Oerlikon Solar

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Press releases

• Enabling highest thin film silicon efficiency on the market
• Higher efficiency leads to project cost savings
• Second renowned industry award for Oerlikon Solar in 2009

EU PVSEC Hamburg (Germany), 23 September 2009. - Oerlikon Solar, the
world's leading supplier of thin film silicon photovoltaic (PV) process and
production equipment and end-to-end manufacturing lines, has been named
winner of the 2009 Solar Industry Award, presented at the EU PVSEC 2009
Conference in Hamburg. The jury selected Oerlikon Solar's TCO 1200 system
as winner of the "Thin Film Innovation Award".

"With this award, the mass production maturity of Oerlikon Solar's TCO
technology has been recognized. We are very proud of this recognition of
Oerlikon Solar's technology and market leadership," said Jeannine Sargent,
CEO of Oerlikon Solar. "The award reflects our intensive research and
development in thin film PV and our clear dedication to making solar power
economically viable."

The Oerlikon Solar TCO 1200 is a fully automated, high volume, low pressure
chemical vapour deposition (LPCVD) system for the deposition of a novel and
adjustable transparent conductive oxide (TCO) film. The TCO 1200 process
technology allows adjustment of film morphology and conductivity to match ideal
parameters for the PV absorber stack while utilizing an innovative zinc oxide film
composition. The zinc oxide composition offers superior light trapping compared to
prior TCO solutions. The TCO 1200 LPCVD manufacturing system deposits a
single layer that optimizes the tandem absorber stack with very high haze light
scattering, very low sheet resistance and excellent transmission characteristics.
Also, the low temperature nature of the deposition allows the same TCO layer to
be used successfully for the TCO back contact, again increasing light trapping
within the cell.

Oerlikon Solar is the number one supplier of end-to-end production lines according
to VLSI Research. With 10 customers representing over 450 MWp of installed
production capacity, the TCO 1200 systems have become the de facto industry
standard for the production of thin film silicon solar modules.

Enabling Next Generation Thin Film PV Cells
To develop next generation thin film silicon PV cells, light trapping by advanced
TCO is essential. The new LPCVD process from Oerlikon Solar has demonstrated
higher light-trapping abilities compared to competing technologies. This is
especially important for Micromorph® solar cells where the absorber layers are
engineered to be as thin as possible while keeping the efficiency high. In addition,
amorphous silicon single junction cells have an enhanced susceptibility to
Staebler-Wronski degradation. Efficient light management allows a reduction in
layer thickness, fundamental for high stabilized module performance.

Direct Cost Saving
Over 960,000 panels have been produced using TCO 1200 systems from Oerlikon
Solar for front and back contacts. The additional 0.5 percent efficiency gained
translates into higher power-per-module and also in a significant economic benefit.
For example, 100-watt modules become 105-watt modules, which offer the solar
farm developer a direct module savings of 5 percent. In a 30 megawatt solar farm
with 300,000 modules, this means saving 15,000 installed panels or about
$ 3 million.

"Just one more milestone in Oerlikon Solar's mission to make Solar Power
economically viable."

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