercialising across:

• Solar cell metallization (PERC / TOPCon / HJT)

• Printed and flexible electronics

• Automotive defogging and heated glass

• Semiconductor packaging and EMI shielding

• Electrocatalysis and hydrogen generation

Who This Role Is For

This is for a paste person — someone who has spent years on conductive pastes and PV metallization and is tired of their best work ending in a paper instead of a product.

You will not be handed a defined scope and a checklist. You will define the scope. You will build and lead a team of materials scientists, sit across the table from India's largest cell manufacturers, and be accountable for whether copper metallization actually works on their lines.

If you have lived on the other side of the screen printer, debugging a firing profile, chasing a peel strength failure through damp heat, arguing with a printing engineer about mesh tension, this is the seat.

What You'll Own

• Formulation and optimisation of copper-based front- and rear-side metallization pastes for PERC, TOPCon, and HJT architectures

• Rheology design and control — viscosity, thixotropic index, yield stress, wet weight, solids loading — tuned to printability targets

• Glass frit / organic vehicle / additive system selection and its interaction with our copper nanoparticle platform

• Sintering and firing window development, including low-temperature cure routes for HJT and TCO-compatible processes

Process and printing

• Screen printing process development: mesh and emulsion selection, opening geometry, squeegee parameters, snap-off, print speed

• Fine-line printing targets — line width, aspect ratio, continuity, and print-to-print repeatability

• Firing profile design on belt furnaces; identifying break points and process windows across ramp rate, peak temperature, and belt speed

• Correlating print and fire parameters to cell-level electrical output

Cell-level performance

• Contact resistivity and contact formation mechanism on n+ / p+ emitters, poly-Si, and TCO surfaces

• Copper diffusion risk assessment and barrier/passivation strategy — this is the question every customer will ask first

• Translating cell requirements (ρc, Rs, FF, line resistance, efficiency loss, adhesion) into actionable paste specifications for the R&D team

• Characterisation and failure analysis: TLM, I–V, Suns-Voc, EL/PL imaging, SEM/EDX cross-sections, XRD, TGA/DSC

Team and customer

• Building and leading a team of materials scientists and process engineers

• Running joint development programmes with cell manufacturers — trials on their lines, on their timelines, with their data with leading PV Cell manufacturers of India

• Technical documentation, IP generation, and spec control

Eligibility

• M.Tech / M.Sc / PhD in Materials Science, Metallurgy, Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Nanotechnology, or a related discipline

• 6+ years of hands-on experience in conductive paste development, PV cell process R&D, or thick-film metallization

• Demonstrated ownership of a paste, process, or metallization programme that reached production or pilot scale

• Direct working experience with at least one of PERC, TOPCon, or HJT at cell level

Good to Have

• Experience at a paste manufacturer (Ag, Al, or Cu systems) or a GW-scale cell line

• Track record of running joint development programmes with external manufacturing customers

• Working knowledge of module-level BOM and interconnection economics

• Patents or publications in metallization, contact formation, or thick-film systems

• Experience scaling a lab formulation into repeatable kilogram-scale production

• Exposure to non-PV metallization — packaging, printed electronics, automotive glass

Application Process

Mail the following to [email protected] with the subject line R&D Lead — Solar Metallization:

1. Your CV

2. A short note (max 300 words) answering:

-Describe one metallization or paste problem you owned end to end. What was the failure mode, and how did you find it?

-What do you think is the hardest unsolved problem in replacing silver with copper on a production cell line?

Thoughtful applications will be prioritised over mass applications. We read every one.