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News for the Solar Manufacturing Industry 

Volume 2 Number 4 July/August 2009 

Dr. Madhusudan V. Atre 

Interview Inside 

The importance of Cpk 

Debugging and verifying microinverters 

for photovoltaic installationS 

Lasers, for more efficient solar cells 

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© Trafalgar Publications 

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Kingdom 

Contents 

2 Forget oversupply; welcome the era of clean energy 

Debasish Choudhury 

Technology Focus 

8 Debugging and verifying microinverters for photovoltaic 

installations 

Win Seipel, Agilent Technologies, Inc., Santa Clara, CA 

12 The importance of Cpk 

Darren Brown, DEK, Weymouth, UK 

Special Features 

10 The importance of seal selection on PV productivity 

and cost 

16 Lasers, for more efficient solar cells 

18 Interview— Dr. Madhusudan V. Atre, Applied Materials 

India Pvt. Ltd. 

20 Intersolar lights up San Francisco 

22 PV America gets off to a good start in Philadelphia 

22 Shah demands respect for solar industry at PV America 

REGULAR COLUMNS 

6 Renewable energy going forward 

Dr. Jennie S. Hwang 

! 

16 

Volume 2, No. 4 

July/August 2009 

8 

18 

Regular Features 

4 Industry News 

24 Technological Developments 

28 New Products 

40 Events Calendar 

Visit the website for more news & content: www.globalsolartechnology.com. 

A technician lays a panel of solar 

cells into place on a wing section 

of the Helios Prototype flying 

wing at AeroVironment’s Design 

Development Center in Simi 

Valley, California. Source: NASA. 


Global Solar Technology – July/August 2009 – 1

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Year 2008 was the golden year for the 

global solar industry, which registered 

an astronomical 123% growth in PV 

installations, totalling to 5.2 GW 

worldwide, compared to 2.4 GW installed 

base in 2007. Then came the real shock! 

The Spanish government suddenly reduced 

the subsidy limit to 500 MW from its 

installation volume of 2.2GW in 2008, 

which was largest in the world. This 

single demand collapse, combined with 

disappointing demand due to the global 

economic crisis, pushed average inventories 

throughout the solar supply chain up by 

64.3%, spurring major oversupply and 

price erosion. 

The situation turned acute in the first 

quarter of 2009, when the average days of 

inventory across the solar production value 

chain surged to more than 121, up from 

74.2 during the same period in 2008. 

China, which saw the enormous 

growth of its solar photovoltaic industry in 

2008, found the big behemoths scouring 

for cover a year later. The Chinese 

government acted swiftly, and announced 

a new $2.70 per watt government solar 

incentive program, which provided a strong 

impetus to local solar stocks, representing a 

50% government participation in the cost 

of many Chinese solar projects. 

The Japan government expressed its 

intention to renew their solar subsidy 

program earlier this year as well, post its 

closure in 2006. 

Thanks to U.S. President Barack 

Obama’s American Recovery and 

Reinvestment Act of 2009, gradually, the 

clean energy program became a buzz word 

around the globe. 

India’s ancient scriptures speak of 

“Ekham Adityam”—the one Sun as the 

source of inexhaustible energy. The 

National Solar Mission, set up as part of 

Debasish Choudhury 

Editor, Global Solar Technology 

Forget oversupply; welcome 

the era of clean energy 

the Prime Minister’s National Action Plan 

on Climate Change (NAPCC) in 2008, is 

reported to be targeting generation of 20 

GW solar power by 2020, from the current 

miniscule level of 2.2 MW. The mission 

also reported to have set up ambitious 

target’s of 100 GW solar power by 2030, 

and 200 GW solar power by 2050. There 

is a strong possibility of this mission’s 

announcement by India government in 

mid August. 

If these announcements weren’t 

enough to inflate the mood of the global 

solar industry, then came this earthshattering 

announcement: Desertec 

Industrial Initiative (DII). The project, 

promoted by twelve leading international 

solar companies and sponsored by 

Germany’s Munich Re, plans to invest 400 

billion euros to build concentrating solar 

thermal power (CSP) plants in the desert 

regions of Northern Africa and Middle 

East, for both local use and for exportation 

to Europe. The DII project will be built 

during the next 10 years. No doubt, all 

these projects will have a significant impact 

on the social and economic development 

around the globe. 

In conclusion, according to a major 

new study by IntertechPira of UK, the 

global photovoltaic market is expected 

to double within the next five years, 

reaching US$48 billion. Undoubtedly, 

the report reiterated, wafer-based silicon 

will continue as the dominant technology, 

but amorphous thin-film and cadmium 

telluride (CdTe) technologies will gain 

ground, and are expected to account for a 

combined 22% of the market by 2014. Can 

you see the sunlight? 

Certainly, the future of global 

photovoltaic market will be sunny as never 

before! 

—Debasish Choudhury 

2 – Global Solar Technology – July/August 2009 www.globalsolartechnology.com

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Industry Title news 

Industry news 

6.5GW cell line capacity installed 

With the completion of a project in 

New Delhi, ASYS celebrated a milestone 

of 6.5GW installed metallization line 

capacity. Although growth in the Solar 

sector has slowed down some, ASYS still 

sees solid demand for its metallization 

lines. 

“We are currently working on multiple 

projects where we benefit from our 

expertise gained in the past years. These 

days a lot of companies are talking about 

how good they are. It is nice to be able to 

proof to our new customers our technology 

leadership, not with words or ads, but just 

by looking at the installed base and the 

trust we have built in the industry,” said 

Markus Wilkens, general manager for the 

Americas. www.asys-group.com 

Ningbo Solar extends manufacturing 

capability; installs eight DEK 

metallization lines 

Ningbo Solar has purchased eight 

metallization lines from DEK Solar in a 

bid to extend its capacity to deliver high 

quality solar cells to the global marketplace. 

Ningbo Solar decided to implement the 

DEK PV1200 lines following an extensive 

evaluation period which yielded impressive 

results. Ningbo Solar purchased its first 

PV1200 line in Q2 2008 for installation 

in Q3. In fact, led by DEK’s China Service 

Manager Speed Yan with the backing of 

the company’s global engineering team, 

installation was so efficient that DEK was 

able to hand over the line in the second 

week. Soon after the first line installation, 

Ningbo Solar placed an order for a further 

seven lines which were delivered later in 

the year. www.deksolar.com 

BP Solar and SolarEdge partner 

to develop PV power harvesting 

system 

BP Solar and SolarEdge announced a joint 

agreement to explore commercialization 

of a PV module-integrated power 

harvesting system embedded directly 

into BP Solar modules. The combined 

solution will maximize energy generation 

throughout the life of the solar power 

system while dramatically reducing 

complexities and costs. In support of this 

activity, BP Solar and SolarEdge have 

been awarded a research grant by the 

Israeli and US governments as part of the 

BIRD (Bi-national Industrial Research 

and Development) foundation, which 

contributes to joint development. Through 

the “BIRD Energy” initiative, the BP Solar- 

SolarEdge project has been recognized 

for its achievements in improving the 

effectiveness and economics of solar 

technology. www.bp.com, www.solaredge.com 

Evonik investing in the futureoriented 

solar power and 

electronics markets 

Evonik Industries AG is planning a 

substantial investment in the futureoriented 

markets for solar energy and 

electronics, despite the economic crisis. 

Together with Japanese partner Taiyo 

Nippon Sanso Corporation (TNSC), the 

group is working on a project involving 

investment of around EUR 125 million. 

The heart of the project is a new integrated 

production facility for monosilane and 

AEROSIL® in Yokkaichi (Japan), around 

400 kilometers south of Tokyo. An 

agreement on this facility has been signed 

and is the first step in the positioning 

of Evonik’s solar silicon activities on the 

attractive Asian market. Construction of 

the new facility is expected to begin in late 

2009 and start-up is scheduled for 2011. 

corporate.evonik.com 

QD Soleil acquires critical patents 

in solar energy 

QD Soleil, a division of Nanosys Inc., 

signed an exclusive license agreement 

with Starfire Electronic Development 

and Marketing Corporation for patents 

covering the work of nanotechnology 

pioneer Dr. Avery Goldstein. The 

technologies under license have the 

potential to dramatically improve the 

economics of solar energy by increasing 

process efficiencies and reducing the 

amount of raw materials required in the 

manufacture of photovoltaic cells. 

The license relates to manufacturing 

methods for making semiconductor 

thin films using roll-to-roll processing 

and nanoparticle inks, and also includes 

seminal coverage of silicon and germanium 

nanocrystals, all of which are critical in the 

production of solar energy at cost parity 

with traditional energy sources. Silicon 

nanocrystals also have the potential to 

produce highly efficient photovoltaic cells. 

www.qdsoleil.com, www.nanosysinc.com 

DayStar Technologies announces 

management change and workforce 

reduction 

Robert G. Aldrich, chairman of the board 

of directors of DayStar Technologies, 

Inc., has been appointed CEO after the 

resignation of Stephan J. DeLuca. Dr. 

Aldrich joined DayStar as a director in 

October 2003. He served from 1992 to 

1995 as group vice president, Electric 

Power Research Institute (EPRI). From 

1990 to 1992, he was a director of 

Ramtron. Prior experience includes 

executive positions with Alcan Aluminum 

Corporation, Niagara Mohawk Power 

Corporation, and Syracuse Research 

Corporation. 

DayStar cuts workforce 

DayStar announced plans to implement a 

reduction of approximately 30 percent of 

its workforce, expected to be completed in 

the second quarter. www.daystartech.com 

Yingli Green Energy enters into 

supplier agreement with AES Solar 

Yingli Green Energy has entered into an 

exclusive supplier framework agreement 

with AES Solar Energy, a developer, owner 

and operator of utility-scale solar plants. 

Under the terms of the agreement, Yingli 

Green Energy will be AES Solar’s exclusive 

supplier of polycrystalline PV modules 

expected to be purchased by AES Solar for 

use in solar projects in major PV markets 

for a term of three years. www.yinglisolar. 

com, www.aes.com 

MicroScreen appoints 

representatives for screens to print 

photovoltaic devices 

MicroScreen appointed two sales 

organizations as exclusive agents for 

sales and service of screens used in the 

printing of solar cells. The PV screens 

are being produced by MicroScreen in its 

newly-established manufacturing facility 

contiguous to the current screen-making 

location. This expansion is strictly for 

manufacture of screens for solar cells and 

specifically to accommodate larger frame 

sizes. Chalman Technologies has been 

appointed the exclusive representative 


Industry news 

for Southern California, Arizona and 

New Mexico; Creyr Innovation has been 

appointed the exclusive representative for 

New England and New York. 

www.microscreen.org 

Suntech brings solar to Switzerland 

with Sunergic 

Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd., 

is supplying Sunergic SA, one of 

Switzerland’s leading solar system 

integrators, with the solar panels for a 

1MW solar system for Services Industriels 

de Geneve (SIG), a Swiss utility. The SIG 

1MW solar project is one of the largest in 

Switzerland to date. www.sunergic.com, 

www.suntech-power.com 

Robeko adds NanoBond® sputter 

target bonding capability 

Robeko of Münchweiler, Germany, a 

supplier of components for the thin 

film industry, has added Reactive 

NanoTechnologies’ NanoFoil® capability 

to its sputtering system and component 

products and services offering. Robeko had 

previously entered into a license agreement 

for the use of RNT’s NanoFoil® and 

NanoBond® technologies. Robeko 

capitalized their facility in Münchweiler to 

bond sputter targets using RNT’s patented 

room temperature bonding technique. 

NanoBond® is used to bond sputter 

targets with the additional benefits of 

minimizing the CTE mismatch of target 

and backing plate materials, improving the 

overall performance of target assemblies in 

use, and providing a more environmentally 

friendly process solution. 

FHR Anlagenbau GmbH of Ottendorf- 

Okrilla, Germany, a supplier of thin-film 

equipment and a division of Centrotherm 

Photovoltaics AG, has also entered into 

a license agreement for the use of RNT’s 

NanoFoil® and NanoBond® technologies. 

www.rntfoil.com 

BioSolar’s first BioBacksheet slated 

to hit commercial market in second 

half of 2009 

BioSolar, Inc., developer of a technology 

to produce bio-based materials from 

renewable plant sources that reduce the 

cost of photovoltaic solar cells, announced 

that the BioBacksheet-C will be the 

company’s first product to be commercially 

available during the second half of 2009. 

The announcement follows BioSolar’s 

recent news that two of its products 

are currently in the pre-production 

stage and nearing qualification for full 

production. BioSolar’s line of proprietary 

BioBacksheet protective coverings 

are designed to replace expensive and 

hazardous petroleum-based film with a 

bio-based one derived from plant based 

renewable resources, creating a more 

environmentally-friendly and cost-effective 

solar panel component. www.biosolar.com 

BTU International wins ‘Industry 

Choice’ International Solar 

Technology Award 

BTU International, a supplier of advanced 

thermal processing equipment for 

the alternative energy and electronics 

manufacturing markets, was awarded the 

‘Industry Choice’ International Solar 

Technology Award for its MERIDIAN 

in-line diffusion system. The International 

Solar Technology Awards are designed to 

acknowledge and recognize achievements 

in the creation and development of solar 

technology. 

BTU International’s MERIDIAN 

features the MERIDIAN phosphorus 

coater, which includes key advances such 

as back-side and top-side coating and 

integrated wafer drying. The system can 

be configured to achieve up to 1500 156- 

mm wafers per hour. The in-line process 

offers reduced wafer handling and greater 

throughput than traditional batch processing. 

Reduced handling translates into 

lower breakage rates, improved yield and 

lower cost of ownership. www.btu.com 

UAE’s Ministry of Environment to 

train national cadre in the field of 

renewable energy 

The UAE’s ministry of environment, 

in collaboration with LG Electronics, 

launched a training program to empower 

national cadre in the field of renewable 

energy. The training program, to be held at 

the LG Electronics headquarters in South 

Korea, will analyze a number of researches 

in the field of environmental engineering, 

solar energy, and related technologies. The 

initiative is part of the ministry’s efforts to 

enhance human resources and empower 

national cadre of UAE in the field of 

renewable energy. 

Solar Energy Systems, LLC (SES) 

opens Newark, NJ office 

Solar Energy Systems, LLC (SES) has 

signed a lease acquiring new space in 

Newark’s central business district. In 

addition to two locations in New York, 

the commercial solar power integrator 

has established an office in downtown 

Newark’s Academy Building. 

www.solaresystems.com 

Continued on page 32 

Appointments 

BTU International 

BTU International, Inc., hired 

Jan-Paul van Maaren, PhD, as vice 

president marketing. Van Maaren. 

Prior to joining BTU, van Maaren 

served as vice president of corporate 

marketing at MKS Instruments, a 

global supplier of semiconductor and 

solar manufacturing equipment. 

Entech Solar 

Entech Solar named Sandy J. Martin 

chief financial officer. Ms. Martin is a 

CPA, MBA and has served in finance 

and accounting leadership positions 

primarily with publicly-held companies 

during the past 25 years. 

HelioVolt 

Jim Flanary has joined HelioVolt 

Corporation as cheif executive officer. 

Flanary comes to HelioVolt from First 

Solar, where he was COO. 

Monocrystal 

Monocrystal, Inc., appointed Mr. 

Mikhail Berest, former VP purchasing 

director, asVP sales and marketing; 

Mrs. Maria Sabelnikova as VP HR 

director; and Mr. Andrey Shamin, VP 

purchasing director. 

Signet Solar 

Signet Solar appointed Bruce Horn as 

the company’s chief financial officer. 

Horn has over 20 years of accounting, 

finance and management experience 

with public and private high-technology 

companies. Prior to joining Signet, 

Horn was CFO at StrataLight 

Communications, Inc. 

SPG Solar 

SPG Solar, Inc., named Thomas S. 

Rooney, Jr. chief executive officer. Prior 

to joining SPG Solar, Rooney was a 

noted speaker and consultant in the 

clean-tech sector while also serving on a 

number of boards throughout Asia, Europe 

and North America. From 2003 

to 2007 Rooney served as the president 

and CEO of Insituform Technologies. 


Global Solar Technology – May/June 2009 – 5

Title 

Renewable energy going forward 

Dr. Jennie S. Hwang 

H-Technologies group 

Renewable energy going 

forward 

Recently, the debate on climate legislation 

has reached climax in Washington D.C. 

The narrowly passed House bill (climatechange 

and energy bill, H.R. 2454) and 

the to-be-voted Senate bill culminate 

in the “cap and trade” system. The cap 

and trade system is destined to require 

electric utilities and companies to reduce 

carbon dioxide emissions each year to 

meet the cap, or to purchase allowances 

from companies whose emissions are 

below their cap. Amid this debate, what 

can be anticipated going forward in the 

development and deployment of renewable 

energy, and how will solar energy play in 

the U.S. renewable energy arena? 

U.S. legislation in the works 

Companies and organizations are divided 

on the climate change and energy 

issue, driving in opposite directions. 

Nonetheless, the House bill that cuts 

CO 2 

emissions has passed, albeit very 

narrowly. The bill cuts CO 2 emissions 

by 17 percent of 2005 levels by 2020 and 

by 83 percent of 2005 levels by 2050. 

Additionally, the House bill would 

curb the use of other chemicals, such as 

perfluorocarbon, hydrofluorocarbons 

and black carbon, which are deemed to 

emit greenhouse gases. The bill is also set, 

beginning in 2020, to make importers 

of energy-intensive products made in 

countries without greenhouse gas emission 

regulations to purchase allowances before 

their goods can cross into the U.S. 

(pending further debate.) The bill has 

made a major stride in encouraging the use 

of CO 2 emission-free energy resources. 

On the state level, a renewable portfolio 

standard (RPS) requires that a minimum 

amount of renewable energy is included 

in the portfolio of the electricity resources 

serving a state (Ref: State Environmental 

resource Center). Most RPS laws require 

states to increase the percentage of 

renewable power sources used from the 

current amount to between 10 and 20 

percent over about 20 years. It is stated 

that increasing the amount of renewable 

power required over time allows industry 

to grow into the demand and can put the 

power industry on a path toward increased 

sustainability. RPS laws ensure that states 

will have a diverse energy portfolio to move 

into the future. More than sixteen states 

currently have RPS laws. Among them, 

California is the leader of the pack, to 

generate 20 percent of its electricity from 

renewable energy in 2010, and there is 

legislation pending now to take it to 33 

percent. 

Global activities and legislation 

In the global landscape, the EU sets its goal 

to increase renewable energy penetration 

in the region of 27 member states to 

19 percent by 2010 and to reduce its 

greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 

2020. 

