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| XsunX reel-to-reel cluster tool system XsunX, Inc. announced that the use of rolled flexible materials, such as plastics and metal, in the Company's patented reel-to-reel cluster tool architecture could lead to low-cost higher efficiency solar devices and provide an alternative to rigid wafer based silicon cells. This comes at a time when the wafer based silicon industry is experiencing material shortages and few additional avenues to further price reductions. Unique to the Company's design is its ability to combine, for the first time, the best attributes of two industry standards, in-line roll to roll processing techniques and the exact processing capabilities of cluster tool systems. While in-line roll to roll processing systems are widely used in the manufacture of thin film solar cells, their ability to provide higher unit volumes comes at the cost of reduced solar cell efficiency and the inefficient use of materials. Conversely, multi-chamber based cluster tool systems provide the extreme control necessary to produce such high value items as thin film transistors and rigid crystalline solar cells, but have sacrificed throughput resulting in lower unit volume. Additional benefits to the reel-to-reel cluster tool architecture is the system's ability to employ the use of a smaller initial foot print requiring less initial capital expenditures. As production requirements increase, the efficiencies of replicating only portions of the systems architecture to move from single to multi-megawatt capabilities provide important aspects to improved cost-competitiveness. Ultimately, multi-megawatt factories producing thin film solar cells may be the enabling factor in achieving the necessary price thresholds required to compete with traditional power generation choices. The Company launched the design of its first manufacturing system employing the reel-to-reel cluster tool approach this September and is nearing the end of the systems design processes. write your comments about the article :: © 2005 Construction News :: home page |