SMT and Emerging Markets: Photovoltaics at APEX

The most-uttered phrases at APEX this year including the expected “surface mount,” and “BGA,” and the like, but another vocabulary set is rapidly gaining traction with exhibitors and OEM/EMS attendees. “Solar cells” and “photovoltaics” were on many people’s minds, as the mature SMT industry reaches into the emerging markets available to exchange information and develop processes. Solder suppliers, printing companies, chemists, and oven manufacturers are a few of the companies promoting solar manufacturing technology for the electronics manufacturing crowd.

Electronic Trend Publications (ETP) reports that capacity of photovoltaic modules (panels) sold in 2008 exceeded 4.9 gigawatts, a nearly 25% increase over 2007. The market is expected to grow to more than 15 gigawatts in 2013 and 44 gigawatts by 2023, and be a leading vertical market for product assembly for both OEMs and CMs, ETP notes.

The factory cost of producing photovoltaic modules was $9.8 billion in 2008 and will grow to $52 billion in 2023, a compound annual growth rate of 11.8%. Photovoltaic cell producers are looking to outsource module assembly to capable industry suppliers and EMS providers. Outsourcing will grow to 4% in 2013 and 25% in 2023, as OEMs seek a competitive cost advantage, ETP predicts.

Virtual Industries, which makes vacuum tweezers for handling components and wafers, offers custom applications for the solar market. Many customers will purchase vacuum handling tips to integrate into automated systems, making handling equipment an easy retrofit from electronics components to solar wafers. Retrofits are also an option for dispensing systems, and companies like Techcon Systems, a division of OK International, are expanding into the photovoltaics manufacturing sector. “We’ve had three successes for valves and pumps in the solar market in the past six months,” noted Bryan Gass, VP of the OEM division at Techcon.

In the field of metals and chemicals, distributors like K.R. Anderson Inc. see solar as a yet-untapped manufacturing market. It is the future of our industry, and yet a great deal of companies entering the photovoltaics manufacturing market don’t have a solid understanding of the materials involved, said Jeff Wagner, sales manager, K.R. Anderson. As a distributor with a narrow focus — carrying less than 10 core lines — the company feels it can partner with materials suppliers and new solar customers to understand and troubleshoot problems and develop easier to use, better performance products. This requires an investment in technical staff that is difficult for assemblers facing tight margins and reduced personnel resources, added Wagner. This “middle man” position of the distributor actually can benefit the electronics assembler, much like an outsourced R&D/failure analysis lab.

Major equipment manufacturers also are pointing electronics manufacturers' attentions to familiar equipment with applications beyond PCBs and ICs.

Assembléon, a capital equipment supplier, is immersing itself in the green energy concept, from its own machines to the products its customers manufacture. Among the promising innovations is the YGP screen printer, which uses a servo-controlled single-sided squeegee blade. This design keeps solder paste in front of the stencil at roll-in, which reduces sheer and maintains solder paste composition. This technology will prove beneficial for solar cell manufacturers trying to achieve taller, narrower metallization fingers on solar cell surfaces. By preserving the integrity of the metal materials, the stencil enables users to implement smaller apertures and thicker stencils.

Reflow oven supplier BTU International has increasingly developed products for the solar manufacturing market in recent years, both silicon and thin film. The company is also rolling out new products for the traditional electronics market. Paul Van Der Wansem, chairman, president, and CEO, BTU, explained that solar makes the electronics sector stronger, both with R&D sharing to enhance products in both markets and with global infrastructure improvements to the electronics supply chain. Aspects like better temperature control and oven power can benefit electronics manufacturers and photovoltaics producers, perhaps in the same EMS or OEM factory.

Look for DEK’s cover story in the upcoming May/June issue of SMT for more on the convergence and collaboration between electronics and solar manufacturers, including how solder print technology can be adapted to improve metallization on the surface of photovoltaics, improving current-carrying capacity and minimizing the shading effect on cell efficiency.

Meredith Courtemanche, managing editor

Solar Energy Efforts Increase: from Research to Production and Final Installation

Solar energy provides a challenge for almost every aspect of electronics. In basic research, small companies license technology from university-based research to add to the efficiency of solar cells and other areas of photovoltaics production. Some companies provide turnkey manufacturing, marketing, and development for customers entering the solar industry. I toured one such company, GT Solar, to see how they’ve helped improve solar electronics.

Small companies, such as San Jose-based startup Solexant, have licensed materials technology from university-based research to add to the efficiency of solar cells. Solexant licensed materials technology from an advancement under development at a photonics institute at the University of Buffalo that can harvest energy from infrared (IR) light to boost the energy of solar cells.

Under the executive director Paras Prasad, the team from the University of Buffalo plans to harvest energy from infrared and ultraviolet (UV) ranges of the spectrum yet untapped by today’s solar cells. Various projects use tunable quantum dots to absorb IR photons and organize them by coupling like charges to carbon nanotube (CNT) walls. Other projects convert 980-nm IR to visible light to be absorbed by a solar cell.

“We recently showed a capability of harvesting 30% of the IR photons going to a photovoltaic cell,” Prasad said. Since raising efficiencies of solar cells is a major issue in reaching “grid parity,” or costs comprable to those of existing power solutions, the various approaches that the joint venture takes attack the problem from many angles.

For newcomers wishing to get into the solar panel production business, companies like GT Solar in Merrimack, NH, offer everything for a practical turnkey solution. GT is able to equip users with the technical, manufacturing, and marketing experience needed to start up and operate a photovoltaic business. “We have experts creating solutions for all three components of the solar value chain: wafer, cell, and module fabrication lines,” said Keith Matthei, VP, equipment sales (Figure 1).

Figure 1. Keith Mathei, GT Solar, offers equipment for production of photovoltaic equipment piecemeal or in a turnkey method.

At the heart of GT’s equipment is the directional solidification system (DSS) furnace that produces a large segment of the world’s multicrystalline silicon ingots (Figure 2). The DSS furnace grows multicrystalline ingots quickly, cooling from the bottom up. GT has expertise in mechanical design, vacuum and high-pressure chambers, control system design, and crystal growth modeling. By collaborating with University Center of Excellence for Photovoltaic Research and Education at Georgia Tech, University of New Hampshire, and other private and research facilities, GT has been able to improve their products.

Figure 2. GT Solar’s Directional Solidification System (DSS) furnace produces a large segment of the world’s multicrystalline silicon ingots.

Even in tough times, companies recognize the value of renewable energy. On February 5, Timex Group USA Inc. held a dedication ceremony for its recently completed installation of 800 solar panels outside its Middlebury, CT, headquarters as one of the largest ground-mounted solar electric units in the northeastern U.S. As part of the $2.5 million project, 27 rows of 244-kW solar panels were installed on the eastern side of the watchmaker’s property. The photovoltaic system is said to generated 285,439 kilowatt hours per year, avoiding release of more than 6.6 million pounds of carbon dioxide, 28,000 pounds of sulfur dioxide and 11,000 pounds of nitrogen oxide over the 25-year lifespan of the system. This clean energy project was financed in part through a $920,000 grant from the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund and tax credits.

Though renewable energy is just now ramping up and getting established in the U.S., the signs of growth can be seen in all areas, from R&D collaboration to practical turnkey assistance, innovative equipment, and current installations.

Gail Flower, editor-at-large