Germany, a leader in solar cell energy 

use and having the largest subsidized 

market for the past few years, is encouraged 

by the government’s goal to increase 100 

MW per year and by the incentives to build 

plants producing solar energy products. 

Japan, another leader in PV technology, 

sets the application targets of an increase 

in PV electricity generation by 400MW per 

year through 2010. 

China’s grand renewable energy 

goal includes a 20-gigawatt program 

cumulatively through 2020. Its government 

has pledged US $100B allotments on 

renewable energy to make renewable energy 

account for 15 percent of total energy 

supply by 2020. Taiwan’s government 

has also designated solar energy (and 

LED) as a strategic industry, committing 

to increasing its production capacity, 

subsidizing manufacturers’ R&D and 

offering incentives to consumers who use 

solar panel energy. 

India, reportedly, has also announced 

an intention to adopt a 20-gigawatt 

program by 2020. Other countries, such 

as Australia, have introduced RPS, in an 

effort to move forward toward renewable 

energy. 

Energy resources vs. environmental 

characteristics 

Among the various energy-generating 

resources, for both fossil fuels and 

renewable, their respective environmental 

characteristics as described by NOPEC 

(Northeast Ohio Public Energy Council) is 

listed as below: 

• Coal power: air emissions and 

solid waste 

• Natural gas power: air 

emissions and solid waste 

• Oil power: air emissions and 

solid waste 

• Nuclear power: radioactive 

waste 

• Biomass power: air emissions 

and solid waste 

• Hydro power: wildlife impacts 

• Wind power: wildlife impacts 

• Solar power: no significant 

impact 

It is noted that solar power is rated as most 

environmentally benign. 

World PV installed capacity 

development 

Presently, PV-generated solar energy 

constitutes a miniscule portion of total 

energy assumption. Yet its growth has 

been phenomenal. The installed capacity 

of PV generated energy in gigawatts (GW) 


Title 

One megawatt solar field at Cerro Coso Community College’s Ridgecrest location in California. 

of production has increased from less 

than 2 GW in 2003 to nearly 10 GW in 

2008, equivalent to 45 percent CAGR 

(compound annual growth rate.) 

This year’s significant dip largely stems 

from two mega-events: global economic 

downturn in a broad scale and the steep 

drop in Spain’s solar installation. It should 

be noted that Spain was the country that 

contributed the highest weight to the solar 

installation in the global capacity growth 

in 2008, which was a unique and an 

exceptional event. 

It has long been a belief that the wide 

deployment of solar energy relies on the 

government’s initiatives and financial 

incentives. Indeed, at the initial stage, the 

government has played a crucial role to the 

adoption and application of solar energy 

as an environment-friendly renewable 

energy source as has occurred in Europe 

and Japan. Yet, with or without the 

government’s engagement, how fast and 

to what extent that PV can contribute to 

the electricity generation in the U.S. and 

in the world largely depends on two fronts: 

cost ($/W or $/Kwh) and technology. 

To fulfill a country’s desires to sustain 

its energy supply and to support an 

environmental-friendly stand, a myriad 

of activities in renewable energy, from 

the government to academia to the 

industry, have been implemented. With 

the vibrant global energy activities, 

what are the resulting geopolitical 

ramifications? Judging from the national 

plans and programs of both developed and 

developing countries, this is a global race 

and an opportunity to shine. 

Going forward, a handsome growth rate 

is expected from 2010 onward, particularly 

in the measure of megawatts—a precise 

percentage growth rate may not be easy to 

fetch, but more than 50% annual growth 

would not be a surprise. Be prepared. 

Dr. Jennie S. Hwang has extensive 

experience in global market and 

international business in her executive 

capacities with both corporate America 

and entrepreneurial businesses. She is 

inducted to the WIT International Hall 

of Fame, elected to the National Academy 

of Engineering, and named an R&D-Starsto-Watch 

(Industry Week). Dr. Hwang 

is a member of the U.S. Commerce 

Department’s Export Council, and serves 

on university, civic and Fortune 500 

NYSE company boards. Among others, 

she has served on National Research 

Council’s “Globalization Committee” 

and “ Forecasting Emerging, Disruptive 

Technologies Committee”. Her education 

includes Ph.D., M.S., M.A., B.S. degrees 

in engineering and sciences, respectively, 

and Harvard Business School Executive 

Program. An author of 300+ publications, 

she is also a worldwide speaker on trade, 

technology, business, education, and social 

issues. Tel: (216) 839-1000; E-mail: 

JennieHwang@aol.com. 

www.JennieHwang.com 



Debugging and verifying microinverters for photovoltaic installations 

Debugging and verifying 

microinverters for 

photovoltaic installations 

by Win Seipel, Agilent Technologies, Inc., Santa Clara, CA 

Traditional solar energy 

installations use a single 

centralized inverter to convert 

the DC output from multiple 

solar modules into AC power. 

Enphase Energy uses a different 

approach: The Enphase 

microinverter system employs 

one microinverter for each solar 

module in the installation. 

Enphase engineers use Agilent 

E4350B and E4360A solar 

array simulators (SASs) in 

the development environment 

to verify power production of 

its microinverters and test the 

voltage compliance range. They 

also use an SAS to develop 

and test the efficiency of 

their maximum power point 

tracking (MPPT) algorithms. 

In the product verification 

environment, Enphase uses 

the solar array simulators to 

ensure its products meet spec 

and to simulate environmental 

conditions for lifecycle testing. 

Keywords: Microinverters, 

Solar Array Simulators, MPPT 

! 

In a solar power installation, an inverter 

converts DC power from photovoltaic 

cells into grid-compliant AC power. The 

inverter’s maximum power point tracking 

(MPPT) circuitry and algorithm allow it to 

extract the maximum power available from 

a module over a wide range of environmental 

conditions (see sidebar). 

Traditional designs use a single 

centralized inverter to convert the DC 

output from multiple solar modules 

into AC power. Enphase Energy uses a 

different approach: Its system employs 

one microinverter for each solar module 

within an installation. The inverters are 

independent and isolated, so even if one 

module is shaded, the adjacent module can 

be running at its maximum power point. 

Enphase parallels the outputs of single 

inverters together in one or more branch 

circuits and connects those circuits into 

the load center. According to Enphase, 

this integrated system maximizes energy 

harvest, increases system reliability, 

and simplifies design, installation and 

management. 

Enphase design engineers use a device 

called a solar array simulator (SAS) to 

debug solar arrays on their lab benches. 

They also use the SAS for product 

verification and certification testing, and 

when developing MPPT algorithms. 


Debugging and verifying microinverters for photovoltaic installations 

Testing the microinverters 

In the development environment, Enphase 

engineers use an SAS to verify power 

production and test the voltage compliance 

range to ensure they are producing power 

at the high- and low-voltage extremes. 

They also use it to develop and test MPPT 

algorithms. 

“The SAS is an integral part of our 

engineer’s bench,” said Mark Baldassari, 

Enphase director of hardware engineering. 

“We have several channels available at 

a bench, either using them singly or 

paralleling two together to give us higher 

current at low voltage.” The parallel 

method is necessary because Enphase runs 

most tests in the 20-volt range and needs 

about 200 watts of power. 

In the product verification 

environment, Enphase uses the SAS to 

make sure its products meet specifications. 

Enphase’s engineers use the SAS in 

conjunction with an environmental 

chamber to ensure products operate 

over their full temperature range. The 

chamber also includes a vibration/shock 

table, which, among other things, lets 

them ensure that the microinverter is 

maintaining proper compliance with the 

photovoltaic array and that the MPPT 

algorithm is working correctly. 

For long-term reliability tests, 

Enphase conducts simulated lifecycle 

testing during which they expose the 

unit-under-test (UUT) to environmental 

conditions it would likely face over several 

years. Using the SAS, they simulate the 

diurnal variations in illumination while 

simultaneously simulating diurnal and 

seasonal temperature variation. They 

simulate two and a half months per day 

and run the tests for two to three weeks. 

Static and dynamic testing 

Enphase uses the SAS for two types of 

tests: static and dynamic. Most of its testing 

is done statically, which entails simulating 

a particular power point for the solar array 

and verifying voltage, current and illumination 

of the solar module. For example, 

when checking for compliance with CEC 

(California Energy Commission) standards, 

they test at the minimum, nominal and 

maximum rated voltages and at specific 

power levels. Each level is one static point. 

When the engineers need to 

simulate the illumination curve of a 

solar module, they use dynamic testing. 

The SAS lets them simulate the output 

of a solar module over its rated values 

for temperature and illumination. A 

simulation run starts at low voltage and 

low power to simulate cloudy days, then 

progresses to high voltage and high power 

to simulate sunny conditions. 

According to Mark, dynamic 

simulation of the illumination curves is 

challenging, as is simulating the slow ramp 

that occurs at dawn: “Early in the morning, 

the solar module will actually produce a 

small amount of power just from sky light. 

We have to operate in those times too – 

below 10 W.” 

Enphase microinverters have a special 

mode that makes it possible to generate 

AC power generation with low input 

power – and this is hard to simulate.” 

However, Enphase discovered that it can 

be done using either an Agilent E4350B 

or E4360A, Agilent’s older and newer SAS 

units, respectively. “Doing the dynamic 

simulation of the illumination is easier 

with an E4360As because its response time 

is so much faster,” said Mark. “I can load 

my user-defined I-V curve tables almost in 

real time.” 

Measuring MPPT efficiency 

Accuracy is extremely important to 

Enphase engineers. “An important test 

is MPPT efficiency, which measures 

the ability of our product to accurately 

determine the maximum power production 

point of the solar module,” said Mark. 

Today, this is an Enphase-internal test; 

however, it may soon be mandated as a 

regulatory or certification test. Those tests 

may require a weighted efficiency rating 

that combines “converting efficiency” – 

how efficiently the inverter converts DC to 

AC – and “MPPT efficiency,” which rates 

how accurately the inverter determines the 

maximum power point. MPPT efficiency is 

the most important: If the unit is operating 

at a suboptimum power point, it isn’t 

providing the maximum possible power. 

To test MPPT efficiency, Enphase 

connects an electronic load such as the 

Agilent N3306A to the output of an SAS. 

They then load the I-V curve table and 

switch on the load. A test engineer sweeps 

the load through the curve at ±10% or 

±15% of MPPT and finds the point of 

maximum power production. Next, they 

disconnect the load and hook up the 

UUT. After the microinverter MPPT 

circuit and algorithm find the maximum 

power point, the engineer compares the 

two results. The MPPT efficiency is the 

quotient of those two. Accuracy is very 

important, and the E4360A SAS provides 

the accurate Enphase needs. 

“Using the SAS is the only way we 

can develop our MPPT algorithms,” said 

Mark. “We get pretty clever running in this 

dynamic mode and checking the algorithm 

to see if it gets hung up in certain spots.” 

Enphase has seen such issues in the field 

and has been able to simulate them in 

their lab with the SAS. 

All of Enphase Energy’s test-system 

software was written for GPIB, so they 

use that interface for connecting to the 

Agilent SAS. “In the future, we may switch 

to LAN,” said Mark. “As our other test 

equipment evolves, we’ll start doing a 

lot more LAN drivers. It’s great that the 

E4360A already has that capability.” 

Selecting a solar array simulator 

Agilent is one of the few companies that 

offers a solar array simulator. Enphase considered 

designing one on its own – until it 

discovered the Agilent product. 

“The Agilent SAS could do exactly 

what we were looking for,” said Mark. “We 

have a lot of solutions, but if we really want 

to see the dynamic response of our inverter 

and check the MPPT algorithms and 

accuracy, then we go to the SAS.” 

The fact that the E4350A can be 

scaled down to single-inverter size was an 

important factor for Enphase. 

Win Seipel has been with Agilent/HP 

for 40 years in a variety of roles. He has 

been a design engineer and has managed 

magnetic component design and 

manufacturing engineering teams. He 

has also been an R&D project manager, 

R&D section manager, and R&D 

manager. He is currently an applications 

engineer focused on aerospace / defense 

and specifically solar array simulation 

for satellite and terrestrial applications. 

Win holds a BSEE degree from Newark 

College of Engineering. 



The impact of seal selection on PV productivitiy and cost 

The impact of seal selection on 

PV productivitiy and cost 

Test results from DuPont 

Perofrmance Elastomers (DPE) 

for various sealing materials 

used in demanding cell 

manufacturing processes indicate 

that selecting the appropriate 

sealing materials can help 

improve seal performance and 

lower cost of ownership in both 

bulk crystalline silicon and thin 

film photovoltaic processes that 

use aggressive “wet” chemistries, 

high temperatures or reactive 

plasma/gas. The test results 

were presented at InterSolar/ 

SMET on May 27, 2009, in 

Munich, Germany by Michele 

Vigliotti, in a presentation 

titled “Perfluoroelastomer 

and Fluoroelastomer Seals for 

Photovoltaic Cell Manufacturing 

Processes.” 

According to Vigliotti, “Elastomer 

performance can vary dramatically, 

especially if more aggressive processing 

variants and technologies are used to 

help increase output and cell efficiency. 

Finding an elastomer that works in one 

“Understanding 

elastomer performance 

helps reduce unplanned 

maintenance as a result 

of incompatible sealing 

materials.” 

environment does not guarantee that it will 

work in all environments.” 

In his presentation, Vigliotti reviewed 

elastomer properties and the results of 

elastomer testing in various processes used 

in photovoltaic manufacturing. In “wet” 

processes where aggressive acids and bases 

such as HF, HCl, HNO3, KOH and NaOH 

are used for etching and cleaning, Vigliotti 

discussed how perfluoroelastomer parts 

(FFKM) tend to show better resistance to 

chemical attack, suggesting longer seal life. 

Seals also can leach contaminants into the 

process system and ultimately contaminate 

the finished product. Since ultrapure 

deionized (UPDI) water is used in many 

rinsing steps, maintaining purity is critical 

for success. Test results in UPDI water 

illustrate how FFKMs have considerably 

less metallic and total organic carbon 

(TOC) extractables than fluoroelastomer 

(FKM) parts. The comparison also 

demonstrates that performance variation 

can exist within the same elastomer 

category. 

In addition to “wet” applications, 

Vigliotti also discussed test results in 

high-temperature applications like doping 

in crystalline silicon and diffusion in 

Cu (In, Ga) Se2 (CIGS). Exposure to 

high temperatures can cause seals to 

become hard and brittle, thereby losing 

their sealing functionality. Additionally, 

elastomeric seals can degrade under 

high temperatures causing outgassing to 

occur, thereby contaminating the process 

environment. Hydrofluoric acid (HF) is 

one of the gases evolved when FFKM and 

FKM begin to degrade. It can be harmful 

to process equipment, especially to quartz 

and stainless steel components. The 

outgassing performance of FFKM, FKM 

and silicone (VMQ) are compared in Figure 

1. 

In chemical vapor deposition and 

plasma etch processes, the plasmas 

used can be extremely aggressive and 

can cause seals to fail rapidly, thereby 

leading to problems during pump-down 

or causing toxic gasses to be released 

into the atmosphere. In order to better 

predict seal life, a more thorough 

understanding of plasma attack mode 

and chemistry is discussed. Test results 

highlighted the weight-loss properties 

of various fluorinated elastomers and 

silicone as result of exposure to both 

fluorine and oxygen containing plasma. 

Test results also indicated that “cleaner” 

elastomer formulations can help reduce 

particle generation, thus improving 

photovoltaic cell manufacturing processes. 

As photovoltaic manufacturers improve 

productivity by using increasingly aggressive 

chemical, plasma and temperature 

environments, increased strain is placed on 

manufacturing systems. 

“Seal selection is a science,” Vigliotti 

said. “When manufacturers use the science 

for their benefit, productivity can improve 

beyond the added cost of purchasing a 

high-performance seal.” 

Figure 1. Outgassing Comparison: FFKM Versus FKM And VMQ. 


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by Darren Brown, DEK, Weymouth, UK 

Long used by the semiconductor 

and circuit board assembly 

sectors as a tool for maximising 

end of line yields, reliability and 

bottom-line performance, Cpk is 

soon to become a critical metric 

for the PV industry too. 

Keywords: Cpk, Print-on-Print 

Technology, Seletive Emitter 

Cells, Machine Stability 

For an industry characterised by acronyms, 

here’s another one: C pk . Three letters— 

short, simple, and to the point. Expressed 

as a number that is equally short, simple 

and to the point, C pk , or the ‘process capability 

index,’ is in fact a sophisticated and 

powerful metric that enables us to see at 

a glance how accurate and repeatable our 

processes are and what guarantee they give 

us for future performance in this respect. 

Long used by the semiconductor and 

circuit board assembly sectors as a tool for 

maximising end of line yields, reliability 

and bottom-line performance, C pk is soon 

to become a critical metric for the PV 

industry too. As new, more demanding 

solar technologies come on stream, C pk will 

be essential to the evaluation of processes 

and their fitness for the future. It will 

also provide invaluable information that 

will allow PV manufacturers to compare 

equipment and make the right capital 

investment decisions. 

It is therefore important to understand 

what a C pk value really means. To this end 

it is helpful to start from the elements that 

comprise C pk . 

First, capability. The results of most 

numerically measurable processes, like, 

for example, print alignment accuracy, are 

distributed around a central value. If these 

are tightly grouped, the distribution curve 

will be steep and narrow, indicating high 

process capability, or repeatability. 

Process capability (C p ) takes this a step 

further, expressing the distribution curve’s 

breadth as a ratio relative to specification 

width, indicating how comfortably the 

distribution curve fits within tolerances. In 

other words, degree of process repeatability 

relative to specifications. 

It is possible to achieve a brilliant 

C p but with a curve so off centre as to 

be out of specification, and this is where 

C pk comes in. This ratio is similar to C p 

but also takes into account the distance 

between the central value and the closest 

tolerance limit, indicating how well the 

process distribution curve is centred within 

specification limits. 

To borrow a simple analogy from a 

Six Sigma forum, “If, when shooting at a 

target, your gunshots form a tight group, 

you have a high C p . If you adjust your 

sights so that this tight group falls on the 

bullseye, you have a high C pk .” A general 

rule of thumb states that a C pk value of 

less than 1.33 indicates a process that is 

incapable of producing a repeatable part, 

whereas a C pk of 2 indicates a process that 

is accurate, repeatable and absolutely under 

control. 

So that, in a nutshell, is C pk . But why it 

is due to become so important for the solar 

industry? 

