Veeco Instruments Inc. announced at the end of April 2009 the introduction of the FastLine platform of Glass Coating Systems, leveraging its PV-Series Thermal Deposition Sources. Veeco“s new FastLine…
Veeco Instruments Inc. announced at the end of April 2009 the introduction of the FastLine platform of Glass Coating Systems, leveraging its PV-Series Thermal Deposition Sources. Veeco“s new FastLine platform is designed for high throughput, low cost of ownership production of CIGS (copper, indium, gallium and selenium) solar cells. Piero Sferlazzo, Ph.D., senior vice president of Veeco“s Solar Equipment business, commented, Veeco is now the only equipment company offering integrated production-scale solutions for CIGS manufacturing on glass using thermal evaporation sources for the CIGS/absorber layer. Customers can now choose Veeco to provide comprehensive, fully integrated equipment to manufacture CIGS solar cells, whether they choose to use our FastLine systems for glass or our FastFlex systems for flexible substrates. Compared to other deposition methods, thermal evaporation produces the highest efficiency thin film solar cells and has the lowest materials costs with high material utilization decreasing manufacturing cost per watt. Veeco“s FastLine systems can process up to 30 1.1m x 1.4m glass panels/hour. Moreover, thanks to its modular architecture, the system enables clients to scale output according to their needs.