Current Entries for Best technical product for thin-film module manufacturing

ChemGuard refill technology (CG1000) has been developed by Air Products to substantially reduce c-Si cell manufacturing costs.  The system eliminates the need to replace empty chemical (POCl3) containers residing inside the diffusion furnaces, which use this chemical to dope the Si wafer with N-type material.

With this innovation the Oerlikon Solar KAI 1200 PECVD system can deposit amorphous and microcrystalline absorber layers faster and at better quality resulting in a significant reduction of the production cost of silicon thin-film solar modules.

LSS1200 laser scribing system for the high precision patterning of thin-film PV modules.

TCO 1200 Production Reactor deposits a novel and adjustable Transparent Conductive Oxide (TCO) film for the fabrication of Thin Film Photovoltaic Modules. The TCO 1200 utilizes technology originally from the Semiconductor Industry and is based on Low Pressure Chemical Vapor Deposition (LPCVD) at very low temperature. The TCO 1200 allows adjustment of film morphology and conductivity to match ideal parameters for the PV Absorber stack while utilizing an innovative ZnOx film composition with superior light trapping v standard SnOx films.

Veeco manufactures equipment that is used by solar cell manufacturers to produce high-efficient, low-cost thin film CIGS (copper indium gallium (di)selenide) solar panels in mass production.  Veeco’s PV-Series™ Thermal Deposition Sources are capable of depositing Cu, In, Ga and Se across substrates up to 1.2m wide that enables high volume manufacturing of thin film solar modules.
Veeco is the only manufacturer of production deposition thermal sources to coat glass or flexible sheets to produce low cost CIGS solar panels on flexible or rigid substrates as shown in the figure below.

It is about the lamination of glass-glass modules (thin film modules) onto several openings (done in the 3-step process). The line is called Ypsator©.

In the ROBO FRAME system, the robot grips the prepared laminate on the glass side and guides it precisely into the prepared frame parts. In a sequence of four steps, the long frame parts are joined first, then the short frame parts into which the corner connectors have already been inserted automatically. Addi-tional clamps and a level support plate ensure that the forces applied to the laminate during assembly of the frame parts are kept to a minimum, thereby preventing deformation.

For decades, the solar industry has remained a niche solution to satisfying global electrical requirements -around 0.1% - primarily due to cost. Cost, in comparison to conventional electricity provided to the grid, has been the limiting factor for the growth of this industry. The Applied Materials SunFab™ Line offers customers a proven production solution to manufacture photovoltaic modules, profitably, at the lowest cost per watt thereby providing electricity at prices comparable to traditional sources of energy. By manufacturing on substrate sizes up to 5.7m2 , the SunFab Line offers an innovative way to lower production costs and installation costs.

Powerline SL PV is a laser system, especially designed for highest quality laser scribing processes in the thin-film module manufacturing industry.