Before we answer this question, let’s 

first consider that, until now, conventional 

silicon solar modules have typically been 

laid up manually, by workers armed with 

solder irons in factories in low labour cost 

areas. They have worked to placement 

tolerances in the order of +/- 200 µm 

that have been driven principally by 

aesthetic requirements—the features on 

neighbouring cells had to look reasonably 

well aligned. 

This is all about to change, as now 

there is a functional reason for needing 

absolutely identical cells. Firstly and 

most simply, the lay-up process is being 

automated, so the grids and bus bars must 

be positioned accurately and repeatably, 

and justified according to module 

manufacturers’ requirements. 

But there are many other reasons why 

C pk is fast becoming so important. One 

such is print-on-print technology, which is 

being developed to increase cell efficiencies 

by decreasing the surface area occupied, 

and therefore shadowed, by the collector 

grids. It does this by allowing grid fingers 

to be printed as fine as 50 µm without 

compromising their capacity to carry 

current. This is achieved by printing the 

grid twice over, doubling its height and, 

therefore, its current carrying capacity. As 

we at DEK know from our experience with 

this procedure for the semiconductor and 

biomedical sectors, repeatable accuracy 

is key here, primarily because, without it, 

this degree of fine line work would simply 

be impossible. Consider too that a high 

definition screen print relies on an effective 

gasket between the substrate and the 

underside of the print screen, so alignment 

must be perfect. This is particularly true 

of the second pass, where the landing 

area—formed by the first print—is so limited 

that a misalignment of even 5 µm can 

result in printing paste flooding out and 


Laser scribing tools edge in front 

KIC 

ON 

BOARD 




ruining not only the print but the 

entire cell. Given the fact that printing is 

the last process in the cell manufacturing 

cycle, this can prove incredibly expensive. 

High C pk values are also fundamentally 

important for selective emitter cells, 

another high-efficiency solution that is 

currently the focus of much developmental 

work and which is expected to become 

commercially available later this year. This 

involves the use of preprinted fiducials 

to ensure the alignment of multiple print 

patterns on a PV cell to within just 10-12 

µm of each other. 

A further way to increase efficiency is 

to move the relatively wide bus bars from 

the front of the cell to the rear, connecting 

them to the collection grid by means of 

metal wrap-through holes, solar’s version 

of plated through holes, which again 

requires high C pk print processes. 

From the above it is clear that 

repeatable accuracy—and therefore C pk 

values approaching 2—are soon to become 

extremely important for manufacturers of 

solar cells and modules. We need only to 

consider that as wafers become thinner 

and more delicate and module layup is 

automated, the mechanical alignment 

systems that have until now been perfectly 

adequate for PV manufacture will 

necessarily give way to the sort of visionassisted 

alignment techniques that have 

served the demanding semiconductor 

industry so well for years. 

Another critical issue is machine 

stability. Printing systems are typically 

equipped with large mechanical parts, such 

as work tables, print heads and handling 

systems that may go through extensive 

linear or rotational excursions, thousands 

of times a day, at the 3-second beat rate 

that is the solar industry’s standard. As we 

go forward with new developments like 

those described here, speeds will increase 

and repeated alignment to within just a 

few microns will become the norm. As this 

happens, it is essential that such masses 

and their movements are minimised as 

they may cause the machine to vibrate 

during printing, compromising print 

accuracy and quality, or equally damaging, 

they can over time progressively knock 

print alignment accuracies out of true. 

Achieving repeatable accuracy—and the 

high C pk values that reflect this—requires 

a wealth of experience in process control 

and design. 

Darren Brown is the business 

development manager for DEK Solar. 


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18th international trade fair for 

Global Solar innovative Technology electronics – July/August production 2009 – 15



“Sometime in the coming years, 

renewable energy sources, such as 

solar energy, will be competitive, 

even without subsidization,” 

predicts Dr. Arnold Gillner, 

head of the microtechnology 

department at the Fraunhofer 

Institute for Laser Technology 

(ILT) in Aachen, Germany. 

Together with his team at 

Fraunhofer, Gillner is developing 

laser technologies now that will 

allow faster, better, and cheaper 

production of solar cells in the 

future. 

“Lasers work quickly, precisely, and 

without contact. In other words, they are 

an ideal tool for manufacturing fragile 

solar cells,” said Gillner. “In fact, lasers are 

already being used in production today, but 

there is still considerable room for process 

optimization.” 

The ILT laser system drills more than 

3,000 holes within one second. Because 

it is not possible to move the laser source 

at this speed, the experts have developed 

optimized manufacturing systems which 

guide and focus the light beam at the 

required points. 

“We are currently experimenting with 

various laser sources and optical systems,” 

Gillner explained. “Our goal is to increase 

the performance to 10,000 holes a second. 

This is the speed that must be reached 

in order to drill 10,000 to 20,000 holes 

into a wafer within the cycle time of the 

production machines.” 

The tiny holes in the wafer—their 

diameter only 50 micrometers—open up 

undreamt-of possibilities for solar cell 

developers. “Previously, the electrical 

contacts were arranged on the top of the 

cells,” said Gillner. “The holes make it 

possible to move the contacts to the back, 

with the advantage that the electrodes, 

which currently act as a dark grid to absorb 

light, disappear. And so the energy yield 

increases. 

“The goal is a degree of efficiency of 

20 percent in industrially-produced emitter 

wrap-through (EWT) cells, with a yield of 

one-third more than classic silicon cells.” 

The design principle itself remains 

unchanged: In the semi-conductor layer, 

light particles, or photons, produce 

negative electrons and positive holes, each 

of which then wanders to the oppositely 

poled electrodes. The contacts for anodes 

and cathodes in the EWT cells are all on 

the back, there is no shading caused by 

the electrodes, and the degree of efficiency 

increases. With this technique, it may one 

day be possible to use unpurified “dirty” 

silicon to manufacture solar cells that have 

poorer electrical properties, but that are 

cheaper. 

Drilling holes into silicon cells is only 

one of many laser applications in solar cell 

manufacturing. In the EU project Solasys— 

Next Generation Solar Cell and Module 

Laser Processing Systems—an international 

research team is currently developing new 

technologies that will allow production to 

be optimized in the future. ILT in Aachen 

is coordinating the six million euro project. 

“We are working on new methods 

that make the doping of semiconductors, 

the drilling and the surface structuring 

of silicon, the edge isolation of the cells, 

and the soldering of the modules more 

economical,” Gillner explained. For 

example, “selective laser 

soldering” makes it 

possible to improve 

the rejection rates 

and quality of the 

contacting, and so 

reduce manufacturing 

costs. Until now, 

the electrodes were 

mechanically pressed 

onto the cells, and 

then heated in an 

oven. 

“But silicon cells 

often break during 

this process,” Gillner 



said. “Breakage is a primary cost factor in 

production.” 

On the other hand, however, with 

“selective laser soldering” the contacts are 

pressed on to the cells with compressed 

air and then soldered with the laser. The 

mechanical stress approaches zero and the 

temperature can be precisely regulated. 

The result: Optimal contacts and almost 

no rejects. 

Laser technology is also helping to 

optimize the manufacture of thin film solar 

cells. The extremely thin film packages 

made of semiconducting oxide, amorphous 

silicon, and metal that are deposited 

onto the glass panels still have a market 

share of only ten percent. But as Gillner 

knows, “This could be higher, because 

thin film solar cells can be used anywhere 

that non-transparent glass panels can be 

mounted, for example, on house facades 

or sound-insulating walls. But the degrees 

of efficiency are comparable low at five to 

eight percent, and the production costs are 

comparatively high.” 

“The tiny holes in the 

wafer—their diameter 

only 50 micrometers— 

open up undreamt-of 

possibilities for solar cell 

developers.” 

The laser researchers are working 

to improve these costs. Until now, the 

manufacturers have used mechanical 

methods or solid-state lasers in the 

nanosecond range in order to structure the 

active layers on the glass panels. In order to 

produce electric connections between the 

semiconductor and the metal, grooves only 

a few micrometers wide must be created. 

The ILT researchers have developed 

a 400-watt ultrashort pulse laser that 

processes thin-film solar modules ten times 

faster than conventional diode-pumped 

solid-state lasers. “The ultrashort pulse 

laser is an ideal tool for ablating thin 

layers: It works very precisely, does not heat 

the material and, working with a pulse 

frequency of 80 MHz, can process a 2-by-3 

meter glass panel in under two minutes,” 

Gillner explained. “The technology is still 

very new, and high-performance scanning 

systems and optical systems adapted to the 

process must be developed first. In the 

medium term, however, this technology 

will be able to reduce production costs.” 

The rise of laser technology in solar 

technology is just taking off, and it still 

has a long way to go. “Lasers simplify and 

optimize the manufacture of classic silicon 

and thin-film cells, and they allow the 

development of new design alternatives,” 

Gillner said. “And so laser technology is 

making an important contribution towards 

allowing renewable energy sources to 

penetrate further into the energy market.” 

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Title Interview 

Interview 

Dr. Madhusudan V. Atre— 

Applied Materials India 

Applied Materials India has the distinction of installing the world’s first SunFab 

thin film line at Moser Baer Photovoltaic Ltd. at Greater Noida near New Delhi 

for the mass-production of solar modules. Earlier in the year, Moser Baer announced 

that its 40 megawatt thin film line has received the prestigious certification from 

the Inernational Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), and is ready for production of 

thin film photovoltaic modules. Global Solar Technology’s regional editor, Debasish 

Choudhury recently had a tete-a-tete with the man of the moment, Dr. Madhusudan 

V Atre, president of Applied Materials India Pvt. Ltd. 

Tell us about Applied Materials and 

Applied Materials India. 

Applied Materials has a broad portfolio 

ranging from innovative equipment, service 

and software products for the fabrication 

of semiconductor chips, flat panel displays, 

solar photovoltaic cells and flexible 

electronics to energy efficient glass. We 

apply ‘nanomanufacturing technology’ to 

improve the way people live. 

Applied Materials envisions India 

as a site for future chip manufacturing 

fabrication facilities called “fabs,” 

primarily due to the presence of all 

the synergistic elements that enable 

a robust semiconductor industry. 

Contributing factors are a large market 

for semiconductors, expertise in chip 

design and a highly educated talent pool. 

We are ready to provide the necessary 

infrastructure and equipment to support 

new fab creation. 

The India center provides solutions 

to all Applied Materials business groups 

across geographies. We enable faster 

product development, flexible business 

capability, and increased customer 

support in the areas of product and 

engineering design, engineering services, 

product support, software development, 


Interview 

information technology and business 

process solutions. 

Moser Baer Photovoltaic Ltd. is now 

the world’s first manufacturer to 

implement Applied Materials SunFab 

thin film line for the mass-production 

of solar modules. Would you like to tell 

us how you acquired your first SunFab 

customer in India? 

India holds tremendous potential as a 

center for solar panel production and as 

a large end market for PV electric power. 

India’s manufacturing capability is based 

on a strong technical community which is 

reflected by Moser Baer. The company has 

a long history of success, having developed 

cutting edge technologies to become the 

world’s second largest manufacturer of 

optical storage media formats like bluray 

discs and HD DVD. Like Applied, 

the company has transformed itself 

into a multi-technology organization, 

with products for solar energy, home 

entertainment and IT peripherals and 

consumer electronics. 

How do you see solar market trends 

over the next few years in India? 

Although India ranks sixth in the world 

in terms of power generation with an 

installed capacity of 147,000 MW, it still 

faces a shortage of power. Solar PV is a 

proven technology to address this shortage. 

The solar industry stands to create an 

entire ecosystem which will create demand 

for solar cells, modules and systems and 

serve as an economic engine as well as a 

solution to our energy concerns. Applied 

predicts that there is a huge potential 

for India to take the lead position in 

the solar segment. The Government of 

India, for instance, has recently released 

semiconductor policy that gives incentives 

and subsidies to manufacturing units. This 

has generated interest in manufacturing 

in India. Many state governments are also 

enable ease of investments. 

The solar industry in India is also 

seeing many new players. The growth 

through harnessing solar power in India is 

leading venture capitalists to look favorably 

at potential start-ups. 

India has a favorable technological 

landscape for solar power as well. Though 

crystalline solar represents the largest 

market share, thin film technology, 

according to Navigant Consulting, 

represented 14% of the market in 2008, 

up from 5% in 2004. Thin film technology 

will continue to experience rapid growth 

over the next five years, due in part to its 

versatility and its potential to reduce costs 

significantly. 

The solar applications in rural areas 

will also see tremendous growth potential 

as solar lamps provide an alternative to 

kerosene. 

We also foresee more installations of 

solar PV for small, medium and large off 

grid applications. At Applied Materials we 

are striving towards all PV technologies so 

as to make India’s solar dream come true. 

Amorphous silicon has always been 

hampered in the market place by its 

low efficiency; still it is the dominant 

thin film PV (TFPV) technology used 

today. What are your views on other 

competing technologies like CIGS and 

CdTe? 

Amorphous silicon is dominant in the 

market due to its maturity. This is an 

advantage for companies who want to 

enter the thin-film PV business have 

manufacturing equipment and materials 

are readily available in the market. 

According to a report released by 

Nanomarkets, cadmium telluride (CdTe) 

will be the single largest segment of 

the TFPV market by 2015. CdTe has 

many advantages such as a high optical 

absorption coefficient and a band gap 

that has been described as close to perfect 

for PV. Also, many of the environmental 

concerns that have been associated with 

CdTe in the past seem to be dissipating. 

However CdTe still remains only about 

10.7% efficient. 

On the other hand, CIGS is cost 

effective and it promises to combine all 

the advantages of thin film with higher 

conversion efficiencies approaching 

those of conventional crystalline PV. The 

technology has however, outstanding 

manufacturing challenges 

Since different cells have different 

applications to say technologies such as 

CIGS or CdTe will take precedence over 

Amorphous silicon will be a premature 

comment at this stage. 

Applied Materials will remain 

committed to developing products for 

our customers based on their prevailing 

technology needs. We recognize the 

advantages of amorphous silicon as a low 

cost material which is nontoxic and in 

abundant supply. In addition to the low 

cost, amorphous silicon has achieved 8% 

efficiency in volume production today with 

a clear path towards 10% by 2010. 

In view of the considerable fall in the 

silicon prices globally, don’t you think 

TFPV is losing its price advantage too 

early? When do you think the impact 

of innovative approaches in the TFPV 

landscape be felt, possibly organic PV 

and dye sensitive cells? 

According to Nanomarkets, The thinfilm 

photovoltaic (TFPV) market will 

produce the equivalent of 26 gigawatts 

(GW) by 2015 and will generate well over 

$20 billion in revenues in that same time 

frame. 

The fact that thin-film technology is 

going down the cost curve only signifies 

gaining manufacturing excellence. 

Amorphous silicon based photovoltaic 

is slated to dominate the TFPV space for 

several years to come with $1.3 billion in 

revenues this year that will grow to $4.1 

billion in the year 2014. 

TF modules especially Applied’s 

5.7m2 module have an advantage 

over cSi modules in that they are not 

space constrained. Unlike cSi modules, 

TF modules are ideal for residential, 

commercial and utility scale applications. 

How is Applied Materials planning to 

maintain its position as the leader in 

developing advanced technologies? 

Applied Materials with its leadership in 

chip equipment will apply its engineering 

expertise to the solar industry. Reducing 

the cost per watt for thin film module 

manufacturing will make a significant 

impact on cost for solar energy 

development. 

Applied Materials is dedicated to 

reduce the cost by relying on the benefits 

of its large-scale manufacturing expertise 

in the semiconductor segment and by 

employing its engineering and technical 

expertise to bring down the production 

cost. 

Applied Materials’ strong emphasis on 

innovation has enabled its customers to 

reach out globally. The company was also 

named as the world’s largest supplier of 

photovoltaic cell manufacturing equipment 

in 2008 by VLSI Research. 

Foresight combined with innovative 

technology is the strength Applied 

Materials will rely on to emerge as a 

stronger leader in all of our markets when 

the economic environment improves. 

Dr. Atre, many thanks for talking to us today. 

www.globalsolartechnology.com Global Solar Technology – July/August 2009 – 19

Intersolar lights up San Francisco 


What a difference a year can make. Intersolar 

North America started as an embryonic 

show occupying half of the third floor in 

the Moscone Center’s West Hall only one 

year ago. It was jointly sponsored by Solar 

Promotions GmbH and SEMI and was colocated 

with the vastly superior SEMICON 

West exhibition, which has been a wellestablished 

fixture in the San Francsican 

calendar for many years. 

Fast forward twelve months and it’s all 

changed. SEMICON West has downsized 

by one third and Intersolar has grown by 

over three times to occupy all three floors 

of the Moscone West Hall, allowing the 

organizers to segment the show better, with 

installers on the first floor and suppliers of 

manufacturing equipment and materials 

on the upper floors alongside some large 

panel manufacturers. The increase in size 

was also reflected by the huge increase in 

visitor traffic. In the run-up to the show 

pre-registrations were standing at 17,000. 

These numbers were well exceeded on the 

day. 

Running in parallel with the Intersolar 

exhibition was a multi-track conference in 

the Intercontinental Hotel, next door to 

the convention center. These conferences 

were organized by a mixture of media 

groups and trade organizations. 

On the show floor there was no 

shortage of innovation. Here is just a 

snapshot: 

Satcom have the majority market share 

in the large industrial, three-phase inverter 

field. Unlike the wave of companies 

introducing micro inverters, Dr Leo 

Casey described a different approach to 

segmenting, monitoring and controlling 

power from field grid arrays. The new 

Solstice inverter is a micro converter and 

was developed in partnership with Syqor. 

The system takes multiple DC feeds from 

the field, then converts them into a single, 

three-phase output to the grid. This allows 

each channel to be isolated in the event of 

a ground fault on any of the stringers. 

Christopher Associates made their 

debut into the US solar market with a 

range of competitively-priced Chinese 

equipment and materials. The company 

researched the China market and 

identified the number one and number 

two suppliers in each category before 

approaching them for distribution rights 

in the US. The range includes, Orient 

metallization equipment and a range of 

sealants, pastes and junction boxes. [video 

available] 

Dow Corning introduced a new 

PV6100 encapsulant material that the 

company claims offers better UV resistance 

and durability, extending the life of the PV 

module. The new encapsulant is also more 

transparent and provides greater efficiency 

than film based products. The liquid 

encapsulant is designed to be used in an inline 

configuration and reduces production 

time as it has a fast flow-out and curing 

time. Dow Corning claim the new process 

is less labor intensive and can produce one 

module every two minutes. [video available] 

SolFocus is the world’s biggest 

manufacturer of concentrated 

photovoltaics (CPV). It is the newest 

technology to appear at the solar table 

and has a potential of 1 GB in the United 

States by 2010. [video available] 

Schott Solar CSP opened a multimillion 

dollar factory in Albuquerque in 



[Images courtesy Intersolar.] 

