| Type | Segment of OC Oerlikon AG |
|---|---|
| Industry | industrial Solar High Tech |
| Founded | 2008 |
| Headquarters | Truebbach, St. Gallen, Switzerland |
| Key people | Helmut Frankenberger, CEO |
| Products | End-to-end thin-film silicon solar solutions |
| Employees | 700+ (2008) |
| Website | www.oerlikon.com/solar |
Oerlikon Solar is a manufacturer of thin-film silicon solar modules.
Oerlikon Solar has 12 factories in production in seven countries, almost 3 million modules produced and 450 MW of installed capacity worldwide on the fast-growing thin film silicon PV market.
Oerlikon Solar has Micromorph patents dating back to 1993, was the first to integrate the high-efficiency Transparent Conductive Oxide (TCO) layer, and the first to commercialize the high-efficiency Micromorph process and support the majority of its customers in migrating to it.
Oerlikon Solar is headquartered in Switzerland, has about 700 employees in 13 locations worldwide, a number of factories in production around the globe and maintains sales and service centers in the USA, Europe, China, Taiwan, Korea, Singapore and Japan.
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Oerlikon provides thin film silicon PV module production equipment, end-to-end fabrication lines, process technology and services. Their products enable automated mass production of large-area, thin-film silicon solar modules.
Oerlikon Solar is currently offering equipment that produce PV panels that are 1.4 square meters in size, have a module efficiency of more than 8.7%, and an expected module production cost of approximately $1/Watt (based on European model). It is notable that Oerlikon Solar has already doubled the annual output of its standard manufacturing line and reduced the expected cost of ownership by over 30% over the past two years. By the end of 2010, Oerlikon Solar expects that further process improvements for this standard line will result in an expected cost of ownership of just € 0.50/Watt (based on European model). These improvements will put Oerlikon Solar customers in a position to offer panels at a price that will enable solar energy to be sold at prices that are comparable with retail electricity rates in regions like Southern Europe or California by 2012.
Companies like Oerlikon, Ulvac, Anwell Technologies or Applied Materials integrate the production technologies and processes necessary for all critical mass production steps, enabling it to provide complete, end-to-end solar factories. Oerlikon Solar claims being the world’s only supplier of proven, fully automated, end-to-end solutions encompassing metrology and the entire production process — from glass cleaning to testing of the finished modules.
Oerlikon Solars fully automated FAB 1200 is the latest generation in thin-film solar module manufacturing lines, and includes three key components:
In addition, Oerlikon Solar says it is the only supplier of transparent conductive oxide (TCO) technology with haze on demand. This proprietary effect enables the trapping of light in the photovoltaic thin-film, maximizing conversion efficiency. These unique capabilities enhance the performance of the solar modules and directly reduce the cost-per-watt peak.
The company’s 1.4 m2 substrates are currently the leading format for equipping silicon thin-film solar-module production facilities, and have become the industry standard through numerous installations. Not only are they the only substrates available for wide-scale implementation today, but also this format has other advantages over larger substrates including higher efficiency, lower cost of ownership per watt, lower shipment costs, and ease of installation.
This innovative amorphous/microcrystalline design enables superior module performance by capturing up to 50% more sunlight than conventional thin film silicon PV modules. The micromorph stacked-cell concept was pioneered and patented at the Institute Microtechnique (IMT) of the Neuchâtel University in Switzerland, and later then licensed to Oerlikon Solar since 2003.
Oerlikon Solar offers its customers a complete manufacturing solution for thin film silicon, including not only the PECVD equipment for depositing the silicon layers, but also the LPCVD equipment to deposit thin film zinc oxide on the front and back of the silicon layers, and advanced laser systems to scribe cell lines.
The main a-Si competitor is First Solar.