Wafers
Vitronic Camera for PV Cell Inspection
18 January 2011POSTED IN New Products
Vitronic is exhibiting its new color line-scan camera for photovoltaic cell inspection at Shanghai's SNEC PV Power Expo.
ReneSola Achieves 17.5% Solar Cell Efficiency with New Wafer
14 January 2011POSTED IN Applications News
ReneSola Ltd., a manufacturer of solar wafers and provider of solar modules, today announced that it has developed a new multicrystalline wafer, the Virtus Wafer, which improves solar cell efficiency.
Evergreen Solar Closing Plant in Massachusetts
12 January 2011POSTED IN Business News
Evergreen Solar, Inc. announced its intent to shut down operations at its Devens manufacturing facility by the end of the first quarter of 2011, laying off approximately 800 workers.
Trina Solar, GCL-Poly Sign Wafer and Polysilicon Supply Agreement
11 January 2011POSTED IN Business News
Trina Solar Limited announced today through its subsidiary, Changzhou Trina Solar Energy Co. Ltd., that it has signed a supplemental long-term wafer and polysilicon product supply agreement with GCL (Changzhou) Solar Energy Technology Company Limited, a subsidiary of GCL-Poly Energy Holdings Limited (GCL-Poly).
Nexolon Gives GT Solar First DSS650 Order
07 January 2011POSTED IN Business News
GT Solar International, Inc. today announced that it has received the first order for its new DSS650 multicrystalline ingot growth system from Korea-based photovoltaic (PV) manufacturer Nexolon Company, Ltd.
LDK Solar Reaches 3.0 GW Wafer Production Capacity
28 December 2010POSTED IN Business News
LDK Solar Co., Ltd., a leading manufacturer of multicrystalline solar wafers and PV products, today announced that the Company reached the milestone of 3.0 gigawatts (GW) annualized capacity at its wafer plants.
Solarfun Changes Name to Hanwha Solar One
21 December 2010POSTED IN Business News
Solarfun Power Holdings Co., Ltd., a vertically integrated manufacturer of silicon ingots, wafers and photovoltaic (PV) cells and modules in China, today announced that its Board of Directors has approved its name change to Hanwha Solar One.
Collaboration for Improved Solar Cell Efficiency
20 December 2010POSTED IN Business News
Today, tei Solutions, a Japanese integrated foundry providing 100 millimeter (mm) and 300mm research and development (R&D) services, announced a collaboration with Mears Technologies, a US-based emerging materials technology company, to explore the use of the Mears Silicon Technology (MST) in the development and production of solar cells. Mears will utilize tei’s 100mm Super Clean Fab to produce cells for testing in January 2011.
Emerging Markets Likely to Drive Growth in Semiconductors
17 December 2010POSTED IN Business News
As a whole, the semiconductor equipment and materials industry has posted significant gains in 2010. Revenues have surged, thanks in part to mobile devices, tablet computers and the emerging solar market.
Semiconductor Foundry Orders Nanometrics’ UniFire for TSV Metrology
16 December 2010POSTED IN Applications News
Nanometrics Inc. today announced that a leading semiconductor foundry has ordered a UniFire 7900 metrology system for advanced three-dimensional (3D), wafer-scale packaging process control.
FireWire Cameras in Solar Cell Inspection
13 December 2010POSTED IN Applications News
A group of new industrial control, vision systems, and factory automation products introduced in 2010 demonstrate the role FireWire (IEEE 1394) has assumed in market sectors such as solar cell wafer inspection.
CyberOptics, DEK Partner in Solar Wafer Printing
07 December 2010POSTED IN Applications News
CyberOptics Corporation today announced that its CWA30 Solar Wafer Alignment Camera, developed in conjunction with DEK Solar, a provider of screen-printing equipment and processes for various industries including solar cell manufacturing, will be deployed on DEK’s new Eclipse metallization line.
Getting More Charge from Solar: The challenges of selective emitter
07 December 2010POSTED IN Applications Features
Solar cells come with an intrinsic deficiency. The electrons activated by blue light turn into charge carriers, but then even before they get out to the silver conductor grids, they recombine with at the wafer’s surface, generating heat rather than current.
ACI ecoCarrier Sees 30% Sales Increase Over 2009
01 December 2010POSTED IN New Products
Day4 Energy announces that its subsidiary, ACI ecoTec GmbH (ACI), a production automation and process equipment supplier for the photovoltaic (PV) industry, is on target to deliver more than 5000 of its ecoCarriers in 2010, a 30% increase over the same 12-month period in 2009.
The World's Largest Solar-Powered Boat Comes to Miami
17 November 2010POSTED IN Applications News
Having started its journey in Monaco in late September 2010, the world's largest solar-powered boat, the Turanor PlanetSolar, a catamaran measuring close to 31 meters in length and 15¼ meters in width, is scheduled to arrive at the Miami Beach Marina, slip A19, in Miami, Florida on Sunday, 28 November 2010 at around 12:00 PM, depending on the weather and the seas.
Suntech Increases Capacity
17 November 2010POSTED IN Business News
Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. announced that it is in the process of acquiring 375MW of ingot and wafer slicing capacity in China.
SUSS MicroTec and Fraunhofer IST Introduce New Technology for Selective Surface Treatment
11 November 2010POSTED IN Applications News
SUSS MicroTec a global supplier of equipment and process solutions for the semiconductor industry and related markets, and Fraunhofer for Surface Engineering and Thin Films IST today announced the launch of SELECT, a technology for bond aligner and mask aligner that selectively activates parts of wafer surfaces through plasma.
GT Solar’s 2000th DSS Crystalline Growth Furnace Ships
09 November 2010POSTED IN Applications News
GT Solar International, Inc. today announced that it has shipped its 2000th directional solidification system (DSS) crystalline ingot growth furnace, a milestone for the company, to Green Energy Technology (GET), as part of recent orders totaling $59 million for GT Solar’s DSS450HP ingot growth furnaces.
India and US Agreements Affecting Solar Energy
08 November 2010POSTED IN Politics and Policy News
On President Barack Obama's first official visit to India, a Clean Energy and Climate Change Initiative was agreed upon, along with a joint clean energy research and development (R&D) center in New Delhi, India and an India-US Energy Cooperation Program.
GT Solar Provides Equipment for Polysilicon Facility in India
05 November 2010POSTED IN Business News
GT Solar International, Inc. announced that it has received an order for its polysilicon production technology and related engineering services to be used in India's first large-scale commercial polysilicon production facility.