May to manufacture both PV cells and 

panels and parabolic receivers for CSP 

applications. Managing director Christoph 

Fark discusses the company’s plans for the 

United States and his participation in the 

large-scale Desertec project announced 

earlier in the week. [video available] 

TUV Rheinland is the largest solar 

testing laboratory in the world with around 

30 laboratories worldwide. Udo Heinz 

discusses implementation of the new 

SEMI23 guidelines for energy conservation 

in factory production equipment. [video 

available] 

ASYS demonstrated their latest 

metallization line with wafer handling, preinspection, 

printing and post-inspection 

system capabilities. The system produces 

finished solar cells every 2.5 seconds. 

[video available] 

Heraeus Photovoltaics have enjoyed 

huge success with their metallization 

pastes. Recent customer trials found the 

Heraeus past offered 0.5 percent higher 

efficiency than any other comparable paste. 

BTU also enjoyed a successful show 

demonstrating their new Meridian 

diffusion furnace system and the Trident 

metallization furnace. The Meridian is 

an in-line diffusion system offering up to 

60% savings on traditional batch systems 

and uniform profiling and efficiency 

across each cell. The Trident has a unique 

ability to control the speed accurately and 

independently on each phase; drying, 

burn-out and firing and cool down. [video 

available] 

These are just a few of the many 

companies with new innovations at 

the show. Check our website for video 

interviews and further news about the 

show. Next year, Intersolar USA will be 

held in the Moscone Center West, San 

Francisco from July 13-15th 2010. 

Trevor Galbraith. 

Watch our videos from 

the show at http:// 

intersolar.globalsolar 

technology.com 



PV America 

PV America gets off to a good start 

in Philadelphia 

Despite an ailing economy and a lack of 

funding for PV projects, the SEIA put on a 

brave face in Philadelphia last week at the 

inauguration of PV America. 

The event was designed to offer a 

professional conference and trade show 

for the east coast, catering to the myriad 

of small- to medium-sized solar companies 

in the region. The west coast is well served 

already with the growing Intersolar and 

Solar Power events. In this respect, PV 

America succeeded in hosting a powerful 

conference that covered everything from 

silicone and manufacturing challenges 

through government initiatives and power 

utilization. 

On the show floor, Heraeus were 

exhibiting their SOL953 silver paste, which 

they claim is gaining wide acceptance 

among major panel producers. The 

company opened their newest factory 

in China in May to manufacture a back 

side paste and is confirming its green 

credentials by installing solar panels in its 

West Conshohocken factory. 

3M are no newcomers to the PV 

industry and are one of the few companies 

to offer real life cycle testing of its products 

after having installations in the field for 

the past 14 years. The company will soon 

be launching a new polymeric mirror film 

that offer up to 96% reflectivity. The newly 

formed Light Management division is a 

breakout from the Optics division and will 

be working on enhancements to solar cell 

packaging and increasing output power. 

JPSA introduced the new PV5000 

Laser Scriber. The system can ablate 

patterns from a 1.5 metre panel in less 

than 30 seconds. The company uses a YAG 

laser for layers 1 and 3 and a Green Laser 

for layer 2. The company claims that laser 

scribing offers considerable benefits over 

printing, such as speed, accuracy and less 

shadowing. The system demonstrated a 

3-step deposition process, followed by the 

3-step scribing process. 

Ferro has around 40% market share of 

the aluminum market for backside pastes. 

The company also produces silver pastes 

for front side applications and a range of 

phosphorous dopants. 

After getting off to a good start in a 

challenging market, PV America will be 

moving to Tampa, Florida in May, 2010. 

—Trevor Galbraith. 

Shah demands respect for solar 

industry at PV America 

For me, the star of the show at PV America 

was, without doubt, Jigar Shah. The 

founder of Sun Edison and now president 

of Jigar Shah consultancy presented an 

animated and moving speech demanding 

“respect” for solar energy initiatives from 

utilities and government. Citing some 

of the major strides that solar has made 

towards grid-parity and its capacity to deal 

with the world’s long-term energy needs, 

Shah energized the audience with tales 

about excesses and “old thinking” from 

states such as Michigan, where they are 

spending over $2.4 billion building a new 

coal-fired power station they do not need, 

for power that could be provided through 

solar installations at a fraction of the cost. 

However, Shah offered a realistic 

assessment when he stated that panel 

shipments in 2009 will be less than 2008, 

largely due to the doubling of thin film 

capacity. On the demand side, utilities 

were demanding less energy due to job 

losses and industry requiring less power. 

The future for solar power was clear 

though. Shah estimated that up to $30 

billion, or 18% of the United States 

energy requirements, could be met by 

“Shah estimated that 

up to $30 billion or 

18% of the US’s energy 

requirements could be 

met by solar power by 

2010.” 

solar power by 2010, and he quoted Jon 

Wellinghof, the chairman of the U.S. 

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 

who said “no nuclear or coal powered 

power station may ever be needed in the 

United States.” Solar is one twenty-fifth 

the cost of nuclear and one twelfth the cost 

of coal powered stations, which at today’s 

rates offers a potential saving of $580 

per kilowatt. In technology terms, solar 

installations continue to drop in price and 

have already fallen by 45% since August 

2008. 

Among the 35 states that have solar 

programs, Shah admired the public policy 

initiatives of states such as Maryland and 

Deleware, as well as Washington D.C. He 

described the Federal Stimulus bill of more 

than $25 billion as a scene from “Hungry 

Hungry Hippos” where the top ten cities 

had to submit their proposals by June 30th 

in order to get a share of the pie. 

Finishing on a serious note, there is no 

doubt that carbon emissions are damaging 

our health. A number of measures, such 

as uniform metering, are needed to move 

the solar power debate forward. Currently 

utilities use different metering systems to 

measure solar energy versus other sources. 

Continued R&D is also vital to stay on 

course and meet the projected energy cost 

reductions. DOE support is necessary to 

validate the studies that have already been 

made. A target of 20% solar-based energy 

by 2030 should be set. A Green Bank 

should be established to cater for the large 

investment needed in infrastructure and 

solar energy projects. And, finally some 

“respect”—solar is now ready to accept itss 

place at the top table of energy providers 

and should be taken seriously by the 

world’s power brokers. 

—Trevor Galbraith. 

22 – Global Solar Technology – July/August 2009 

www.globalsolartechnology.com

Title 



Technological developments 


QuantaSol breaks world record for 

single-junction solar cell efficiency 

QuantaSol Ltd, a new 

independent designer 

and manufacturer 

of strain-balanced 

quantum-well solar 

cells, has developed 

what it believes to be 

the most efficient single 

junction solar cell ever 

manufactured. 

Developed in just two years, 

QuantaSol’s single-junction 

device has been independently 

tested by Fraunhofer ISE as 

achieving 28.3% efficiency 

at greater than 500 suns. 

QuantaSol was established 

in June 2007 as a spin-out of 

Imperial College London to 

commercialize the University’s 

solar cell IP and offer devices to 

concentrator photovoltaic (PV) 

systems developers. Imperial 

featured a QuantaSol device as 

part of its presence at the Royal 

Society Summer Exhibition in 

London this year. 

“Our technology is the 

industry’s best kept secret. This 

is the first time that anyone 

has successfully combined 

high efficiency with ease of 

manufacture, historically a bugbear 

of the solar cell industry,” 

said Kevin Arthur, QuantaSol’s 

CEO. “We’re now gearing up 

to provide multi-junction cells 

of even higher efficiencies as 

early as Q1 2010.” 

QuantaSol’s approach 

combines several 

nanostructures, of two or 

more different alloys, in order 

to obtain synthetic crystals 

that overcome the problems 

associated with current solar 

cell designs. It also greatly 

enhances the photovoltaic 

conversion efficiency. The 

company, which has a 

development laboratory in 

Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey, 

completed a £2m second 

funding round this summer. It 

will now concentrate on cutting 

the cost of ownership of solar 

energy by moving to multijunction 

devices. 

Test results show see-thru 

SolarWindow cells surpass 

thin-film and solar in artificial light 

New tests of New Energy Techologies’ ultrasmall 

solar cells for use in its transparent 

SolarWindow have demonstrated 

substantially superior performance over 

current thin-film and solar photovoltaic 

technologies at generating electricity from 

artificial light—an important advantage 

over conventional solar technologies, which 

are limited by their capacity to function 

well where exposure to direct sunlight is 

available. 

“One of the biggest issues with today’s 

solar products is their dependency on 

direct sunlight, which our cells have 

demonstrated the potential capacity to 

overcome,” said Mr. Meetesh V. Patel, 

Esq., president and CEO. “We’re now 

actively working to coat these cells onto 

transparent glass in order to fabricate 

our SolarWindows, which generate 



electricity and have the potential to be 

installed virtually anywhere that either 

direct sunlight or artificial lighting such 

as fluorescent systems emit visible light. 

In contrast, today’s building-integrated 

solar and photovoltaic products are limited 

to installation on south-facing surfaces, 

as is the case with currently-available 

solar materials tested in these newest 

experiments.” 

In a series of new experiments, 

researchers repeatedly tested New Energy’s 

ultra-small solar cells on a 1” x 1” substrate 

against today’s popular solar materials 

for their capacity to produce electricity 

under varying artificial light conditions, 

mimicking the levels of light exposure in 

homes and commercial offices. In every 

case, New Energy’s solar cells, the smallest 

reported organic solar cells of their kind in 

the world, exponentially outperformed all 

of the conventional materials tested. 

Under normal office lighting 

conditions, without the benefit of outside 

natural light from windows, New Energy’s 

ultra-small solar cells produced: 

• Almost 2-fold greater output power 

density than monocrystalline 

silicon, an established commercial 

solar cell material; 

• More than 8-fold greater output 

power density than copper-indiumselenide, 

known for its high 

optical absorption coefficients 

and versatile optical and electrical 

characteristics; and 

• More than 10-fold greater output 

power density than flexible thinfilm 

amorphous-silicon, a popular 

‘second-generation’ solar thin-film 

material. 

New Energy’s solar cells generate electricity 

not only from the visible radiation found 

in sunlight but also by using the visible 

light found in artificial illumination, 

such as the fluorescent lighting typically 

installed in offices and commercial 

buildings. While the majority of today’s 

solar cells can only be installed where 

direct sunlight is available, New Energy’s 

cells could be installed close to any source 

of visible light. 

New Energy’s SolarWindow 

technology makes use of an organic 

solar array, which has the same desirable 

electrical properties as silicon, yet has a 

considerably better capacity to ‘optically 

absorb’ photons from light to generate 

electricity and achieves transparency 

through the innovative use of conducting 

polymers. Each solar array is composed 

of a series of twenty ultra-small solar 

cells measuring less than ¼ the size of 

a grain of rice each. The organic solar 

cells are fabricated using environmentally 

friendly hydrogen-carbon based materials 

and successfully produce electricity, as 

demonstrated in a peer-reviewed study in 

the Journal of Renewable and sustainable 

Energy of the American Institute of 

Physics. 

The superior optical absorption 

properties of New Energy’s ultra-small solar 

cells enables development of an ultra-thin 

film (only 1/1000th the thickness of a 

human hair, or 1/10th of a micrometer) 

that can be utilized to produce a 

transparent solar window. In photovoltaic 

applications such as see-thru windows, 

where transparency is a primary concern, 

today’s thin film solar cells simply cannot 

be utilized to produce a transparent solar 

window for application in homes, offices, 

and commercial buildings. 

SANYO develops HIT solar cells with 

world’s highest energy conversion 

efficiency of 23.0% 

SANYO Electric Co., Ltd. has broken its 

own record for the world’s highest energy 

conversion efficiency in practical size 

(100 cm 2 or more) crystalline silicon-type 

solar cells, achieving a efficiency of 23.0% 

(until now 22.3%) at a research level for 

its proprietary HIT solar photovoltaic 

cells. (Evaluation results provided by the 

National Institute of Advanced Industrial 

Science and Technology (AIST), an energy 

conversion efficiency public certification 

body.) 

A HIT (Heterojunction with Intrinsic 

Thin layer) solar cell is composed of 

a single thin crystalline silicon wafer 

sandwiched by ultra-thin amorphous 

silicon layers. This product provides 

industry-leading performance and value 

using state-of-the-art manufacturing 

techniques. The increase in the solar cell 

conversion efficiency is accompanied 

by significant advances in lowering the 

production cost of the photovoltaic 

system and the reduction in the use of raw 

materials such as silicon. 

Overview of the elemental technology 

enabling the high energy conversion 

efficiency 

1. Improvement in the quality of heterojunction 

of HIT solar cell (single-crystalline silicon 

(c-Si) and amorphous silicon (a-Si)). A 

heterojunction is a stacked semiconductor 

structure formed by heterogeneous 

materials. In the case of the HIT solar cell, 

it means the laminated structure formed by 

a-Si and c-Si. 

The structure of the HIT solar cell is 

such that it has a feature that can reduce 

recombination loss of the electrical 

element (charged carrier) by surrounding 

the energy generation layer of single 

thin crystalline silicon (c-Si) with high 

quality ultra-thin amorphous silicon (a-Si) 

layers. Recombination loss occurs when 

the negative electron and positive hole 

(carriers) that are produced within the 

solar cell combine and disappear, causing 

a loss in the electrical current produced 

by the cell and hence a decrease in the 

overall output of the solar cell. SANYO has 

recently managed to improve the quality 

of the HIT solar cell junction through 

developing a technology for depositing 

a higher quality a-Si layer over the c-Si 

substrate while protecting the c-Si surface 

from being damaged. 

The result was an increase in the open 

circuit voltage (Voc), or the maximum 

voltage that can be produced by the solar 

cell, from 0.725V to 0.729V. 

2. Reduction of optical absorption loss. In 

the solar cell, sunlight that hits its surface 

needs to be guided to the c-Si, the energy 

generation layer, with the smallest possible 

absorption loss. As for the HIT solar cell, 

reduction of optical absorption loss in the 

a-Si layer, which covers the front and rear 

surfaces of the c-Si, and the transparent 

conductive layer was a challenge. 

Absorption of short-wavelength solar 

radiation by the a-Si layer and that of 

long-wavelength solar radiation by the 

transparent conductive layer were the 




causes of the optical absorption loss. 

SANYO has recently developed know-how 

to reduce optical absorption loss in both 

the a-Si layer and transparent conductive 

layer. As a result, the short circuit current 

(Isc), or the maximum current that can be 

produced by the solar cell, was improved 

from 39.2mA/cm 2 to 39.5mA/cm 2 . 

3. Reduction of resistance loss. In the 

solar cell, generated electric current 

is collected by and taken out through 

the surface grid electrode. SANYO has 

recently realized lower-resistance electrode 

material for use in the grid electrode and 

a higher-aspect ratio through improving 

printing technology, leading to a success 

in reduction of resistance loss when an 

electric current flows through the grid 

electrode. As a result, the fill factor (FF, the 

total output divided by the product of Voc 

and Ioc) was improved from 0.791 to 0.80. 

The characteristics of the HIT solar cell 

Open circuit voltage (Voc) 0.729V 

Short circuit current (Isc) 3.968A 

(39.5mA/cm 2 ) 

Fill factor (FF) 80.0% 

Cell energy conversion efficiency 23.0% 

Cell size 100.4cm 2 

This achievement by SANYO represents 

the first time that a photovoltaic 

manufacturer has broken through the 

23% mark in conversion efficiency at 

the research-level for practical-sized solar 

cells. SANYO will continue to advance 

its efforts into applying this research-level 

achievement into mass production, and 

promote further research into energy 

efficiency, as well as reductions in cost and 

materials. 

Ascent Solar modules to be 

designed into the development of 

hybrid 

Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc., 

announced that its state-of-the-art, flexible 

thin-film photovoltaic modules will be 

designed into the development of a 

hybrid unmanned aerial vehicle (H-UAV) 

called the Silent Sentinel, developed by 

Bye Aerospace, Inc. The H-UAV will 

be designed primarily for military use; 

however, its capabilities will also include 

a broad spectrum of civil applications. 

The first of its kind hybrid utilizes stored 

electric power, thin film solar photovoltaics 

(PV) and other technologies to enhance 

its endurance, quiet operations and low 

emissions. 

For primary propulsion, the hybrid 

UAV will be coupled with an advanced 

Williams International FJ33 turbofan. 

The efficient engine will provide the UAV 

remarkable climb rates and high altitude 

quick access to areas requiring surveillance. 

Charlie Johnson, chief operating 

officer of Bye Aerospace, said the Silent 

Sentinel is a robust, long-range UAV 

that will incorporate several proprietary 

clean energy features. “Ultimately, it will 

provide advanced tactical reconnaissance 

functionality while utilizing a uniquely 

long endurance, highly capable tactical 

sensor platform that is operationally 

stealthy and cost-effective to operate. The 

unique characteristics of the Ascent Solar 

flexible modules allow us to design this 

UAV to become very energy efficient.” 

“Our flexible, monolithically 

integrated CIGS PV technology offers the 

ideal combination of low weight, higher 

voltage, and high performance that makes 

it ideal for applications such as the Silent 

Sentinel,” said Dr. Joseph Armstrong, 

chief technical officer of Ascent Solar 

Technologies. 

Potential military applications include 

border patrol, search and rescue, visual 

and thermal reconnaissance, and forward 

air control. In addition, potential civil 

applications include traffic control, 

pipeline and power line inspection, aerial 

law enforcement, forest fire detection and 

aerial photography. Initial meetings are 

being conducted with US Government 

entities regarding the capabilities of the 

aircraft. More are planned in the near 

term. www.ByeAerospace.com, www. 

ascentsolar.com. 

New record for Oerlikon Solar’s 

Micromorph® technology 

Oerlikon Solar has achieved a new record 

efficiency level for commercial thin film 

silicon PV modules. Recent test results 

from Oerlikon Solar’s pilot production 

line in Switzerland show that full-size 

Micromorph modules (1.4 m 2 ) have 151 

Watts initial power, or 11 percent initial 

power conversion efficiency. This result 

sets a new industry record for production 

thin film silicon modules. Oerlikon Solar 

was able to consistently reproduce modules 

with similar record results, demonstrating 

a stable and scalable process. 

Oerlikon Solar has previously 

announced an ambitious production cost 

target of USD 0.70 per watt peak and is on 

track to achieve this target by end of 2010. 

Increased module efficiency and power are 

key contributors to this goal. 

