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Veeco Instruments has acquired Mill Lane Engineering, a privately held equipment supplier of web coating systems being used in thin-film copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) solar cell production. Veeco paid $11 million for Mill Lane. The company will be renamed Veeco Solar Equipment, Inc.
“This investment complements Veeco’s existing deposition technologies, expanding our product offerings for the emerging thin film solar market,” said John R. Peeler, Chief Executive Officer of Veeco. “While many of today’s solar panels are based on silicon technology, thin films offer low manufacturing costs and the promise of higher photovoltaic efficiencies.”
“Veeco is excited to combine Mill Lane’s web coating and vacuum engineering expertise with our existing thin film deposition technologies, such as ion beam and physical vapor deposition and thermal sources, to address the equipment needs of thin film solar manufacturers,” commented Piero Sferlazzo, Ph.D., Senior Vice President of Veeco. Dr. Sferlazzo will manage Veeco Solar Equipment.
Mill Lane Engineering has currently secured a multi-system order for web coating systems from a CIGS manufacturer. Veeco expects that Mill Lane will add approximately $10-15 million in second half 2008 revenues, but is not expected to have a material impact on its earnings, the company said.
