news digest ♦ Solar Director Arvizu said.


In one area, the work builds on an MOU NREL signed two years ago with one of the German organisations, DLR, which involved developing standard test methods to quantitatively assess the reflectance and durability of solar mirrors used for concentrating solar power (CSP) systems. The MOU also called for round robin testing of commercial reflector samples and commercial parabolic trough receivers. In the new MOU, this work will be extended to understanding fundamental mechanisms for soiling rates on CSP mirrors.


Overall, the new MOU sets the basis for collaboration on basic and applied research issues to advance the next generation of solar cells for electricity and solar fuel production. It also addresses the improvement of the performance of concentrating solar thermal power systems.


Sono-Tek unveils deposition system for thin film solar cells


The system is ideal for applying buffer layers onto thin-film solar cells (CdS) and active layers such as CIGS and CdTe.


Sono-Tek Corporation based in Milton NY, USA plans to exhibit at SemiCon-Intersolar 2011 July 12-14 in San Francisco, CA in booth #2631 (South Hall).


The firm will display its ExactaCoat Tabletop Coating System along with working demonstrations of its patented precision ultrasonic spray nozzles.


designed for depositing uniform thin-film coatings for electronics and solar applications, including photoresist deposition and various thin-film solar cell coatings.


Particularly suitable for deep well topography coatings, the ExactaCoat is a full coating solution for R&D and low-volume production applications such as depositing photoresist onto wafers and MEMs. The system is also ideal for applying buffer layers onto thin-film solar cells (CdS), active layers such as (CIGS, CdTe), phosphoric doping, organic solar cell coatings, and fluxing of solder bus lines.


The ExactaCoat can be tailored with a number of customisable options including nozzle tilt, dual nozzle, camera, laser pointer, low oxygen atmosphere, and rod coating attachment. Additionally, the ExactaCoat can be configured with any of Sono-Tek’s precision ultrasonic atomising nozzles to produce highly uniform targeted thin-film coatings with very little overspray and exceptional non-clogging repeatable performance with significant savings in spray materials, maintenance and cleanup costs.


Alta Devices advances solar efficiency basics


The company says that extraction of light generated inside its single junction gallium arsenide based solar devices is critical.


When the scientists at Alta Devices began seeing their solar devices achieve efficiency results beyond what was previously thought possible, they realised that something scientifically important was going on. Their conclusion was that a great solar cell also emits light and collecting that light increases cell performance.


The ExactaCoat Tabletop Coating System is a fully enclosed programmable XYZ motion system


82 www.compoundsemiconductor.net July 2011


Previously, the efficiency of a solar device was understood to be based in part on the amount of external light that could be captured and retained, but this understanding didn’t account for the necessity to maximise the number of photons being generated within the device itself in order to achieve even higher efficiencies. This discovery has the potential to change expectations for the future of solar devices.


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