The excellent performance of the 

record modules demonstrates the 

advantage of Oerlikon Solar’s end to 

end manufacturing solution. Oerlikon 

Solar’s advanced PV technologies 

and process integration know-how 

result in an optimized manufacturing 

solution that is able to achieve higher 

conversion efficiencies and lower cost 

of ownership. An example of this 

technology optimization is Oerlikon 

Solar’s integration of a proprietary 

process to deposit high-quality transparent 

conducting oxide (TCO) on the front 

and back surfaces of the active thin film 

silicon junction. This TCO is engineered 

to optimize the performance of the 

Micromorph technology by improving 

light transmittance and light scattering, 

resulting in maximum efficiency and 

electricity output. 

“We are confident that our ability 

to repeatedly achieve record results can 

be transferred into mass production 

soon,” said Dr. Juerg Henz, head of 

thin film engineering and operations. 

Oerlikon Solar’s IEC certified 

Micromorph® technology significantly 

boosts solar cell efficiency by adding 

a second microcrystalline absorber to 

the amorphous silicon (a-Si) layer. This 

layer converts the energy of the red 

and near-infrared spectrum, facilitating 

efficiency increases of up to 50 percent. 

The Micromorph technology also bolsters 

overall module power, enabling a growing 

number of PV module manufacturers 

around the globe to produce cost-effective 

high-performance thin film silicon solar 

modules.” 

Mitsubishi develops world’s first 

organic photovoltaics module 

Mitsubishi Cooperation (MC), the 

National Institute of Advanced Industrial 

Science and Technology (AIST) and Tokki 

Corporation (TOKKI) have succeeded in 

developing a new, highly integrated organic 

photovoltaics (OPV) module. 

MC, AIST and TOKKI have been conducting 

a joint research and development 

project for OPVs since March 20, 2008. 

OPVs are a well–known type of third-generation 

photovoltaics that use organic materials 

to make light, thin and colorful film 

PV modules. OPVs are expected to be used 

in windows, walls, cloths, textiles, outdoor 

equipment and toys. These applications 

have proven difficult for the silicon type of 

PV modules currently in use, and the hope 

is that OPVs will be more effective. Until 

now, however, the efficiency of OPVs in 

converting sunlight has been a problem. 

MC, AIST and TOKKI now believe 

they have developed a highly integrated 

Continued on page 31 


Competition is increasing as more 

suppliers enter the industry every day. 

Protect your market share 

or gain a foothold by telling the 

world in Global Solar Technology 

A focused manufacturing magazine 

and website to build your brand. 




New Products 

New Products 

New products 

New metallization pastes from 

Heraeus increases the efficiency of 

crystalline solar cells 

Recently it became possible to significantly 

increase the efficiency factor of crystalline 

solar cells by the use of so-called metal wrap 

through (MWT) cells. The photovoltaic 

group of the Thick Film Division of WC 

Heraeus has specially developed new silver 

metallization pastes for this innovative 

type of cell. Scientists from the Fraunhofer 

Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE) in 

Freiburg have successfully demonstrated 

that the MWT cells allow for an increase in 

efficiency of up to 0.5 % (absolute). 

The efficiency factor was increased by 

using newly developed metallization pastes 

made by Heraeus. The state-of-the art range 

of pastes, known as SOL 21X, account for 

a modified, optimal cell design and make 

it possible to enlarge the total active cell 

surface by 3% in comparison to standard 

cells. MWT cells can be produced on 

already existing production lines with few 

relevant changes being necessary. The new 

metallization pastes have led to a further 

important milestone being achieved on the 

path towards higher levels of power output. 

Another advantage of the MWT 

design is the simplified circuitry of the 

cells within the module now only to be 

found on the back side. Several leading 

cell manufacturers have already expressed 

enthusiastic interest in the newly developed 

pastes. Dr. Weiming Zhang, worldwide 

manager of photovoltaic technology at 

W. C. Heraeus explains: “Working in 

closest co-operation with our customers, 

Heraeus develops tailor-made products and 

intelligent solutions that create value for 

the photovoltaic industry. We are extremely 

proud of the performance of our new SOL 

21X range of metallization pastes. At the 

same time we continue to develop new 

technology to make our customers more 

competitive.” www.wc-heraeus.com 

ASYS promises 22% more throughput 

on existing metallization lines 

ASYS announces the availability of a high 

speed upgrade kit that allows existing users 

of ASYS metallization lines to increase 

throughput by up to 22%. The upgrade 

kit, consisting of hardward and software 

changes, can be installed in just 3 days. 

Single lane users will see their capacity 

increase from approx. 1,200 cph to 1,440 

cells per hour, and for dual lane users the 

throughput will jump from approx. 2,200 

cph to 2,700 cph. For a lot of customers 

operating multiple ASYS lines, this will 

have another huge advantage: upgrading 

multiple lines might allow them to 

postpone or cancel the investment for a 

new metallization line, which translates to 

big cost savings per watt due to reduced 

operator count, capital invest, floorspace 

and utilities thus making them more 

competitive in the market. The upgrade 

kits are available immediately for most 

existing ASYS lines. www.asys-group.com 

Applied Materials redefines chip 

packaging productivity with new 

charger PVD system 

Applied Materials, Inc. introduced its 

Applied Charger UBM PVD system that 

defines a new standard in metal deposition 

productivity and reliability for chip 

packaging. 

Specifically designed for under-bump 

metallization (UBM), redistribution layer 

and CMOS image sensor applications, the 

Charger system’s new linear architecture 

more than doubles the wafer output of 

competing systems to deliver the highest 

productivity available. In addition, 

proprietary Isani wafer treatment 

technology allows the Charger UBM 

system to process ten times more wafers 

between servicing to enable best-of-breed 

uptime performance and the lowest 

available per-wafer cost. 

“Packaging facilities need a fast, 

dependable metallization workhorse to 

maximize wafer output and minimize 

the system redundancy burden imposed 

by slower, less reliable alternatives,” said 

Steve Ghanayem, vice president and 

general manager of Applied Materials’ 

Metal Deposition and Front End Products 

Business Unit. “By blending our proven 

PVD* process technology with packagingspecific 

innovations, we’ve created a highly 

productive, cost-efficient solution that is 

already churning out wafers in high volume 

production at multiple customers around 


New products 

the world.” 

Key to the Charger platform’s high 

productivity is its streamlined modular 

architecture that easily expands from three 

to five processing stations to sequentially 

deposit multiple thin films while keeping 

the wafer in an ultra-clean, ultra-high 

vacuum environment. Incoming wafers 

are conditioned using novel Isani wafer 

treatment technology that ensures a 

low-resistance, low-contaminant interface 

between the incoming device and the 

metal films to be deposited while also 

delivering excellent defect performance 

and greatly extended maintenance 

intervals. Applied’s superior PVD reactor 

technology can tailor the properties 

of each film layer for optimum device 

performance while the flexible architecture 

enables extendibility to emerging threedimensional 

interconnect and packaging 

technologies. 

The Charger UBM system builds on 

Applied’s two decades of leadership in 

PVD metallization technology. Applied’s 

PVD systems are used by virtually all 

advanced manufacturers around the globe 

for fabricating chips. 

www.appliedmaterials.com 

FLEXcon offers a range of 

PVguard solar panel backsheet 

solutions 

FLEXcon now offers a range of highperformance 

PVguard TPE multi-layer 

backsheet solutions for use in photovoltaic 

panel production. 

Available for use with either slowcure 

or fast-cure encapsulants, PVguard 

delivers the long-lasting UV, moisture and 

partial discharge protection that module 

and encapsulant producers require. 

To enhance strength and durability, 

FLEXcon incorporates a high-performing, 

proprietary laminating adhesive for 

superior film bonding. PVguard products, 

which have been proven in use for over five 

years, also meet all applicable IEC and UL 

requirements. 

PVguard 105040W is FLEXcon’s 

backsheet protective laminate for use 

with slow-cure encapsulants. It is a 

TPE—Tedlar®*/PET/EVA—construction 

that is RoHS compliant and has a partial 

discharge rating from TÜV of >1000 volts. 

PVguard 10E40W is a backsheet 

protective laminate for use with fast-cure 

encapsulants. It is also a TPE—Tedlar®*/ 

PET/EVA—construction that is RoHS 

compliant and UL recognized under UL 

QIHE2 file number E318502. PVguard 

10E40W backsheet has a partial discharge 

rating from TÜV of >1000 volts. 

The white EVA tie layer on both 

PVguard products, which adheres to 

the encapsulant EVA during module 

lamination, provides for reflectivity to 

improve module efficiency. 

Due to a long-standing relationship 

with DuPont, FLEXcon is a continuous 

resource for backsheet solutions 

constructed with Tedlar®, which has a 

proven record of success spanning over 

25 years. With manufacturing capabilities 

in Europe and North America, FLEXcon 

offers an uninterrupted supply of 

backsheet protective laminates of all types. 

www.FLEXcon.com 

Modular diode laser system offers 

up to 400 W of power 

A new turnkey diode laser system 

from Coherent offers modular 

flexibility and output power of up 

to 400W at 976 nm. Specifically, 

the HB-Diode laser system can be 

configured with from one to four 

100W 200 µm diode modules, 

and the output from each diode 

module can then be fiber-delivered 

individually, or combined into a 

single, 0.22 NA delivery fiber in 

order to optimally match the needs 

of the application. The resulting 

output is either 100W, 200W, 300W 

or 400W of power, at fiber diameters 

of 200 µm, 400 µm, 600 µm or 800 µm 

respectively. Integration into industrial 

applications is further enhanced by 

the laser’s 19” rack mount form factor, 

armored fiber, air-cooling, aiming beam 

and a comprehensive selection of fiber 

imaging optics. This new system also 

achieves industry leading MTTF (mean 

time to failure) and operating lifetime 

characteristics through the use of 

Coherent’s proprietary in-house epitaxy 

and packaging technology. 

www.Coherent.com 

New Siemens transformerless 

solar inverters achieve 98 percent 

efficiency 

Transformerless inverters supplement the 

Sinvert series of solar inverters from the 

Siemens Industry Automation Division. 

Compared to the predecessor units 

with transformers, the new three-phase 

photovoltaic inverters achieve efficiencies 

that are up to two percent higher: namely, 

98 percent in a master-slave combination 

according to Euro-Eta. This performance 

enables the plant operator to make a 

higher profit during infeed into the 

medium-voltage system. 

In addition, system costs can also 

be reduced with the option of a voltage 

window increased from 900 to 1000 volts. 

In this case, for example, a number of 

photovoltaic (PV) modules are linked 

together as in a chain and fewer generator 

terminal boxes and smaller conductor areas 

are needed. 

The new inverter series also includes 

units with graduated ratings of 500, 1000 

and 1500 kilowatts and also 2 megawatts, 

which is the most powerful transformerless 

inverter currently on the market. 

The new Sinvert inverters are suitable 

for applications in medium and large-scale 

PV power plants. The new central inverter 

units satisfy the currently effective mediumvoltage 

regulations and can be 



New products 

used either as a stand-alone solution or in 

combination. The master-slave principle 

with “rotating master”—introduced on the 

market by Siemens over ten years ago—is 

above all an advantage in the event of 

changing intensities of solar radiation 

in the course of the day or in case of 

cloudiness. 

Depending on the degree of radiation, 

the necessary inverters are energized or 

de-energized by means of an ingenious 

process. This increases the efficiency of 

the PV plant, especially in partial-load 

operation. Only the required number 

of inverters is operated subject to light 

intensity. The connection of as many as 

four inverters in the form of a master-slave 

system enables the plant to start already 

at low levels of solar radiation and to 

achieve very high efficiencies even in the 

low output range. The rotating master 

contributes to the long useful life of the 

system, for the inverter unit with the lowest 

operating hours is always controlled as 

master and therefore the operating time 

distributed uniformly among the inverters. 

www.siemens.com/sinvert 

IS 

Oerlikon’s SOLARIS revolutionizes 

production of crystalline solar cells 

Oerlikon Systems’ SOLARIS simplifies the 

manufacturing of crystalline solar cells. 

technologies 

The existing standard fabrication method 

for coating crystalline solar cells is based 

an energy production 

on complex processes with high demands 

made on cleaning and manual maintenance. 

In contrast to these traditional 

procedures, the SOLARIS system is based 

on advanced nanotechnology. In solar cell 

or photovoltaic production with SOLAR- 

IS, very thin layers of silicon nitride are 

applied on the front of the cells. However, 

the flexibility of SOLARIS also allows coating 

of the backside with various materials. 

Each wafer is handled and coated separately. 

With six coating chambers, a special 

carrier transport mechanism and a wide 

range of potential layer material, SOLARIS 

is not only highly flexible but at the same 

time enjoys unmatched productivity. 

The machine is able to treat standard 

wafer formats from 125mm 2 to 156mm 2 

, with an average amounting up to 1,200 

wafers per hour. Changing substrate 

formats, layer materials or processes takes 

less than an hour. A new system at a 

customer site can be ramped up in less 

than one week. 

“With SOLARIS, we for the first time 

apply advanced nanotechnology in the 

production of crystalline solar cells,” said 

Andreas Dill, head of Oerlikon Systems, 

“with enormous advantages for solar cell 

manufacturing.” www.oerlikon.com/systems/ 

solaris 

Nordson® systems deliver 

accurate, efficient side-seal/ 

edge-seal solutions for PV modules 

Nordson Corporation photovoltaic (PV) 

side-seal/edge-seal systems automate and 

improve application of moisture barriers 

in module assembly. Use of VersaPail 

or VersaDrum® bulk melters in conjunction 

with Nordson gear metering dispense 

applicators enables use of liquefied butyl in 

place of traditional butyl tape. This results 

in accurate, repeatable placement of the 

PV module moisture barrier along with a 

faster production process. 

While configurable to meet specific 

requirements, the typical Nordson 

system consists of a bulk melter, or even 

two connected together with autochangeover, 

feeding a gear metering 

dispense applicator. The applicator 

offers compact size and key-to-line 

operation to easily integrate into new 

or existing manufacturing lines. The 

dispensed material, whether butyl or 

virtually any adhesive or sealant, can be 

applied as round beads or flat ribbons in 

customizable widths and thicknesses. 

www.nordson.com/solarsolutions 

Essemtec introduces high-precision 

solar cell printer for Photovoltaic 

development 

and production 

The Solaris is designed for fro 

cristalline Silicon Solar Cells. 

The Multilayer capability allow 

front side as well as passivatio 

side. 

ed) 

Touch Panels 

While touch sensing is comm 

touch sensing enables a user 

one fi nger at a time, as in cho 

Essemsolar, Swiss manufacturer of 

sensing devices are inherently 

production systems for the solar industry, 

brings to the market 

simultaneously, 

a high-class system 

which 

for 

is espe 

development and manufacturing such as interactive of solar walls and 

cells with the screen Touch printer panels SP900-S. are made of gla 

The new printer (Transparent is distinguished Conductive Oxid 

by excellent repeatable refl accuracy ection coatings and its The ability 

flexibility regarding materials, layers is another which can unique featu 

be processed. Additionally, it enables 

“double print” capability—to increase 

the power grid aspect ratio without 

Thermoelect 

substrate size to another due to carrier system 

g included 30 in – Global the machine Solar Technology design – July/August 2009 www.globalsolartechnology.com 

rating costs 

Thermoelectric devices are ba

New Products 

getting more shadowing of the cell. 

The parallelism of squeegee, screen and 

substrate are highly precise and easy to 

calibrate with the screen printer SP900-S. 

Therefore, it is especially suitable for the 

metalization of solar cells based on monoand 

polycrystalline silicon wafers. 

The machine is usable as inline and 

stand-alone equipment and is applicable 

for process development in the laboratory 

as well as for fully automatic production. 

Wafer magazine handling on the input and 

output side are also availiable. Wafers from 

100 up to 210 mm edge length and 100 to 

500 µm thickness are printable. 

www.essemsolar.com 

ASYS introducing printer for 

selective emitter, MWT & ribbon 

material 

The new XSR1 solar printer from 

ASYS is a rotary table printer that has 

specifically been developed for demanding 

applications in the Solar Industry. Typical 

applications are selective emitter, metal 

wrap through technology, ribbon material 

and ultrathin wafers, as well the hole range 

of standard metallization applications. The 

new XSR1 also featuers a paper interleaf 

between the print nest and the substrate 

which make cleaning easy and avoids any 

print nest contamination. Throughput is 

currently rated at 1,600 cells per hour with 

a repeatability of +/- 10 micron. 

www.asys-group.com 

WACKER showcases new silicone 

product line for photovoltaic 

applications 

The Munich-based WACKER Group is 

expanding its existing silicone range with 

a new product line geared specifically 

to the needs of the solar industry. The 

ELASTOSIL® Solar line products 

feature a UV-activated specialty silicone 

and pourable, highly translucent 

silicone elastomers for molding optical 

parts employed in high-concentration 

photovoltaic modules. All ELASTOSIL® 

Solar grades are resistant to weathering, 

radiation and heat, making them ideal 

for bonding, sealing, laminating and 

encapsulating photovoltaic modules and 

their electronic components. 

ELASTOSIL® Solar 2120 UV 

encapsulant is a UV-activated silicone 

elastomer that cures at room temperature 

without any additional heat. Curing of the 

silicone encapsulant at room temperature— 

until now a time-consuming process—is 

effected in just a few minutes. 

ELASTOSIL® Solar 3210 for highconcentration 

PV (HCPV) systems 

is a two-part rubber that is pourable 

and is characterized by very good light 

permeability (transmission). It is thus 

ideally suited for the production of optical 

lenses and moldings, for example Fresnel 

lenses. www.wacker.com 

Technological developments— 

continued from page 26 

technology to solve this problem. The new 

module uses laser-scribing technology on 

a glass substrate. Organic semiconductor 

materials are deposited on the substrate 

and then divided into several cells with the 

laser. The technology eliminates the need 

for, deposition mask patterning, which is 

used in conventional methods. The new 

module is highly integrated and should 

improve sunlight conversion efficiency. 

SolFocus becomes first company 

to receive IEC Certification on CPV 

modules 

SolFocus’ SF-1000P module is the first 

CPV product to meet the rigorous performance, 

qualification, and safety standards 

of the International Electrotechnical 

Commission (IEC) 62108 standard. The 

IEC is the world’s leading organization 

that prepares and publishes international 

standards for electrical and electronic 

technologies. 

