crystalline silicon

My unofficial 2010 Solar Predictions. Before we start, an author’s safe harbor statement: these predictions are necessarily forward-looking statements and, since the future can be temperamental, any prediction that does not exactly match can and will be graciously excused.

While most agree thin film photovoltaic (PV) technology will be a strong contender for future solar PV power generation, how to get there will require a methodical approach.

Recent news from Spectrolab Inc., asserts that a triple junction solar cell has achieved the world record in efficiency, converting 41.6% of sunlight into electricity. While tremendously impressive and promising, this technology is targeted for implementation in space. Our focus at Applied is on achieving breakthrough efficiencies for rooftop and utility photovoltaics applications.

Today in Xi’an, China Applied Materials opened its Solar Technology Center to a crowd of customers, local dignitaries and executives. We are proud to offer this new capability to our customers who will be able to visit the facility and see demonstrations as well as work on our latest equipment for thin film and crystalline silicon.

The ability for customers to come here and work on the equipment before they install it in their own factories is a unique time-to-market advantage that we think will help them rapidly implement our technology in their fabs around the world.

We caught up with Thomas Earnest, Global Market Development manager, DuPont Photovoltaic Solutions Enterprise at the European Photovoltalic Energy Conference, who provided some insights into DuPont's latest 'paste' technology that can be used with Applied Materials' advance multiple printing technology to increase the absolute efficiency of crystalline silicon photovoltaic solar cells. Read the press release to learn more about this announcement.