Hightech solar cells for the World market

Edited by the Processingtalk editorial team Dec 31, 2007

Solar modules are constantly getting larger and more productive, while solar cells are becoming thinner and more efficient

Photovoltaic manufacturers are growing into international corporations with Germany having the largest density of PV manufacturers worldwide.

Manufacturing capacity grew by 50% in 2006.

In 2007 and 2008 another 15 PV factories will be completed.

Advanced solar technology is a growth story in Germany that is attracting worldwide attention.

A strong potential for further cost reduction is expected from thin layer photovoltaics.

In comparison to the classic, silicon wafer-based technology, this technology is characterised in particular by a smaller use of materials.

As a result, the worldwide solar-cell manufacturing capacity (silicon and thin-layer) will increase to 5 Gigawatts by the end of 2010 which is approximately ten times more than the capacity in Germany today.

The rapid growth of the solar industry resembles that of the semiconductor industry three decades ago.

Each of the top ten chip manufacturers is still larger than the total PV market.

Semiconductor equipment manufacturers and material suppliers help the IC industry to further reduce the cost per bit for circuits.

In the future, this potential will also strongly affect the costs per watt for solar-generated energy.

SUPPLYING PROFESSIONAL SOLUTIONS.

For the complex processes in the solar industry SGS offers well-grounded expertise, combining material and technical knowledge of the surface, coating and micro technologies with extensive knowledge of surface and thin-layer analytics.

With SGS, PV manufacturers benefit from the analytical know-how of the SGS semiconductor specialists in the product development, process control and quality assurance phases.

The range of SGS solar services includes:.

* Surface, layer and micro-range analytics.

* Evaluation of product quality and process cleanliness.

* Certification of product and management systems for photovoltaics.