Colnatec and U.S. Photovoltaic Manufacturing Consortium Sign Joint Research & Development Agreement

Online, April 16, 2013 (Newswire.com) - Arizona-based Colnatec LLC and the U.S. Photovoltaics Consortium (PVMC), in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), SEMATECH, and the Research Foundation of the State University of New York (SUNY), have signed a joint research and development agreement with the goal of advancing the competitiveness of the U.S. photovoltaic industry. The research and development project itself is designed to prove the efficacy of Colnatec's real-time, high-temperature film thickness sensor system, Tempe™, in a manufacturing-scale equipment environment.

One of the key issues in CIGS (copper-indium-gallium-selenium) solar cell manufacturing is in-situ process control during the CIGS formation process. Due to the high temperature and corrosive selenium environment, typical commercial sensors cannot operate. Colnatec sensors, however, are uniquely designed to work within the hazardous CIGS process environment and can produce accurate measurements of deposition flux for process monitoring and feedback control.

"We've been able to prove our Tempe™ sensor works successfully within our own lab," commented Colnatec Chief Technology Officer, Scott Grimshaw, "but we don't have the full-scale manufacturing environment and seasoned production engineers available through PVMC. Working together, we will show our monitoring system is capable of such accuracy and reliability that conversion efficiencies and production yields will skyrocket."

Wendy Jameson, Colnatec CEO, added, "The PVMC is a prestigious organization we've looked forward to working with for some time. Great things will certainly come from Albany over the next few years, and we're thrilled to be included in their research."

The Tempe™ System is designed for thin film coating process control when high evaporation or chamber temperatures are required. Because it is able to maintain temperatures within a range of 50-500ºC as well as initiate a high-temperature self-cleaning cycle, it excels at extending crystal life, reducing interruptions in a continuous process environment, and minimizing errors from rate noise. The Tempe™ system is equally suited for high temperature semiconductor manufacturing processes, including atomic layer deposition (ALD), chemical vapor deposition (CVD), and rapid thermal processing (RTP). Combined with the Eon™ film thickness controller, which is capable of real-time correction of any natural frequency drift in the crystal during heating, any process that requires heated crystals or high measurement accuracy will see exponential improvement, leading to the highest accuracy possible as well as enabling continuous crystal operation without cooling.

"Current measurement and control technology in CIGS process lines has been around since the 1960s," said Grimshaw. "It's time for it to join the 21st century."

***

About PVMC
The Photovoltaic Manufacturing Consortium (PVMC) is an industry-led consortium for cooperative R&D among industry, university, and government partners to accelerate the development, commercialization, and manufacturing of next-generation solar photovoltaic (PV) systems. Through its programs and advanced manufacturing development facilities, PVMC is a proving ground for innovative solar technologies and manufacturing processes.
PVMC, headquartered in New York State, was chartered as part of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) SunShot Initiative, which is designed to reduce the cost of photovoltaic solar energy systems by about 75 percent over the next decade. PVMC shares the DOE's goals of reducing the cost of solar energy and driving to grid parity by 2020, advancing large-scale U.S. solar manufacturing, boosting American competitiveness, and driving the deployment of clean, renewable energy.