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Precision industrial inkjet systems company imaging Technology international (iTi) has established an equipment manufacturing division to serve both the crystalline-silicon and thin-film solar cell sectors--iTi Solar.

"Harnessing solar power efficiently and at a reasonable cost requires significant breakthroughs in cost and performance versus traditional solar-cell manufacturing technologies," said Harry Zervos, technology analyst at research firm IDTechEx. "Inkjet fabrication is in an enviable position as it can be applied to today's technologies as well as to the solar technologies of tomorrow.

"With its advantage of efficiently applying materials onto a variety of flexible and rigid substrates," he continued, "we believe inkjet fabrication is one of the key enabling technologies for driving substantial solar-cell manufacturing cost and energy conversion efficiencies."

Ross Mills, iTI's CTO, noted that the Boulder, CO-based company "will be announcing a number of key partnerships with suppliers, researchers, and solar-cell manufacturers this coming year."

iTi Solar's inkjet materials deposition systems are being used for noncontact printing development and other solar research by several labs throughout the world, including the University of New South Wales in Australia and Printed Electronics in Cambridge, UK.