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Product Briefings > Cell Processing
Top 5 new product reviews of 2008
In our first full year online, we have steadily increased the number of new products we have reviewed and also seen the new products section gain increasingly greater traffic levels throughout the year. Looking through the traffic numbers, we have identified the Top 5 most popular reviews of new products for your enjoyment.
New Product: Newport’s PV ‘IsoStation’ designed to reduce reflected light impact
Product Briefing Outline: Newport Corporation has introduced the latest addition to its industry-leading portfolio of Photovoltaic development solutions – the PV ‘IsoStation’ Series Workstations. Newport’s PV IsoStation Workstation is a, 36”x 60” ergonomic workstation specifically designed for PV test and development applications. It features integrated storage and shelving for instruments, solar simulators and other devices and a specially treated worksurface that reduces light reflectivity by a factor of six compared to typical optical table surfaces. The PV IsoStation workstation is ideal for a wide range of photovoltaic applications.
New Product: New solar inks from Five Star Technologies offer 80-100 micron grid lines
Product Briefing Outline: Five Star Technologies has introduced the ‘ElectroSperse’ S-series solar inks for use in crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells. Five Star’s S-500 series, silver-based conductive inks, will allow solar cell makers to lay out front side grid lines as narrow as 80-100 microns---much thinner than the 120-175-micron width of conventional contacts. The company’s S-600 products--low-bow, lead-free, aluminum-based pastes, intended for back surface field layers--have been designed to co-fire at temperatures compatible with the S-500 silver inks and thus simplify the latter’s adoption.
New Product: AMB’s WWS 3000+ wafer handler reduces wafer breakage in high-throughput applications
Product Briefing Outline: AMB Apparate + Maschinenbau GmbH is launching the Wet Wafer Separator 3000+, a new high-throughput wafer handling system designed for the thinnest 150 micron wafers in production through to 300 micron-thick wafers. The WWS 3000+ is focused on water bath system integration requirements where emphasis is placed on wafers being handled safely and reliably by gentle separation of the wafers from the stack in the water bath with reduced breakage rates without an impact on high throughput.
New Product: KLA-Tencor’s new P-6 surface profiler handles 2D and 3D surface analysis
Product Briefing Outline: KLA-Tencor has unveiled its latest stylus surface profiling system, the ‘P-6,’ offering a unique set of advanced features for scientific research and production environments, such as photovoltaic solar cell manufacturing. The P-6 system benefits from measurement technologies developed on advanced semiconductor profiler systems, but in a smaller, more economical bench top design for samples up to 150mm. The P-6 profiler has been qualified at BP Solar, a major photovoltaic manufacturer.
New Product: MTI Instruments launches its PV1000 thickness measurement system
Product Briefing Outline: MTI Instruments has introduced the PV1000, a thickness measurement system for the solar cell production industry. PV1000 can be incorporated into solar cell production lines to help them quickly determine quality control issues, saving manufacturers time and money.
New Product: DuPont targets ‘Kalrez’ perfluoroelastomer parts to wafer & thin film equipment
Product Briefing Outline: DuPont Performance Elastomers (DPE) has introduced ‘Kalrez’ perfluoroelastomer parts specifically designed for the photovoltaic market for both wafer-based and thin film PV processes, Kalrez parts demonstrate broad chemical compatibility and excellent thermal stability. Kalrez parts are used to improve sealing reliability in critical PV wafer processing equipment that uses plasma, high heat and aggressive chemicals.
Read more >>New Product: SierraTherm’s new APCVD system offers 660mm deposition width
Product Briefing Outline: SierraTherm Production Furnaces has introduced its new 5500 Series APCVD system with a 660mm deposition width. This tool is capable of depositing a combination of up to five layers of doped (BSG, PSG) and undoped SiO2 films in a single pass. Its throughput capacity of 1875 WPH for 156mm wafers or 2300 WPH of 125mm wafers make it compatible with today’s high production cell lines. Films with thicknesses of up to 300nm can be deposited at this process speed.
Read more >>New Product: 1,200wph solar-cell metallization platform from DEK
Product Briefing Outline: DEK has introduced the PVP1200 screen printer capable of 1,200 wafers-per-hour (WPH) throughput and offering advanced automated features for high speed and repeatability. The PVP1200 is built using expertise gained from DEK’s established high-accuracy screen printing platforms, proven in surface-mount assembly and chip-scale semiconductor packaging.
Read more >>New Product: Ultrasonic Systems PV360 cell coating system offer uniform spraying
Product Briefing Outline: Ultrasonic Systems, Inc (USI) has introduced the PV360, which is a production coating system for photovoltaic wafers. The system features USI’s proprietary nozzle-less spray technology, which provides a more uniform, thinner coating application than conventional spray technology.
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