Applied Materials showcases large-area solar module production line
Christoph Hammerschmidt, EE Times Europe
Munich, Germany, Sept 9, 2007
Source: EETimes.com
http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=201803664
With a new integrated production line for large-area solar panels, Applied Materials claims it can reduce the costs of photovoltaic system installations by more than 20 percent. The SolarFab Thin Film Line production system is presented at the European Photovoltaic Solar Conference presently held in Milan, Italy. The SolarFab production system processes ultra-large glass substrates with dimensions of 2.2 by 2.6 meter. The resulting area of 5.72 square meters is four times the size of today’s largest thin film solar production panels, driving down costs and improving productivity, the company says. It can be configured with single or tandem junction technology. In one year, the system can produce an amount of solar modules that generate 75 megawatts of electrical power.
In the new production system, Applied uses its production-proven CVD and PVD processes to build the most critical layers of the modules and complements them with its PECVD glass substrate process system that already is used in the flat panel display industry. In addition to the production line, Applied also offers solar-module production specific services.