“The real-world testing conducted 

for the IEC CPV standard proves that 

SolFocus systems meet the performance, 

qualification, and reliability criteria critical 

in bringing CPV to a truly global scale,” 

said Mark Crowley, president and chief 

executive officer of SolFocus. “We have 

already proven that CPV can yield nearly 

twice the efficiency of traditional PV 

systems, but meeting the IEC’s rigorous 

CPV requirements proves that SolFocus 

systems can perform consistently across a 

variety of climates and environments. This 

validation sends a message to developers, 

investors and customers that CPV is on 

track to global commercialization.” 

The IEC 62108 standard for 

photovoltaic concentrators and 

receivers was created to verify the 

safety, photoelectric performance and 

environmental reliability of panels 

designed with CPV technology and 

ready to be introduced to this emerging 

marketplace. The standard was designed 

to be universal, taking into account 

different environments and manufacturing 

technologies across geographies. The 

SolFocus system was shown to meet all 

requirements of the IEC 62108 standard, 

which specifies the design qualification 

and type approval of concentrator 

photovoltaic modules and assemblies 

suitable for long-term operation in 

general open-air climates. The electrical, 

mechanical, and thermal characteristics of 

the SolFocus CPV system were shown to 

be safe, high-performing and capable of 

withstanding prolonged exposure in varied 

climates. 

Certification specialist Six 9’s 

Reliable, L.L.C. and Photovoltaic Testing 

Lab TÜV Rheinland PTL worked with 

SolFocus in achieving this first of its 

kind IEC CPV certification. In addition 

to certification to the IEC standard, 

SolFocus has also just had its SF-1100 

modules approved by the California 

Energy Commission (CEC) to be placed 

on the Eligible California Solar Initiative 

(CSI) Solar Electric Equipment List. This 

listing assures customers that the solar 

equipment has been thoroughly tested for 

safety and meets the requirements of the 

CEC. SolFocus remains the only CPV 

system manufacturer to achieve CEC 

listing, which is required for customers 

in California to receive rebates for energy 

produced by solar systems. 

The SolFocus CPV design employs a 

system of reflective optics to concentrate 

sunlight 650 times onto small, highly 

efficient solar cells. SolFocus systems use 

approximately 1/1,000th of the active, 

expensive solar cell material compared 

to traditional photovoltaic panels and is 

built primarily with readily available and 

cost-effective materials such as aluminum 

and glass, delivering zero emissions 

energy, with the lowest carbon footprint 

in manufacturing being over 97-percent 

recyclable. 



Industry News 

Industry News— 

continued from page 5 

Singapore awards first projects 

under solar capability scheme 

The Clean Energy Program Office 

(CEPO) has awarded the first five private 

sector projects under the S$20 million 

Solar Capability Scheme (SCS) with the 

Solar Pioneer Award. The projects are 

City Developments Limited’s Tampines 

Grande, Lend Lease Retail’s 313@ 

Somerset, Robert Bosch’s regional 

headquarters building, Lonza Biologics’ 

manufacturing facility, and Applied 

Materials’ manufacturing facility. CEPO 

also announced the second wave of public 

sector projects under its S$17 million 

Clean Energy Research and Test-bedding 

(CERT) program. These are Ngee Ann 

Polytechnic, Changi Airport Budget 

Terminal, National Environment Agency’s 

Meteorological Station and Khoo Teck 

Puat Hospital. With these new public 

and private sector projects, Singapore’s 

cumulative installed base of solar systems 

will increase from just 200kW in mid-2008 

to about 5MW. 

DEK Solar adds another bright 

spark to its global Alternative Energies 

team 

Robin Bancroft is the latest to join the 

DEK Solar team. Newly appointed as 

Alternative Energies Business Development 

Manager for Western Europe, Robin’s 

extensive experience will reinforce DEK’s 

proven photovoltaic expertise as it meets 

the fast-growing demand for its services 

in this region. Robin joins DEK on the 

back of a highly successful career to date 

selling capital equipment to the electronics 

industry, where he most recently worked as 

the European Agent for Baccini’s solar and 

thick film products. www.deksolar.com 

Rimas to supply five turn-key PV 

solar module manufacturing lines to 

PSC Industries 

PSC Industries Ltd and Rimas B.V. have 

agreed on the supply of five turnkey PV 

solar module manufacturing lines. It is 

anticipated that PSC Industries will start 

producing solar modules in Nigeria by 

December 2009 or early 2010. A total of 

five manufacturing plants of 10MWp each 

has been concluded upon and will all be 

operational by end of 2010. Discussions 

are underway for additional manufacturing 

plants in Ghana and Gambia slated for 

2011. The manufactured solar panels will 

be sold mainly for the West Africa Market. 

www.rimas.nl 

Targray moves to larger corporate 

headquarters 

Following a consistent annual growth 

rate of over 45% since 2001, Targray 

Technology International has relocated 

its corporate headquarters to a larger 

facility at 18105 Transcanada in Kirkland, 

Quebec. Targray supplies materials and 

consumables to the Optical Media industry 

and silicon, raw materials and cutting edge 

products to the photovoltaic industry. 

The new facilities—which also inaugurate 

Targray’s 20th year in business—provide a 

significantly expanded and upgraded office 

space, a larger warehousing capacity, a 

100-person auditorium, an on-site serviced 

cafeteria and a fully-equipped gym. 

www.targray.com 

Cookson and Strip Tinning in solar 

cooperation 

Cookson Electronics Assembly Materials 

has signed a joint commercial and 

technical strategic collaboration agreement 

with Strip Tinning Ltd, of Birmingham 

UK, manufacturer of coated, conductive, 

copper foils used to interconnect PV cells 

in the assembly of solar modules. Under 

the terms of the agreement, Cookson will 

provide technical input on the selection 

and utilisation of the lead-free alloys that 

are increasingly being demanded by solar 

module assemblers. Cookson will also be 

instrumental in the further development 

of pre-fluxed solar ribbon for which the 

company has a patent pending. 

www.alphametals.com 

Solyndra signs sales contract with 

EBITSCHenergietechnik 

Solyndra, Inc., has signed a new 

long-term sales contract with solar 

integrator EBITSCHenergietechnik, 

based in Zapfendorf, Germany. The 

Euro-based contract, worth up to $115 

million, extends through 2013 and 

brings Solyndra’s contractual backlog 

to approximately $1.8 billion. The 

solar panels for these contracts will be 

manufactured at Solyndra’s facilities 

in Fremont and Milpitas, California. 

Solyndra’s cylindrical, thin film PV systems 

are designed to generate more electricity 

on an annual basis from typical low-slope 

commercial rooftops, which Solyndra says 

uniquely provide much lower installation 

costs than conventional PV flat panel 

technologies. www.solyndra.com 

RUSNANO and RENOVA plan thin 

film cell production 

The Supervisory Council of the Russian 

Corporation of Nanotechnologies, 

RUSNANO, has approved the 

corporation’s participation in a project 

to produce solar modules using thin-film 

technology. 

“We are talking about creating the 

largest base in Russia for the production 

of solar modules,” said RUSNANO 

CEO Anatoly Chubais. “This is the most 

significant investment in alternative 

energy on the territory of the Russian 

Federation.” 

A new company is to be established 

under the project at Khimprom’s industrial 

park in the city of Novocheboksarsk in 

the Chuvash Republic. The company 

will realize the entire cycle of production 

for solar modules. Its planned capacity 

is to be one million solar modules, the 

equivalent of 120 MW, per year. The core 

participants in the project are RUSNANO 

and RENOVA Group. The project is 

scheduled to start in the third quarter of 

2009 and reach the planned capacity in the 

fourth quarter of 2011. en.rusano.com, www. 

renova.ru 

Applied Energy Systems acquires 

SEMI-GAS® gas cabinet product 

line from Matheson Tri-Gas 

Applied Energy Systems, Inc. signed an 

agreement to acquire the SEMI-GAS® 

gas cabinet product line from Matheson 

Tri-Gas, Inc. The acquired product 

line will become part of the Applied 

Energy Systems organization and will 

operate as its own separate business unit 

focusing primarily on the semiconductor 

and related industries. The transfer of 

technology, materials and staff will occur 

gradually over the next few months 

to allow for a seamless transition of 

manufacturing and engineering functions 

that will ensure customer orders will be 

delivered on-time and to the same high 

quality that customers expect and demand. 

www.appliedenergysystems.com 

Abound Solar signs PV module 

supply agreement with Wirsol, Juwi 

Solar 

Cadmium telluride thin-film photovoltaics 

manufacturer Abound Solar has signed 

long-term sales agreements with two 

German systems integrators, Wirsol 

Solar and juwi solar. The TFPV company 

(formerly known as AVA Solar) is 

beginning production on its initial 70-MW 

line at its recently commissioned facility 

in Longmont, CO. The financial terms 

and duration of the two contracts were 

not disclosed. Juwi also uses CdTe TFPV 

modules from First Solar, and the two 

companies recently said they had received 


Industry News 

financing for the massive 53-MW (DC) 

Lieberose solar farm near Cottbus in 

eastern Germany, which is scheduled to be 

completed by the end of 2009. 

www.abound.com 

DRI Energy names Stephen Kelley 

executive vice president 

DRI Energy has named Stephen Kelley 

executive vice president. Mr. Kelley 

has more than twenty years of business 

development and sales management 

experience, specializing in the renewable 

energy and high technology sectors. Most 

recently, he was a segment executive at 

SunPower Corporation, where he managed 

solar energy sales teams for the large 

commercial and public utility markets. 

www.drienergy.com 

Spire expands its international solar 

reach 

Spire Corporation, a provider of turnkey 

solar factories and capital equipment to 

manufacture photovoltaic (PV) modules 

and cells worldwide, has appointed 

three new companies to represent Spire 

internationally: Servo Dynamics Co., Ltd. 

in The People’s Republic of China; Energy 

Control Systems for the Islamic Republic 

of Pakistan; and PV Middle East for the 

Gulf Arab States. www.spirecorp.com 

Taiwan’s Solar cell maker Motech 

hikes stake in US-based AE 

Polysilicon 

Motech Industries, a Taiwan-based solar 

cell maker, has announced an additional 

investment of US$25 million in AE 

Polysilicon Corporation to raise its stake 

in the US-based solar-grade polycrystalline 

silicon (poly-Si) supplier to 50.2%. 

According to the Chinese-language 

Economic Daily News (EDN), AE’s 

fluidized-bed process enables a production 

cost of US$25 per kilogram of poly-Si, 

lower than US$30-50/kg from the Siemens 

process. AE is setting up an annual 

poly-Si capacity of 1,800 metric tons with 

production set to begin in the fourth 

quarter of 2009, and then it will set up an 

additional annual capacity of 5,400 metric 

tons in 2010-2011, EDN indicated. 

Applied Solar announces 

restructuring 

Applied Solar, Inc., formerly Open Energy 

Corporation, has begun the process of 

restructuring its operations. On May 

22, 2009, the company entered into a 

definitive loan and security agreement 

with The Quercus Trust, pursuant to 

which the company borrowed $698,000 

under a short-term loan that matures 

on June 15, 2009. As a condition to the 

loan, the company is required to file 

for reorganization pursuant to Title 11 

of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code within 

thirty days following the date of the 

loan. The company is currently engaged 

in discussions with potential financing 

sources, including The Quercus Trust, 

concerning the extension of debtor-inpossession 

or “DIP” financing to support 

the company’s operations during its 

reorganization. 

“Despite very promising macro 

and micro business trends affecting the 

company,” said David Field, president and 

CEO of the company, “including solid 

relationships with its business partners, 

the current state of the financial markets 

combined with a difficult and complicated 

capital structure have made it extremely 

challenging for the company to secure 

needed financing. We are hopeful that a 

restructuring will enable the company to 

emerge stronger and in a better position to 

capitalize on the anticipated future growth 

in the solar industry.” www.appliedsolar.com 

REC cuts wafer production by 35% 

REC Wafer has decided to temporarily 

take out approximately 35 percent of its 

production capacity due to a challenging 

market situation and low demand 

visibility. The temporary reduction will 

affect approximately 180 employees. REC 

Wafer continuously evaluates the market 

situation and will prepare for a fast start-up 

process when the market outlook becomes 

more predictable. www.recgroup.com 

Timminco and Q-Cells replace solar 

grade silicon contract 

Timminco and Q-Cells have reached a 

new supply agreement for solar grade 

silicon. It will replace the agreement signed 

in 2008 for the five-year period through 

2013. The new agreement contemplates 

deliveries of 100 mt of solar grade silicon 

for the remainder of 2009. Volumes, 

pricing and other terms for deliveries of 

solar grade silicon in years 2010 to 2013 

will be subject to mutual agreement by the 

end of 2009 and will be negotiated in the 

context of prevailing solar industry market 

conditions. Timminco will also return the 

outstanding deposit of approximately EUR 

8.9 million to Q-Cells. The companies 

agreed to a repayment schedule that will 

commence in the first quarter 2010 and be 

completed by the end of 2010. 

www.timminco.com, www.q-cells.com 

SolarEdge Technologies appoints 

Zvi Lando as VP of global sales 

SolarEdge Technologies appointed Zvi 

Lando to the position of vice president of 

global sales. Lando will direct worldwide 

sales efforts for the company. Mr. Lando 

joins SolarEdge from Applied Materials, 

where he served as vice president, general 

manager of the Baccini Cell Systems (BCS) 

Solar Business Group. www.solaredge.com 

Linde to supply one of Italy’s first 

thin-film solar cell plants 

Linde Gases, a division of The Linde 

Group, has been awarded the exclusive 

contract to supply high purity gases to 

one of Italy’s first thin-film solar module 

manufacturing plants. The Moncada 

Energy Group s.r.l. is building the plant 

in Campofranco, Sicily. Under this 

agreement, Linde Gas Italia will provide 

Moncada with turnkey installation of the 

plant’s bulk and specialty gases supply 

systems. On an ongoing basis, it will also 

deliver nitrogen (N2), hydrogen (H2), 

silane (SiH4) and chamber cleaning gases 

which are essential to making thin-film 

solar cells. www.linde.com, 

www.moncadaenergy.com 

GT Solar commissions first 

integrated solar wafer and cell 

turnkey solution in Greece 

GT Solar, a provider of specialized 

equipment and technology for the 

solar power industry, has received final 

acceptance for the design, installation 

and commissioning of the first integrated 

photovoltaic (PV) solar wafer and cell 

turnkey fabrication line in Greece. The 

state-of-the-art production line, created for 

Greece-based Solar Cells Hellas S.A., has 

an annual capacity of 30-megawatts (MW) 

and delivers a stable production process 

that produces high-quality multi-crystalline 

cells of optimum efficiency. With the 

commissioning of this turnkey solution, 

Solar Cells Hellas becomes the first PV 

manufacturer in Greece. www.gtsolar.com 

Solar Power, Inc. appoints sales 

representative for Greece and the 

Balkans 

Solar Power, Inc., appointed Global Energy 

Services (GES) to represent SPI’s unique 

line of solar products throughout Greece 

and the Balkans. Global Energy Services 

is NBA star Peja Stojaković’s newly formed 

company, dedicated to bringing affordable, 

renewable energy solutions to the region. 

GES will serve as the exclusive 



Industry News 

representative of SPI’s product line that 

includes highly efficient solar modules. 

www.solarpowerinc.net 

Targray and Peak Sun sign longterm 

exclusive supply agreement 

Targray Technology International has 

signed a long-term partnership agreement 

with Peak Sun Materials for the exclusive 

supply of the highest quality phosphorus 

oxychloride (POCl3) to the solar industry. 

POCl3 is a high-purity liquid Phosphorus 

used as an N-Type dopant for silicon 

wafers. Under the terms of the agreement, 

Targray is now the exclusive supplier of 

Peak Sun’s high quality POCl3 to the 

North American, European, Indian and 

Australian Solar markets. 

www.peaksunsilicon.com, www.targray.com 

Spire receives U.S. patent for nanophotovoltaic 

devices 

The United States Patent and Trademark 

Office has issued U.S. Patent No. 

7,514,725 B2, entitled “Nanophotovoltaic 

Devices,” to Spire Corporation. This 

patent is for nanophotovoltaic devices 

formed from silicon or gallium arsenide 

having sizes in a range of about 50 

nanometers to about 5 microns, and 

method of their fabrication. Although 

there are a number of applications, the 

patent describes one application which 

is to inject nanophotovoltaic devices into 

diseased tissue, e.g., cancerous tissue, and 

activate these cells by the use of suitable 

radiation. These cells will generate 

electric fields in the tissue, causing a 

disruption of the cancerous cells. Roger 

G. Little, Chairman and CEO of Spire 

Corporations, and co-inventor, said, 

“This is an extension of our solar energy 

technology into biotherapeutics.” 

www.spirecorp.com 

Signet Solar and Moncada Energy 

Group execute definitive supply 

agreement 

Signet Solar and Moncada Energy 

Group have executed a definitive supply 

agreement for Signet to supply a minimum 

of 7.7MWp of its Gen 8.5 thin film 

modules before the end of 2009 and a 

continued supply relationship in 2010 

and beyond. Moncada, the largest sicilian 

producer of wind power (over 100MW) 

with projects focused in renewable energy 

across all of Europe, will deploy the 

purchased thin film modules in large 

solar PV farms beneath the towers of 

their wind farms to allow both the panels 

and the wind turbines to use the same 

infrastructure in place to collect energy for, 

what Moncada calls, “double-harvesting 

renewable energy.” www.signetsolar.com, 

www.moncadaenergy.it 

Intertek partners with Photovoltaic 

Institute-Berlin to increase solar 

panel testing capabilities 

Intertek signed a partnership agreement 

with Photovoltaic Institute of Berlin, 

Germany, to test photovoltaic modules and 

related products in Germany on behalf of 

Intertek. Testing will be preliminary to the 

issuing of Intertek’s ETL Mark for North 

American market access. This partnership 

increases service and delivery capabilities 

in the largest solar energy market in 

Europe. It strategically bridges Intertek’s 

global network of energy and solar labs 

from Asia Pacific to the U.S. www.pi-berlin. 

com, www.intertek-etlsemko.com/solar 

BP Solar and RGE Energy to build 

46MW PV system 

BP Solar has entered into a partnership 

agreement with RGE Energy to develop 

one of the world’s largest solar projects. 

