TitleShow Report: Photon 2009
Photon surprises many
and offers a glimmer of hope
Photon’s 4th PV Technology Show Europe was held March 4-6, 2009 in Munich
It’s true to say that most people attended vide thermal uniformity. It can process five panel manufacturing.
the Photon Conference and Exhibition in wafers across and is quartz lined, to limit Dunmore exhibited their TPT polyester
Munich recently with low expectations. A contamination. The cleaner operating envi- based back-sheet. The backsheet has been
troubled economy and lower oil prices had ronment protects the heating elements from lifetime tested to operate at 110˚C in 100%
quieted the rising tide of enthusiasm for the phosphorous. The system is available as relative humidity and is hydrolysis resistant.
solar energy powered projects. However, Meridian 700, 900, 1200 and 1500, which It is also UV and dampheat resistant to
the exhibition more than exceeded most reflects the wafer throughput per hour. meet IEC61215.
visitors’ expectations, with some customers BTU also demonstrated the TRITAN Manz Automation had one of the busi-
placing major orders at the show. There was metallization system, a second generation, est booths at the show. Their fully automat-
a lot to see in terms of new manufacturing triple belt system (20” wide) with a belt ed line is capable of producing 3,600 wafers
equipment, spread over two halls at the speed of 250 inches per minute. It com- per hour and has a variety of inspection
Munich Neue Messe. Here is a summary of prises three zones: a dryer to evaporate the options that can be added to the system, in-
the key products we found: solvents from the printer paste, a firing unit cluding thickness measurement and coating
MECO Solar introduced the latest of that burns out the organic binders in the resistance measurement systems.
their wet processing/plating lines that metal- paste and raises the wafer temperature up to RUV Systems offered a novel micro-
izes the electrodes on crystalline wafers. 800˚C at a rate of 150˚C per second. The crack detection system using ultrasonic
The process allows the cell manufacturers system is fitted with a lower power bottom frequencies. A transducer sends a signal
to print a thin layer of silver, then build up heater to prevent wafer warpage. through the wafer and detects and illustrates
layers of Ag or Ni/Cu/Sn. QS Solar are pushing ahead with the resonance footprint on a graph that
Bystronic launched an impressive auto- ambitious plans to establish themselves as instantly shows a cracked wafer. The manu-
matic system for depositing a TPS (thermal a major supplier of thin-film modules. The facturers claim this system is more reliable
plastic spacer) on glass. The TPS can encap- Chinese company is on course to produce than AOI and has a 95% detection rate.
sulate without the need for lamination. The 40 MW in 2009 and has plans to install The system operates at line speed.
roller laminator can dispense TPS multilayer three more lines at its Shanghai facility in There were many other new products we
patterns in any configuration up to a width 2010. A second factory is planned with a US found at the Photon Show, many of which,
of 18 mm. The maximum panel size is 3.2 x technology partner to install 16 lines with a unfortunately, we are not allowed to report
6 metres and the cycle time is 25-45 seconds. total output of 500 MW. on. However, follow Global Solar Technol-
Essemsolar are new entrants to the solar Lesker is an established manufacturer ogy closely and you can be assured we will
manufacturing industry with their SP900S of vacuum chambers, sputtering targets and report on them first they are made public.
screen printer. It can be provided in an turnkey systems for substrate evaporation.
inline or batch configuration and is ideal The company introduced a range of new —Trevor Galbraith.
for small- to medium-lot sizes. The printer rotary feedthroughs using ferro-magnetic
head has two gauges to regulate the precise fluid rotary drives. The valve can transfer
pressure on the squeegee. It is fitted with high torque and high speed bridges 1,000
a two-camera look-up, look-down system. mbar to 10-6. Lesker also demonstrated a
The SP900S can align to fudicials or lines new protection gate that shuts off back-flow
and accommodate wafers up to 210 mm. of particles and gases, preventing pump
Throughput is 100-300 wafers per hour, and failures.
the system is priced around €80K. Eurotron were showing their newly-pat-
BTU launched the Meridian inline dif- ented 150 MW line. The panels comprise
fusion system and a phosphorous coater, de- a layer of copper conductive foil, followed
veloped in partnership with USI. The coater by an AVA layer, which is punched through
uses a 45 MHz transducer to atomize the to a back contact cell. A further AVA layer
phosphoric acid as it coats the wafers with a is added, then glass. Eurotron claim the
mixture of 85% acid to 15% DI water. The benefits are higher efficiency with a yield
system comprises three chambers: bottom rate of > 99%, lower costs and reduced cell
side coating, top side coating and a dryer handling. The line occupies a 50 metre
unit. The system is not affected by humidity, footprint.
and the speed and ultrasonic flow rate can Nordson displayed a number of semi-
be controlled. automatic and fully automatic dispensing
The diffusion furnace is fitted with systems, with and without loaders and
electric resistance-wound elements to pro- unloaders, for handling adhesives used in
30 – Global Solar Technology – March/April 2009 www.globalsolartechnology.com
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