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Thin Film

Opinion

Top Stories 2008 - Thin Film – orders, gigawatts and growth

29 December 2008

SunFabIt was an interesting year for the thin-film industry, with Applied Materials’ first ‘SunFab’ turnkey 5.7m2 glass substrate (amorphous Si) thin-film modules. Several companies have jumped on this technology, one of the most prominent of which was Best Solar, who we saw place a $1.9 billion order for the company’s SunFab lines in March.

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News

CIGS thin-film PV company HelioVolt lays off small number of workers, report says

07 January 2009

heliovoltThe Austin-American Statesman reports that HelioVolt has enacted "a 'modest' reduction in its workforce," cutting about 15 jobs. The copper-indium-gallium-(di)selenide thin-film PV company "made the cuts because of a weak economy and because the company is shifting away from pure research and toward becoming a manufacturer of solar power products," according to the story.

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Taiwan’s AU Optronics to enter thin film solar market

02 January 2009

AU Optronics to enter thin film solar market One of the worlds largest manufacturers of thin film transistor liquid crystal display panels (TFT-LCD), Taiwan based AU Optronics Corp has announced plans to start an a-Si thin film pilot line using what it describes as a ‘third generation’ technology with conversion efficiencies in the 10% range, starting in 2009.

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Green Energy Technology starts production on Gen 8.5 a-Si thin-film solar PV line

29 December 2008

Green Energy Technology starts 'SunFab' productionGreen Energy Technology has become the latest company--and the first in Taiwan--employing Applied Materials' SunFab amorphous-silicon thin-film PV module turnkey manufacturing line technology to achieve volume production status. The Taiwanese firm said it will reach an annualized capacity of 30 MW on its Generation 8.5 large-area glass line in the first quarter of 2009, and then ramp to 50 MW by the fourth quarter.

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Top Stories 2008 - Thin Film – orders, gigawatts and growth

29 December 2008

SunFabIt was an interesting year for the thin-film industry, with Applied Materials’ first ‘SunFab’ turnkey 5.7m2 glass substrate (amorphous Si) thin-film modules. Several companies have jumped on this technology, one of the most prominent of which was Best Solar, who we saw place a $1.9 billion order for the company’s SunFab lines in March.

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Kaneka plans 1GW a-Si thin film production ramp by 2015

22 December 2008

Kaneka thin film plant in Toyooka, Hyogo Prefecture, JapanJapan’s Kaneka Corporation has been reported by the Nikkei business daily to be investing approximately US$1.1 billion in expanding its a-Si thin film production through 2015 to reach capacity of approximately 1GW. As part of the production ramp, a new plant could be built in Belgium by 2011 at a cost of approximately US$224 million, though an exact location had not been finalized according to the report.

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Auria Solar begins pilot production using Oerlikon’s micromorph technology

17 December 2008

Oerlikon SolarTaiwan-based Auria Solar has become the first company in Asia to commence production of thin-film silicon solar modules using Oerlikon Solar’s Micromorph technology. Auria has already produced its first thin-film module using the technology, less than four months after having the equipment delivered. Oerlikon’s Micromorph technology will aid in the company’s reaching its target of annual production of 500MWp by 2012.

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Featured Articles

First Edition: Plasma texturing and porous Si mirrors boost thin-film Si solar efficiency

17 October 2008 | Premium Content

Edition 1By Hanne Degans, Izabela Kuzma, Guy Beaucarne & J. Poortmans, IMEC, Belgium

ABSTRACT
Thin-film silicon solar cells are a potentially low-cost alternative to solar cells based on bulk silicon that are commonly used in the industry at the present time. However, a major drawback of the current epitaxial semi-industrial screenprinted cells is that they only achieve an efficiency of about 11-12%. By upgrading their efficiency, this kind of solar cell would become more attractive to the photovoltaic industry. The optimization of the front surface texture by dry texturing based on a fluorine plasma and the introduction of an intermediate porous silicon reflector at the epi/ubstrate interface (multiple Bragg reflector) has proven to result in an efficiency boost up to about 14%.

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First Edition: Empowering thin-film cells: how DC and RF generators impact high-quality coatings

16 October 2008

Edition 1By Dirk Ochs, HÜTTINGER Elektronik GmbH + Co KG, Freiburg, Germany

ABSTRACT
The rapidly-growing photovoltaic market has placed a strong demand on manufacturers to decrease solar cell production costs. For thin-film solar cells, this can be achieved by increasing substrate sizes to achieve a better productivity and by adding more advanced layer stack systems to enhance the solar cell’s efficiency. Nearly all required layers of the prominent thin-film-based solar cell types (a-Si/μc-Si, CdTe and CI(G)S) can be deposited by using plasma processes. On the one hand, plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) is used for the deposition of a-Si and μc-Si layers. On the other hand, magnetron sputtering is used for coating with transparent conductive oxides as ITO (indium tin oxide) and ZAO (aluminium-doped zinc oxide), metallic back contact layers such as Ti, Al and Mo, or components of the compound semiconductor layers such as Cu and In. Magnetron sputter processes use direct current (DC) or pulsed DC, whereas radio frequency (RF) power is used for PECVD processes. Of utmost importance to get a reliable, high-efficiency solar cell is a good uniformity of the deposited layers and the need for the layer to be defect-free. Defects such as particles and splashes are created inside the plasma when an unwanted local discharge – a so-called arc – occurs. This arc can be eliminated by switching off the power supply. The faster this is done, and the less energy that is delivered into the arc, the smaller and more insignificant the defect creation will be. For this reason, as well as for precise control of electrical power, advanced, fast-reacting arc management is very important to attain high-quality solar cell coatings.

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Product Briefings

New Product: Bekaert offers turnkey solution for rotating cylindrical magnetron applications

07 January 2009

Bekaert offers turnkey solution for rotating cylindrical magnetron applicationsProduct Briefing Outline: Bekaert Advanced Coatings, a total solution provider for rotatable sputter technology, has developed a series of flexible and high performing sputter hardware components for rotating cylindrical magnetron applications.  With these key components a customized and complete sputter solution can be worked out in close collaboration with the customer.  Whether it concerns an existing coater in an upgrade/rebuild project or a new coater in a green field project, maximum flexibility can be offered for building in all critical components needed for sustaining a controlled process to realize high end products.

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Top 5 new product reviews of 2008

29 December 2008

Sputtering MaterialsIn 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.

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