EVA Extrusion Line for Encapsulation Film
Encapsulation Film: Low Shrinkage
Encapsulation film produced on regular extrusion lines has naturally a shrinkage which effects not only the process of laminating but can result in destroyed wafers and therefore creating waste and thus increased production costs. more...
CIS Cluster Tool Project
New Manufacturing Procedures for Cu-In-Se Based Thin Films
The CIS Cluster Tool project is starting its work on the development of new manufacturing procedures for copper indium selenide-based thin film semiconductors (CIS) as part of a sponsoring project within the „Photovoltaics Innovations Alliance“. more...
Materials for the Solar Energy Market
DuPont Acquires Innovalight
DuPont has announced its acquisition of Innovalight, a company specializing in advanced silicon inks and process technologies that increase the efficiency of crystalline silicon solar cells. more...
Market Interest in Organic Photovoltaics
Merck: Collaboration Agreement with Nano-C
Merck has signed a collaboration agreement with US-based Nano-C, a developer of nanostructured carbon for use in energy and electronics applications. more...
Rise in Cell Efficiency
Commercial Ready CPV Cell Achieves 41.4%
Solar Junction announced another swift leap forward in cell efficiency. Just one month after achieving 40.9 percent efficiency, the company has now reached 41.4 percent on a production cell. more...
Printing Line
There is No Escape From the Automatic Fixing Eye
The screen-printing line (roll to roll) for the production of photovoltaic elements is a 2-colour flatbed screen-printing line with a max. printing size of 750 x 750 mm. Equipped with Hot Air and UV dryer it is possible to print solvent and UV inks on flexible substrates like metal, plastics and paper. more...
Back Side Tabbing
Save Silver
The SOL200 Series is usable for back side tabbing conductors for mono and multicrystalline silicon solar cell wafers. It has been claimed to demonstrate lower paste laydown while maintaining excellent solderability with both leaded and lead-free solders while maintaining high adhesion and high electrical performance. more...
Polysilicon Production
One for Six
A newly developed silicon tetrachloride (STC) converter is intended for polysilicon production plants using direct chlorination for hydrogenating STC. more...
Sealing
Withstanding Plasma Attack
Zalak 5300 high-performance seals bridge the performance gap between standard fluoroelastomer (FKM) and perfluoroelastomer (FFKM) seals. The seals are specially formulated for use in plasma environments, such as are encountered in edge isolation, ARC coating in crystalline cell manufacturing, TCO sputtering deposition, and selective a-Si PECVD applications in PV cell manufacturing. more...
Firing Furnace
Increased Ramp Rates and Belt Speed
Improvements made to the CF Series firing furnace platform by equipment provider Despatch are seen in the product’s maximum belt speed and heating and cooling rates. more...
Furnace
Improved Mass Yield
A 650/800-kg Crystallization Furnace System for multicrystalline silicon ingot production has been developed by Cyberstar, a company known for design and production of crystal growth equipment such as Czochralski, Bridgman, floating zone, liquid phase epitaxy, and mirror furnaces. Polysilicon and wafer production are key cost contributors to overall module manufacturing costs. more...
Coating
Reduced Environmental Burden
The TFS 1200 Thin Film System is designed for in-line buffer layer deposition on CIGS. It can coat 1200 × 1200-mm panels at a throughput of 12 panels per hour and 100 000 m2 per year, equivalent to a total of 12 MWp per year. more...
Solar Film Ultra Barrier
Transparency for Thin-film Modules
Solar Film is usable for flexible Copper Indium Gallium Selenide (CIGS), Cadmium Telluride (CdTe), and Organic Photovoltaic (OPV) solar modules. The highly transparent and durable film provides moisture vapour transmission rates (MVTR) of below 5 × 10–4 g m–2 day–1. more...
Line Scan Camera
Optimised Cell Inspection
Vitronic’s Vinspecsolar product line now includes a newly developed colour line scan camera system for combined colour and print inspections of cell front sides. more...
3 Tips To ImprovE Productivity
New materials enable improved productivity
The photovoltaic market is still growing – at an exponential rate. Simultaneously, worldwide competition is becoming ever tougher and module manufacturers are having to increase their overall efficiency. There are three ways of doing this: process automation; improvement of equipment availability; and reduction of material costs. An automated framing process with foamable sealants could be one component to reach this aims. more...
Picosecond Laser
Processing of Photoactive Material
Laser Trumpf offers powerful picosecond lasers of the Trumicro Series 5000 with a wavelength of 1 030 nm for structuring of molybdenum and 515 nm for processing of photoactive material and patterning of front contacts. more...
Silicone Adhesive
Eco-friendly Back Rail Bonding
Ottocoll S 640 is a special product from Otto Chemie for secure and long-term bonding of the back rail on the back of PV modules. The UV and weather stability of the bonded metal-on-glass bond has beebn established in numerous tests. more...