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One phrase sums up a key piece of Applied Materials' just-announced $330 million acquisition of privately held solar-tool manufacturer Baccini: automated ultra-thin-wafer handling. During Monday's conference call, Applied executives repeatedly referred to the Italian company's unparalleled capabilities in handling crystalline-silicon (c-Si) wafers less than 120 microns thick---some 30% below the industry thickness average. And the Baccini tools can process the thin slices with very low wafer-breakage rates, high yields, and solid efficiencies.

Combined with the leading-edge precision wafer-shaping and thinning technologies that AMAT picked up when it bought HCT Systems, Splinter and Co. will soon have a leg up on several critical elements necessary to reduce silicon usage (the most expensive part of the cell) and drive down overall costs, in order to help cell and module makers close in on the photovoltaic grand prize: per-watt grid parity.

Of course, thin-wafer handling capability is not the only attractive thing about the Baccini buy. Applied's execs noted that the company is a well-run and well-respected market leader in its segment, and has an installed base of more than 180 cell-manufacturing systems. The Italian firm would have made more than the reported $77 million or so in revenues in 2006 if there hadn't been constraints on the whole PV marketplace from an undersupply of polysilicon.

The addition of Baccini's metallization, edge isolation, test, and sort tools and expertise to AMAT's existing Aton PVD system will give the company a foothold in more than 50% of the c-Si cell production-line tool set (not including wafering gear), according to Splinter.



AMAT's Aton won't be so lonely now. (Photo courtesy of co.)

With Applied's in-house knowledge of metallization from its semiconductor business, there's an obvious eagerness to get to work figuring out how to synergize the two technology portfolios and improve on the integrated equipment line. Mark Pinto said they intend to use Baccini's automation technology and tool platforms---in addition to the high-throughput Aton---to create a minimum set of platforms and common components for the process and handling of key production steps. The Baccini gear brings some distinctive patterning and inspection capabilities, he noted.

Pinto explained that Applied has no strategic plans, at this point anyway, to create a complete turnkey production solution for c-Si, but rather will focus on those segments that could become "key enablers" for lower-cost manufacturing and end-products. But, he added, if the market valued such a turnkey integrated approach at some point, "we would consider it."

CFO George Davis said the Baccini deal should close in early 2008. When it does and the Italian outfit joins Charlie Gay's solar business group, Applied will have seriously bulked up its c-Si tool and technologies presence to go along with its already-potent thin-film PV offerings, putting it farther down the path to the kind of market gravitas in PV that it enjoys in its core semi and FPD equipment biz units.