Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates Receives Department of Energy Grant to Develop Advanced Solar Cell Processing Technolo
February 09 2011 - 9:00AM
Marketwired
Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates, Inc. ("Varian") (NASDAQ:
VSEA) has recently secured a $4.8 million dollar grant from the
Department of Energy under the Obama administration's "SunShot"
program to develop U.S. solar technologies. The goal of this
project is to reduce the cost of manufacturing interdigitated back
contact cells -- the most efficient silicon solar cells on the
market.
Traditional solar cells have metal collectors on the front
surface which lower their efficiency by blocking sunlight.
Interdigitated Backside Contact (IBC) solar cells use metallic
conductors on the back of the cell to collect the electricity
generated by sunlight, which strikes the fully exposed front side
of the cell.
IBC solar cells create more power per unit area because of their
higher efficiency. These higher efficiency cells lower the module
cost and the balance of system costs for the same power
requirement. Also, higher efficiency cells increase the amount of
power that can be generated within a fixed footprint, critical for
applications where space is limited such as rooftops. Using
traditional manufacturing processes, IBC cells are more expensive
to manufacture. The higher cost of IBC cells, using traditional
manufacturing processes, has slowed their implementation. Varian's
proposed ion implant process enables cell makers to significantly
reduce the cost of IBC cell manufacturing by reducing the number of
process steps by 30% to 40%. This ion implant process will also
reduce manufacturing variability, cell handling, cell breakage and
manufacturing cycle time while increasing yield. IBC solar cells
manufactured with ion implant will have much higher efficiencies
and will cost per watt than today's front-side contact
technology.
Dr. Paul Sullivan, Varian's Vice President of Business
Development, stated, "We are pleased to be the recipient of this
SunShot grant and to receive the only award focused on silicon cell
technology and manufacturing. This award will support our
development of technology to enable the manufacture of advanced
high efficiency IBC cell structures with dramatically simplified
processes that will ultimately enable the lowest manufacturing
costs of solar panels."
Varian has pioneered the use of ion implant in cell manufacture.
Solar revenues for 2011 are currently projected to be in the $20-30
million dollar range with strong upside potential. As has been
reported this week, Varian's lead customer, Georgia-based Suniva,
has manufactured 19% efficiency solar cells using implant.
Varian will have a booth at the upcoming 5th annual SNEC solar
tradeshow in Shanghai, China. In conjunction with SNEC, Varian will
present its third vTech Solar technical seminar at the Kerry Pudong
Hotel in Shanghai.
About Varian Semiconductor Varian
Semiconductor Equipment Associates is the leading supplier of ion
implant equipment to semiconductor manufacturers, enabling them to
pack more, higher performing transistors into computer chips that
are revolutionizing the electronics industry. Varian
Semiconductor's products are used by chip manufacturers worldwide
to produce high-performance semiconductor devices. Customers have
made Varian Semiconductor the market leader in ion implant because
of its architecturally superior products that lower their costs and
improve their productivity. Varian Semiconductor operates globally
and is headquartered in Gloucester, Massachusetts. More information
can be found on Varian Semiconductor's web site at
www.vsea.com.
Contacts: Bob Halliday Executive Vice President and Chief
Financial Officer 978.282.7597 or Tom Baker Vice President, Finance
978.282.2301
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