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Konica Minolta Sensing Americas has introduced the AK-300 PV Reference Cell, which is claimed to be the world’s first for dye-sensitized solar cells. The AK-300 was developed in conjunction with the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) and utilized Konica Minolta Sensing’s advanced optical filter technology. The reference cell has been designed using an optical filter mounted on a stable crystalline silicon solar cell rather than using traditional dye materials.
DuPont Microcircuit Materials (MCM) has introduced ‘DuPont Solamet PV416’ photovoltaic metallization paste used to raise the efficiency of thin film photovoltaic cells. The front-side silver paste material has the capability to be processed at temperatures below 140°C, and is designed to provide improved contact resistance, conductivity, adhesion and fine line resolution when printed on Transparent Conductive Oxides (TCOs). The new paste has been claimed to have boosted CIGS thin-film manufacturer, Midsummer AB’s cell efficiencies by as much as 0.5%.
ULVAC Technologies has introduced the UNECS-2000 spectroscopic ellipsometer for the high speed measurement of film thickness and optical constants of thin films in R&D applications.
Plansee High Performance Materials has added MoNa sputtering targets with high purity and a uniform and fine-grained microstructure to its product offering. Tests in cooperation with the Swiss EMPA institute have claimed the MoNa targets to be superior to alternative targets. Using Na-doped molybdenum layers, the efficiency of CIGS solar cells are said to have been significantly improved.
Oerlikon Solar’s 2nd generation ThinFab turnkey system is claimed to enable a CapEx reduction of more than 20%. The estimated price for the complete end-to-end production line is just US$1/Wp including engineering support and performance guarantees. The production line is claimed to produce high quality thin film silicon modules for cost of around $ 0.5/Wp (€ 0.35/Wp), a new record-low in the solar industry.
Tanaka Precious Metals has introduced what it claims is the world’s first conductive silver ink capable of forming electronic circuits using only hardening by ultraviolet (UV) light without the need for hardening by heating. A total of three silver inks using different types of resin and reaction initiator will be available and users can select the materials according to their manufacturing equipment and application.
Dr Schenk has developed a high-speed, non-destructive measurement of I-V curves of thin-film modules prior to the lamination step. The SolarMeasure I-V Curve Tracer evaluates the characteristics of every individual cell on the complete thin-film panel and detects local variations. These measurements can be taken in-line and the results serve as a GO/NO-GO test of whether a panel should be processed further.
The photovoltaic-TPA (Thermo Plastic Applicator) from Bystronic glass group is a machine designed for the encapsulation and sealing of thin-film photovoltaic modules. The machine is claimed to be the first machine of this type that is capable of working in 24-hour operation without any interruption.
The NSG Group is a leader in TCO (transparent conductive oxide) coated glass for thin-film photovoltaic applications. Its ‘TEC’ product range is a group of products, including a comprehensive range of TCO coated glass, optimized to suit a variety of thin-film photovoltaic technologies.
Manz AG has launched an XRF-inline quality system (IQ-XRF) as an extension of its Manz IQ Series. The fully automated x-ray fluorescence system has been designed to qualify various deposition process steps in photovoltaic production lines. Two of these XRF-systems were recently integrated into a photovoltaic line and show their ability to perform in 24/7 operations.