The large-scale installation with over 46 

megawatt peak will be built in Koethen, 

Saxony-Anhalt. Around 210,000 crystalline 

photovoltaic modules with an output of 

220 watt peak each will be supplied by BP 

Solar and installed by RGE. The project 

launch is planned for the third quarter 

of 2009, approval processes permitting, 

and by the end of the year, all BP Solar 

modules are set to be installed. 

www.bpsolar.com, www.rgeenergy.de 

Renewable Energy Holdings to buy 

Sicilian Solar Energy assets 

Renewable Energy Holdings (REH) has 

entered into an exclusive non-binding 

letter of intent with PVStrom with regard 

to REH acquiring PVStrom’s existing solar 

photovoltaic developments. It is intended 

that REH and PVStrom will create a new 

company in Italy which REH will capitalize 

90% and PVStrom 10% (“Newco”). PV 

Strom’s current development portfolio 

of projects totals some 18MW of land 

options granted or land acquired, all in 

the Sicily region of Italy, with the medium 

term target being a developed portfolio 

of some 50MW and will be injected into 

Newco. Dependent on the successful 

completion of due diligence, REH and 

PVStrom expect to enter into a binding 

agreement by the end of June 2009. A 

further announcement will be released in 

due course. www.reh-plc.com 

First Solar announces multi-year 

supply contract with Pfalzsolar 

First Solar, Inc. and Pfalzsolar, GmbH, 

a fast-growing German solar project 

developer owned by Pfalzwerke AG, a 

public utility in the state of Rhineland- 

Palatinate, announced the signing of a new 

long-term supply agreement. The latest 

in a series of utility-linked agreements 

initially foresees delivery of First Solar’s 

photovoltaic modules to Pfalzsolar, 

beginning immediately, for use in rooftop 

and free field solar projects in Germany. 

www.firstsolar.com 

Applied Materials announces IEC 

Certification of world’s largest solar 

panels 

Applied Materials, Inc. announced that 

the 5.7m2 solar photovoltaic (PV) modules 

produced by its SunFab Thin Film Line, 

using both single and more advanced 

tandem junction technologies, were 

awarded International Electrotechnical 

Commission (IEC) certification, validating 

their exceptional performance under 

extended outdoor exposure. Certification 

of these SunFab modules, which are 

the world’s largest available solar PV 

panels, unleashes an opportunity for the 

widespread incorporation of SunFab 

panels in utility-scale, thin film solar farms 

to further drive down the price of clean 

electricity. www.appliedmaterials.com 

Yingli Green-ECN research collaboration 

to develop next generation 

high efficiency solar cells 

Yingli Green Energy Holding Company 

Limited, the Energy Research Centre 

of the Netherlands (ECN), and Amtech 

Systems, Inc., announced a three-party 

research collaboration agreement to 

develop next generation high efficiency 

solar cells. The joint project under the 

agreement endeavors to develop and 

implement high efficiency N-type silicon 

solar cells, named PANDA, at Yingli Green 

Energy’s pilot production line in Baoding, 

China. 

The high efficiency cells will utilize 

the cell design of ECN, the solar diffusion 

technology and dry PSG removal expertise 

of Tempress Systems, Inc., Amtech’s solar 

subsidiary, and Yingli Green Energy’s leading 

cell process technology. www.yinglisolar. 

com, www.ecn.nl, www.mkr-group.com 

Tigo Energy gets $10m in venture 

funding 

Solar photovoltaic company Tigo Energy 

has closed its second round of venture 

funding. The $10m round was led by Israel 

Cleantech Ventures, and joined by existing 

investors Matrix Partners, OVP and Clal 


Industry News 

Energy. 

Founded in 2007, Tigo Energy 

completed initial funding with a Series A 

round led by Matrix Partners and OVP, 

and successfully deployed 18 installations 

in the US, Europe and Japan. Israel Cleantech 

Ventures was established in 2006. 

www.tigoenergy.com 

Echelon’s technology incorporated 

into industry leading solar inverters 

Echelon Corporation’s LonWorks® 

technology is being used in solar energy 

installations by SMA America, Inc., 

a subsidiary of Germany-based SMA 

Solar Technology AG, the world leader 

in solar inverter technology. Echelon’s 

i.LON® SmartServer, equipped with 

communications drivers for SMA’s 

inverters, is used to monitor the health 

of and measure the electricity generated 

by the panels in a solar array for service, 

reporting, and verification purposes— 

helping to maintain their efficient 

operation. SMA is using the i.LON 

SmartServer with their Sunny Central 

250U and Sunny Tower inverters. 

www.echelon.com, www.SMA-America.com 

Premier Power Renewable Energy 

forays into Italy 

Premier Power Renewable Energy, Inc., has 

acquired Arco Energy, a privately held solar 

project developer, EPC and distributor 

with more than 20 mega watts of permitted 

projects worth approximately $114 million 

in potential revenue. The company 

anticipates Italian projects to begin 

generating substantial revenue growth for 

Premier Power in the second half of this 

year. Based on Arco’s historical revenue, 

net income and gross margin performance, 

as well as pending project economics, 

Premier Power expects the acquisition to 

significantly improve overall operating 

margins. www.premierpower.com 

SCHOTT Solar joins IMEC research 

program on silicon photovoltaics 

Photovoltaics manufacturer SCHOTT 

Solar entered into a three-year research 

partnership with IMEC, a European 

independent nanoelectronics research 

center. SCHOTT Solar joins IMEC’s 

newly launched silicon photovoltaics 

industrial affiliation program (IIAP). 

Within this multi-partner R&D program, 

IMEC aims to explore and develop 

advanced process technologies to fuel the 

steep market growth of silicon solar cells 

in a sustainable way. The program will 

concentrate on a sharp reduction in silicon 

use, whilst increasing cell efficiency and 

hence further lowering substantially the 

cost per watt peak. 

By joining the silicon photovoltaics 

IIAP, researchers from SCHOTT Solar will 

be able to closely collaborate with IMEC’s 

research team to build up fundamental understanding 

and develop robust solutions 

for next-generation silicon based solar cells. 

The program will bring together silicon 

solar cell manufacturers, equipment and 

material suppliers and is based on a sharing 

of intellectual property, talent, risk and 

cost. www.imec.be, www.schottsolar.com 

Schott Solar streamlines North 

American production 

Schott Solar intends to end production at 

its Billerica, Massachusetts, facility effective 

July 31st in an effort to streamline the 

company’s global manufacturing footprint. 

The Billerica site employs approximately 

180 full-time employees (plus 45 temporary 

workers) who manufacture 300-watt 

photovoltaic modules. The company has 

filed a WARN notification, notifying 

employees of the company’s intent to end 

operations at the location. 

In May the company inaugurated a 

$100 million state-of-the-art manufacturing 

site for products used to generate solar 

electricity in Albuquerque, New Mexico. 

Due to the limitations in the size and 

scale of the Billerica facility, Schott Solar 

determined further investment in the 

site was not a viable option. The annual 

capacity of the site is 15 megawatts. Schott 

Solar acquired sole ownership of the site in 

2005 after buying-out joint-venture partner 

RWE. www.schottsolar.com 

NREL purchases Aerosol Jet 

deposition system for development 

of high efficiency solar cells 

Optomec announced that the company’s 

Aerosol Jet deposition system has been 

selected to be part of the U.S. Department 

of Energy’s National Renewable Energy 

Laboratory’s Atmospheric Processing 

Platform in the Process Development 

and Integration Lab (PDIL). The Aerosol 

Jet system, which will be installed at 

NREL’s facility in Golden, Colorado, will 

be primarily used to develop deposition 

processes for metallization and coatings 

to reduce cost of production of crystalline 

silicon and thin film solar cells. 

www.optomec.com 

Oerlikon Solar wins Cell Award 2009 

Oerlikon Solar, a supplier of thin film 

silicon photovoltaic (PV) process and 

production equipment, has been named 

winner of the 2009 CELL AWARD, 

presented at the Intersolar 2009 

Conference in Munich. The jury selected 

Oerlikon Solar’s KAI 1200 PECVD 

system as “the best technical product 

for thin film manufacturing.” Oerlikon 

Solar’s KAI 1200 PECVD technology 

(Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor 

Deposition) deposits the silicon absorber 

layers that are at the heart of Oerlikon 

Solar’s Micromorph® thin film silicon PV 

technology. The deposition of these layers 

is one of the most critical steps in the 

production of thin film, and the quality 

of this manufacturing step determines to 

a large extent the overall efficiency and 

performance of thin film PV modules. 

In addition to producing high quality 

absorber layers, the KAI 1200 is designed 

to significantly improve the speed of 

manufacturing, reducing the process cycle 

time by over 30 percent. www.oerlikon.com 

EFD® wins 2009 Cell Award 

EFD, Inc, a subsidiary of Nordson 

Corporation has been awarded the 2009 

International Solar Cell Award for the Best 

Technical Product for Photovoltaic Module 

Assembly. The award was presented at the 

2009 InterSolar Exhibition in Munich, 

Germany, with over two thousand 

registered industry participants and nine 

expert industry judges voting. EFD’s PV 

Cell Ribbon and Bus Bar Attachment 

Methodology is a point-to-point soldering 

process that uses a proprietary lead-free 

solder paste and flux mixture to attach 

string ribbon material to silver bus bars 

during module assembly. In addition 

to eliminating the need for pre-coating 

of ribbon material with liquid flux, the 

additional metal content augments the 

solder joint. The method is compatible 

with both manual and automated assembly 

operations. www.efd-inc.com 

CentroSolar shuts down module 

manufacturing facility 

Ubbink Solar Modules B.V., a 100% 

subsidiary of CentroSolar Group AG. 

is closing down its solar module plant 

located in Doesburg (NL). Ubbink Solar 

Modules B.V. will remain in existence as 

a legal entity and will continue to meet all 

its financial obligations. The closure was 

rendered unavoidable following the loss 

of Ecostream Switzerland GmbH as the 

principal customer for the solar modules 

manufactured there; this customer has 

been affected by a suspension of payment 

order concerning its parent Econcern B.V., 

based in Utrecht, the Netherlands. The 

workforce of around 70 at the Dutch plant 

will be offered redundancy 



Industry News 

packages that include severance payments. 

All other liabilities will also be paid off. 

CentroSolar’s new, larger module plant 

in Wismar, Germany, with a module 

production capacity of currently 110 MWp 

is unaffected by the closure of the Dutch 

plant. www.centrosolar.com 

Malibu opens thin film 

manufacturing plant 

Delivering a major step forward in 

sustainable solar power, Malibu today 

launched the world’s first thin-film 

solar module factory that completely 

eliminates the use of nitrogen trifluoride 

(NF3), a greenhouse gas with a significant 

global warming potential, from the 

manufacturing process. Malibu is a joint 

venture between energy company E.ON, 

one of the world’s largest energy producers, 

and Schüco, a major worldwide provider of 

building envelope systems. 

Working in close collaboration with researchers 

from technology provider Linde 

Gases, a division of The Linde Group, 

scientists at Malibu’s development centre 

in Bielefeld, Germany, have developed an 

improved cleaning process using on-site 

generated fluorine (F2) made with Linde’s 

patented technology. As a result, the carbon 

payback time—the time it takes the use 

of solar panels to offset the environmental 

impact of their manufacture—is reduced by 

up to one year. 

This improved process will now be 

rolled out to their new 40MW production 

facility in Osterweddingen, Germany. www. 

malibu-solar.de, www.linde.com 

Spire to use Rudolph Technologies’ 

process control software in its turnkey 

solar cell lines 

Spire Corporation will include Rudolph’s 

Discover Solar yield analysis and process 

management software as part of their 

turnkey manufacturing product lines. 

“Rudolph’s Discover Solar Software 

provides all the process information to our 

solar cell production lines. It will allow our 

customers to bring new lines up to profitable 

yields and volumes even faster than 

they can now,” said Dr. Avishai Kepten, 

vice president of Solar Cell Lines of Spire 

Corporation. “Customers will be able to 

achieve higher average cell efficiencies and 

reduce manufacturing costs. Discover Solar 

software will give our customers a competitive 

edge.” www.rudolphtech.com, 

www.spirecorp.com 

Asola unveils new module 

assembly plant 

Asola (Asola Advanced and Automotive 

Solar Systems GmbH) has unveiled a new 

state-of-the-art facility that will produce 

crystalline silicon solar photovoltaic 

modules for the global markets. The new 

facility is located in Erfurt, the capital city 

of Thuringia, and is the main city nearest 

to the geographical centre of Germany. 

Asola’s new facility currently employs 

100 workers and is expected to employ up 

to 130 by the end of the year. The initial 

production rate will be 32 MW of PV modules 

annually, and is expected to expand to 

45 MW by the end of the year. 

www.asola-power.com 

Sixtron’s SunBox wins International 

Solar Technology Award 

During a ceremony held at Intersolar 2009 

in Munich, Germany, the Sixtron SunBox, 

an efficient silane-free system for applying 

anti-reflective coatings, was awarded the 

Cell Award for Best Process Technology in 

Crystalline Silicon Cell Manufacturing. 

The Cell Awards are judged by a 

consortium of the solar industry’s leading 

companies and research organizations, 

including Q-Cells, Suntech Power and 

Fraunhofer ISE, and recognize products 

with the most potential to lower the cost of 

solar technology. www.sixtron.com 

Indian government working on 

massive solar energy plan 

A draft Indian government plan, obtained 

by Greenpeace, outlines plans for a 

national target of 20 Gigawatts of solar 

generation capacity by 2020. The massive 

green plan is a clear example of how 

developing countries are acting on climate 

change, while in the industrialised world, 

the EU and the US are still struggling 

with their reduction targets, and delaying 

concrete financial support needed by 

developing countries for clean energy. 

OTB Solar installs first silicon-ink 

inkjet system at Innovalight 

Innovalight, Inc., a privately-held firm 

developing silicon-ink printed solar cell 

technology, has installed the world’s first 

high-throughput industrial silicon-ink 

inkjet printing system at the company’s 

headquarters in Sunnyvale, California. 

The printing system was engineered 

and manufactured by OTB Solar in 

co-operation with Innovalight. Using 

high precision touch-less inkjet printing 

of silicon-ink, Innovalight can halve the 

number of costly manufacturing steps 

required to produce high efficiency solar 

cells. In addition, the OTB printing system 

allows for high volume production of 

ultra-thin crystalline silicon solar cells with 

thicknesses as little as 50 microns. 

www.innovalight.com, www.otb-solar.com 

New partners found for solar cell 


With the support of the Portuguese state, 

Centrosolar’s negotiations with financing 

banks and a new partner for the planned 

cell plant located near Porto (Portugal) 

have been brought to a successful 

conclusion. This clears the way for the 

transfer of a 51% interest from Qimonda 

to the new investor. The continuation of 

Itarion Solar and the development of the 

new plant are thus assured. 

The opening of the first solar cell 

plant in Portugal is scheduled for the first 

quarter of 2010. The new partner is a consortium 

comprising the Portuguese energy 

group Energias de Portugal (EDP), the state 

investment company Inovcapital, the banks 

Banco Espírito Santo, Banco Comercial 

Português and Banco Privado Atlântico, 

as well as the project developer DST Renováveis 

and the Visabeira Group, which is 

active in infrastructure industries. 

A technology team with ample experience 

in semiconductor manufacturing and 

photovoltaic, recruited in part from the 

former joint venture partner Qimonda, 

has already been set up since the start of 

the year. This experienced technology team 

and the superior cost positions means that 

Itarion represents an attractive investment 

for all parties concerned. The Centrosolar 

Group will be able to meet approximately 

one-third of its demand for solar cells 

through Itarion, on attractive terms. The 

company will also be able to absorb cyclical 

fluctuations in the market much more easily, 

in particular providing greater planning 

certainty for the rapidly growing area of 

project business for large commercial roof 

systems. www.centrosolar.de 

SunPower signs module assembly 

agreement with Jabil Circuit 

SunPower Corporation has signed a multiyear 

solar panel manufacturing agreement 

with Jabil Circuit, Inc., to build panels 

for SunPower’s North American solar 

market. Jabil will begin manufacturing 

panels for SunPower in Mexico in the 

second half of 2009. The company is 

also continuing to evaluate establishing 

localized manufacturing facilities in large 

solar markets in the U.S. 

Separately, Jabil will collaborate with 

SunPower in the company’s participation 

in the Solar America Initiative (SAI), 

a U.S. Department of Energy effort to 

accelerate the development of advanced 

solar energy technologies. SunPower has 


Industry News 

participated in the initiative since September 

2007. SunPower and Jabil intend 

to evaluate establishing world-class panel 

and system manufacturing locations in the 

U.S., which would result in the creation of 

highly skilled jobs. www.sunpowercorp.com, 

www.jabil.com 

MicroScreen receives ITAR Registration 

MicroScreen LLC has received their official 

International Traffic in Arms Regulations 

(ITAR) registration from the U.S. 

Department of State, Bureau of Political- 

Military Affairs. ITAR Registration means 

that MicroScreen is uniquely positioned to 

fully support defense related projects in the 

United States. www.microscreen.org 

Oerlikon Solar tops VLSI Research 

list of solar equipment providers 

Oerlikon Solar, a supplier of thin film 

silicon photovoltaic (PV) production 

equipment, announced that VLSI listed it 

the number one solar turnkey line supplier 

globally. Oerlikon Solar maintained a 

comfortable lead in 2008 among solar 

turnkey manufacturing line providers in 

rankings released by VLSI Research. 

www.oerlikon.com 

Yingli Green Energy and Recurrent 

Energy sign sales agreement 

Yingli Green Energy and Recurrent 

Energy have entered into a strategic 

sales agreement under which Yingli 

Green Energy has agreed to supply 

Recurrent Energy with crystalline PV 

modules through 2012 for expected use 

in Recurrent Energy’s distributed solar 

projects, typically ranging from 2 to 20 

MW, in the U.S., Canada, Europe and 

other emerging markets. 

www.yinglisolar.com, www.recurrentenergy.com 

Ascent Solar Technologies 

selected for Solar America Initiative 

Pre-Incubator program 

Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc., a 

developer manufacturer of state of the 

art flexible thin-film solar modules, has 

been selected for negotiations for a U.S. 

Department of Energy (DOE) Photovoltaic 

(PV) Technology Pre- Incubator project 

award. The new subcontract from DOE’s 

National Renewable Energy Laboratory 

(NREL) represents approximately $315,000 

of subcontract value over a 12-month 

period, pending negotiations. 

The proposed effort involves using a 

zinc-magnesium-oxide (ZnMgO) deposited 

by Ascent’s proprietary process in order 

to replace the standard window layer of a 

copper-indium-gallium-(di)selenide (CIGS) 

device, and eventually, replacing all the top 

layers of the device. Use of ZnMgO could 

potentially improve the performance and 

reduce the cost of AST’s CIGS product, as 

well as provide another piece of the puzzle 

towards developing the next generation of 

CIGS products. www.AscentSolar.com 

Energy Conversion Devices extends 

supply agreement with EnergyPeak 

Energy Conversion Devices has extended 

its supply agreement with EnergyPeak. 

EnergyPeak expects to continue its 

aggressive growth rate and purchase up 

to 12MW of UNI-SOLAR® laminates 

from ECD through the end of 2011. 

These laminates will be incorporated into 

building-integrated photovoltaic systems 

on standing seam metal commercial roofs. 

www.ovonic.com, www.centria.com 

Suntech CTO receives William 

R. Cherry Award for outstanding 

achievements in PV technology 

PV module manufacturer Suntech Power 

Holdings Co., Ltd., announced that 

its chief technology officer, Dr. Stuart 

Wenham, received the William R. Cherry 

award at the 34th IEEE Photovoltaic 

Specialists Conference (“PVSC”) held 

in Philadelphia, PA, this past June. The 

William R. Cherry award recognizes 

engineers and scientists who have 

significantly advanced the technology of 

photovoltaic energy conversion. 

Dr. Wenham has helped lead the development 

effort at the University of New 

South Wales’ ARC Photovoltaics Centre 

of Excellence on solar technology, which 

has set world records for solar conversion 

efficiencies. Dr. Wenham has also 

played a leading role in the development 

of Suntech’s new Pluto technology, which 

routinely produces PV cells with conversion 

efficiencies of approximately 19% on 

mono-crystalline cells and 17% on multicrystalline 

cells. Suntech anticipates ongoing 

enhancement of the Pluto technology 

and anticipates achieving 20% conversion 

efficiency on monocrystalline PV cells and 

18% on polycrystalline PV cells within the 

next 2 years. www.34pvsc.org, 

www.suntech-power.com 

SunPower’s Dr. Richard Swanson 

named recipient of SEIA Industry 

Innovator Award 

At the PV America conference on 

June 8, 2009, Dr. Richard Swanson, 

president and chief technical officer of 

SunPower Corporation, was honored 

with a SEIA Industry Innovation Award. 

He was recognized for his outstanding 

achievements in the development of 

SunPower’s high-efficiency, all-back contact 

solar cell. 

Swanson is one of the world’s mostrecognized 

leaders in the advancement 

of photovoltaics (PV) and a pioneer in 

commercializing cost-effective PV power 

systems. In 2006, he was honored with the 

prestigious Becquerel Prize for Outstanding 

Merits in Photovoltaics and in 2002, 

Swanson was presented with the William 

R. Cherry Award by the IEEE for outstanding 

contributions to the photovoltaic field. 

www.sunpowercorp.com 

Christopher Associates to distribute 

Orient photovoltaic encapsulation 

laminators 

Christopher Associates has been granted 

exclusive distribution rights for North 

America by Orient Science & Technology 

Co. Ltd. (Qinhuangdao, China) for their 

complete line of vacuum lamination and 

encapsulation systems for photovoltaic 

module manufacturing. www.christopherweb. 

com 

Nozik wins UN science and technology 

prize for solar research 

Senior Research Fellow Arthur J. Nozik of 

the U.S. Department of Energy’s National 

Renewable Energy Laboratory has won 

the 2009 Intergovernmental Renewable 

Energy Organization (IREO) Award for 

Science and Technology. IREO is a new 

international organization related to the 

United Nations. The IREO/UN award 

recognizes energy innovators who are 

“leading the way of global development 

through renewable energy, with the 

strength to challenge conventional wisdom 

and encourage critical thinking.” 

Dr. Nozik and his NREL colleagues 

have proposed and confirmed several new 

important concepts in photoelectrochemistry 

and solar photoconversion that may 

help revolutionize advanced solar energy 

research. He and his research colleagues 

specialize in working with semiconductor 

nanocrystals, such as silicon and other 

semiconducting materials a billionth of a 

meter in size—also known as quantum dots. 

They operate in a much larger portion 

of the light spectrum than what is used 

by conventional photovoltaic cells and 

can produce several electrons from one 

absorbed photon of sunlight. This process, 

known as multiple exciton generation 

(MEG), has the potential to markedly 

increase the efficiency of solar cells. 

www.ireoigo.org, www.nrel.gov 



Industry News 

Ascent Solar manufactures lightweight, 

flexible 5-meter CIGS-based 

PV laminate 

Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc., a 

developer of state-of-the-art, flexible thinfilm 

photovoltaic modules, announced 

that the company has manufactured a 

monolithically interconnected 5 meter 

long flexible light weight module on a 

polyimide substrate. 

Ascent Solar Sr. Vice President for Production 

Operations Dr. Prem Nath said, 

“This is the largest monolithically interconnected 

CIGS module on polyimide and 

may be the largest of any CIGS module 

regardless of construction. The size and 

efficiency of this module make it a breakthrough 

for the emerging opportunities of 

flexible CIGS photovoltaic modules.” 

The CIGS based thin film material 

used in this module was manufactured 

using the company’s unique 1.5 MW rollto-roll 

manufacturing line. The module 

was encapsulated during the testing and 

qualification of equipment that will be 

used for its 30 MW plant under construction. 

Based on internal test and evaluation, 

this 5M long module weighs 2 kilograms 

and produces 123 watts (under standard 

test conditions) with an aperture area efficiency 

of 9.1%. This length is a baseline for 

the company’s development of large area 

flexible building integrated photovoltaic 

(BIPV) products with our strategic BIPV 

partners. www.ascentsolar.com 

Evolution Solar to seek acquisition 

Because the solar industry continues its 

rapid growth, EVSO has decided to seek 

acquisitions of existing solar companies 

to expand its ability to deliver projects 

for new clients. The company will focus 

on acquiring companies with proven 

distribution and installation experience. 

Driven by the forces of strong stimulus 

spending, new and cheaper technologies 

and the desire of Americans to embrace 

green, renewable power, solar continues to 

grow as an industry. There are many small 

solar companies engaged in sales and distribution 

but with no platform on which 

they can expand nationally. These are the 

targets that will be evaluated by EVSO. 

www.evolutionsolar.com 

Asymtek promotes Paul Gallo and 

Tom Schafer 

Asymtek, a Nordson company and 

leader in dispensing, coating, and jetting 

technologies, announces the promotions 

of Paul Gallo to the position of sales 

manager, USA and Americas, and Tom 

Schafer to general manager, Asia Pacific, 

and global accounts program manager. 

Gallo has been with Asymtek since 

1993 when he joined the company as 

Northeast regional manager. Schafer has 

been with Asymtek since 1997, starting as 

a regional sales manager. www.asymtek.com 

LG Display to build thin film solar 

cell pilot line 

LG Display, a manufacturer of thin-film 

transistor liquid crystal display technology, 

announced plans to focus its R&D 

capabilities on a thin-film type solar cell 

and nurture it as a future growth driver. 

LG Display plans to invest KRW50 billion 

into R&D to build a pilot line within 

its Paju display complex in Korea during 

the second half of 2009 and build an 

outdoor test power generation facility. Further, 

the company aims to raise the current 

energy conversion efficiency rate of 8% to 

12% by 2010, and eventually achieve efficiency 

rate of 14% in 2012 to prepare for 

commercialization. It also plans to secure 

sufficient commercial value by lowering 

the manufacturing cost to less than $1 per 

watt. www.lgdisplay.com 

M+W Zander completes 500MW 

expansion for Q-Cells 

Engineering company M+W Zander 

has designed and built a new solar 

cell manufacturing facility for Q-Cells, 

Malaysia, and has handed over the facility 

on schedule. This major project was 

completed within a tight construction time 

frame of less than eight months to achieve 

Ready for Equipment. 

The three-storey solar-cell factory with 

eight production lines has an annual 

output of 500 megawatts (peak). www.mwzander.com, 

www.q-cells.com 

Nanometrics and ZYGO announce 

strategic business partnership 

Nanometrics Incorporated has purchased 

inventory and certain other assets relating 

to ZYGO Corporation’s Semiconductor 

Solutions business, and the two companies 

have entered into a supply agreement. 

Under an exclusive OEM supply agreement, 

ZYGO will provide interferometer 

sensors to Nanometrics for incorporation 

into the Unifire line of products as 

well as Nanometrics’ family of automated 

metrology systems. The arrangement 

is structured as an asset purchase and 

exclusive OEM supply agreement aimed 

at wafer-based markets. Nanometrics will 

assume all inventory, backlog and customer 

sales and support responsibilities and 

ZYGO will provide measurement sensors 

for integration by Nanometrics. In addition 

to the applications currently addressed 

by Nanometrics and ZYGO products, the 

business partnership allows for the joint 

development of additional technology solutions 

targeted at the semiconductor and 

related industries. www.nanometrics.com, 

www.zygo.com 

REC sells Solar Vision in South 

Africa 

REC announced that the ownership of 

Solar Vision (PTY) Ltd., which has until 

recently been a fully owned subsidiary 

of REC, has been sold through a 

management buyout where Jakes Jacobs 

(managing director of Solar Vision) will 

buy a majority (76%) through his South 

African Triple J Trust, and Tommy 

Fernandes (former REC employee) 

will hold the remaining (24%) shares 

through his Norwegian company InSite 

International AS. www.solarvision.co.za 

PSE&G solar programs receive 

Industry Award for Innovation 

PSE&G has been recognized by the solar 

industry for its game-changing innovations 

to expand the solar market that are models 

for replication around the country. The 

national award was presented at the PV 

America conference in Philadelphia. The 

company received an Industry Innovation 

award from the Solar Energy Industries 

Association (SEIA) to honor a company 

that is at the forefront of efforts to expand 

renewable generation and reduce carbon 

emissions. PSE&G was recognized for 

its efforts to help achieve New Jersey’s 

aggressive Energy Master Plan goals to 

reduce projected energy use and generate 

30 percent of its electricity from renewable 

sources by 2020, including 1800 megawatts 

of solar energy generation. www.pseg.com 

Sanyo to expand cell production 

capacity 

Sanyo Electric’s subsidiary Shimane 

Sanyo will start up a new HIT solar cell 

production line, in anticipation of an 

active demand for photovoltaic systems 

worldwide stimulated by economic 

packages as represented, the company says, 

by the “Green New Deal”. 

The new production line will be 

installed on the second floor of Factory 

Building No. 3 and is scheduled to begin 

operation in April 2010. 

Shimane SANYO currently has a total 

HIT cell production capacity of 130MW. 

Its first production line was installed in 

2001. 

The new line will have a production 

capacity of 90MW. This will bring the 


Industry News 

total production capacity of Shimane 

SANYO up to 220MW. The company will 

invest 7,872 million yen on the expansion. 

jp.sanyo.com 

General Plasma appoints JUST 

VACUUM as European sales rep 

General Plasma Inc. has recently appointed 

JUST VACUUM as the company’s 

European Advanced Sources sales 

representative. JUST VACUUM brings 16 

years of vacuum engineering to the GPI 

team as the company expands its footprint 

in the European market. GPI’s product line 

has been distributed in Germany, Austria, 

Switzerland, and Liechtenstein exclusively 

by JUST VACUUM since May of 2009. 

JUST VACUUM represents the full 

product range including Moving Magnet 

Planar Magnetrons, Rotary Magnetrons 

and Linear Ion Sources. 

www.generalplasma.com, www.justvacuum.com 

GCL-Poly Energy acquires 

polysilicon manufacturer 

GCL-Poly Energy will acquire 100% equity 

interest in Jiangsu Zhongneng Polysilicon 

Technology Development Co., Ltd., oa 

supplier of polysilicon and wafers for use 

in the solar industry, for a consideration 

of HK$26.35 billion ($3.4bn). Jiangsu 

Zhongneng is the main operating entity of 

GCL Solar Energy Technology Holdings 

Inc. in the PRC. The consideration 

represents a valuation of approximately 

10.4 times the audited consolidated net 

profit of RMB2,233 million of GCL Solar 

for the year ended December 31, 2008. 

www.gcl-poly.com.hk, www.gclsolarenergy.com 

Applied Materials and Dainippon 

Screen revise ownership structure 

of Sokudo 

Applied Materials, Inc. and Dainippon 

Screen Mfg. Co., Ltd. (Screen) have signed 

an agreement to revise the ownership 

structure of their joint venture company, 

Sokudo Co., Ltd. Under the agreement, 

Screen will own 81% of the coat/develop 

track system company and operate it as 

a subsidiary, and Applied Materials will 

retain a 19% interest, down from its 

original 48% interest. This new structure 

will more accurately reflect the ongoing 

contributions from both shareholders. 

In response to the significantly weakened 

market for semiconductor equipment, 

Sokudo’s global sales and service operations 

will be streamlined to be more efficient 

in this business environment. www. 

screen.co.jp, www.appliedmaterials.com 

Auria Solar ramps up 60 MW Micromorph® 

end-to-end line in record 

time 

Auria Solar (Taiwan) unveiled the world’s 

first end-to-end solar manufacturing line 

using Oerlikon Solar’s high-performance 

Micromorph® technology. Oerlikon 

Solar’s advanced process integration 

technology and on-site customer 

support helped Auria Solar reach the 

mass production stage, and attain IEC 

certification from TÜV Rheinland, in 

record time. 

Oerlikon Solar and Auria Solar ramped 

up the entire 60 MW Tainan facility and 

brought it to mass production in less than 

eight months after the move-in of equipment. 

www.auriasolar.com, www.oerlikon.com 

HelioSphera inaugurates thin film 


HelioSphera (formally known as Next 

Solar) officially inaugurated its state-of-theart 

plant in Tripoli. The plant is specialized 

in producing thin-film photovoltaic panels, 

using Oeriklon’s Micromorph technology 

and is the largest in Europe in its kind. 

The main activity of HelioSphera is the 

production of thin-film photovoltaic 

panels with an annual capacity of 60 MW. 

The 185 million euro investment, one 

of the biggest private investments in this 

country of the past decade, is subsidized by 

29.879.500 euros as it was included in the 

Developmental Bill that was voted into law 

by the plenary of the Greek Parliament. 

This state-of-the-art plant covers an 

area of 27.000 m 2 , with the production 

area taking up 17.000 m 2 . In addition, the 

fully automated Clean Room of 1.500 m 2 

constitutes one of Europe’s largest and by 

far the biggest in Greece. Production is 

entirely eco-friendly as no toxic dangerous 

elements for the environment are used. 

www.heliosphera.com 

Dow Corning & leading solar energy 

Co. call for policies to make America 

a 21st Century Solar Power 

Representatives of Dow Corning, a 

leading producer of silicon-based materials 

used in solar energy technologies, and 

representatives of America’s top solar 

energy companies visited Washington 

D.C. to call for new federal policies to 

encourage the growth of a domestic 

solar energy industry that will promote 

economic growth, create jobs and help 

meet greenhouse gas emissions goals. 

Dow Corning was joined by nine of 

its customers representing the solar 

energy value chain: Abengoa Solar, BP 

Solar, Kyocera, National Semiconductor 

Corporation, Sanyo, SCHOTT Solar, Solar 

Power Industries, SolarWorld and Suniva. 

www.dowcorning.com/solarpolicy 

Trina Solar secures $57 million 

credit facilities 

Trina Solar has secured from Standard 

Chartered Bank (China) Limited new 

credit facilities totaling approximately $57 

million, consisting of trade financing and 

defensive hedging products. The facilities 

are aimed to provide financial support to 

Trina Solar’s raw material procurement and 

product sales while helping Trina Solar to 

mitigate foreign exchange risks associated 

with market volatilities. www.trinasolar.com 

China Nuvo Solar Energy acquires 

additional photovoltaic intellectual 

property 

China Nuvo Solar Energy, Inc. 

announced today that it has acquired 

from Photovoltaics, Inc. a variety of solar 

technologies/inventions consisting of six 

provisional or utility patents. This newly 

acquired intellectual property relates 

to enhancements of currently available 

technologies ranging from increases 

in output and efficiency to the use of 

lower cost newly discovered photovoltaic 

materials and processes. The company 

believes that each of the technologies have 

the potential, when commercialized, of 

reducing the cost per kilowatt hour of solar 

energy thereby making it more competitive 

with other energy sources. China Nuvo is 

in the process of finalizing utility patents 

for those that are currently provisional. 

The company’s plans regarding a business 

model to fully exploit the value of these 

newly acquired technologies is presently 

under development and will be announced 

when fully developed. China Nuvo Solar 

Energy, Inc. is a nominally capitalized early 

stage company that owns a unique patent 

pending solar technology and is working 

to develop a commercially viable higher 

efficiency stacked photovoltaic solar cell. 

VioSolar signs MoU to purchase an 

operating photovoltaic solar company in 

Greece 

VioSolar Inc. signed an irrevocable 

memorandum of understanding (MOU) 

with a privately held Greek corporation 

(‘target company’) to purchase eighty-five 

percent of its shares. The target company 

has 100 kilowatts of production and 

licenses to build an additional 1 megawatt, 

with 200 kilowatts in the construction 

phase. www.viosolar.com 



Title 

Events Calendar 

14-16 July 2009 

Intersolar North America 

San Francisco, California, USA 

www.intersolar.us 

10-12 August 2009 

3rd Renewable Energy India 2009 

New Delhi, India 

www.renewableenergyindiaexpo.com 

9-10 September 2009 

Solar Economics Forum 

Las Vegas, Nevada, USA 

www.solarconventionlasvegas.com 

21-24 September 2009 

24th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy 

Conference 

Hamburg, Germany 

www.photovoltaic-conference.com 

29 September - 30 October 2009 

Solar09 

Townsville, Australia 

eng1.jcu.edu.au/anzses/ 

1-2 October 2009 

Solar Industry Conference—España 2009 

Madrid, Spain 

www.solarpraxis.de 


PV Taiwan 2009 

Taipei, Taiwan 

www.pvtaiwan.com 


Semicon Europa 2009 

Dresden, Germany 

www.semiconeuropa.org 

27-29 October 2009 

Solar Power 2009 

Anaheim, California, USA 

www.solarpowerconference.com 

29 October - 1 November 2009 

Solar Energy Expo 2009 

Bangladesh, India 

www.zakgroup.com 

9-11 November 2009 

Solarcon India 

Hyderabad, India 

www.solarconindia.org 

9-13 November 2009 

19th International Photovoltaic 

Science and Engineering Conference 

and Exhibition 

Jeju, South Korea 

www.pvsec19.kr 

2-4 December 2009 

Semicon Japan 2009 

Chiba, Japan 

www.semiconjapan.org 

3-5 February 2010 

PV Expo 2009 

Tokyo, Japan 

www.pvexpo.jp 

16-20 February 2010 

Solar Energy 2010 

Berlin, Germany 

www.messen-profair.de 


Title 

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TECHNOLOGY 

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