Innovalight Achieves Record (18%) Efficiency Silicon Ink Solar Cell

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.innovalight.com/PDF/FINAL_PRESS_RELEASE_INNOVALIGHT_18pc_090809.pdf

NREL, Fraunhofer ISE certify 18% efficiency for Innovalight’s silicon-ink processed solar cells

08 September 2009 | By Tom Cheyney

Innovalight Achieves Record Efficiency Silicon Ink Solar Cell

18 percent conversion efficiency of sunlight to electricity independently verified

SUNNYVALE, Calif. (September 8, 2009) - Innovalight, Inc., a privately-held firm providing printed silicon ink solar cell technology, today announced that the company has demonstrated a record 18 percent conversion efficiency with silicon-ink processed solar cells. The industry standard size solar cell results were independently certified by two of the world’s recognized solar cell testing centers, the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE) in Germany.

Innovalight’s proprietary silicon ink and processing technologies allow crystalline silicon solar cell manufacturers to dramatically boost output capacity, solar cell performance as well as reduce costs with a simplified additional step to already installed manufacturing lines. Crystalline silicon solar cell technology accounts for 86% of the commercial solar panel market today, according to Paula Mints, principal analyst for Navigant Consulting, Inc., a leading solar industry research firm.

“Recently, NREL verified 18% efficiency which is a very significant achievement,” said Martha Symko-Davies, senior program manager at NREL. “We also are pleased that Innovalight has recently been awarded a $3 million Technology Incubator subcontract through the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, funded under the Department of Energy,” she added.

“Innovalight’s silicon ink and processing technologies provide a compelling solution in an otherwise undifferentiated marketplace for solar cells”, said Homer Antoniadis, chief technology officer for Innovalight. “Optimized for use with industry standard deposition tools, Innovalight’s solution improves the economics of solar cell manufacturing,” he added.

Innovalight is currently working with a number of solar cell manufacturing companies and is ramping production of silicon ink at it’s site in Sunnyvale, California. The company is developing technologies based on silicon ink to ultimately bring conversion efficiencies of crystalline silicon solar cells to over 20 percent.

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[DCKit]

1. Is it "Ink" or is it "Vapor Deposition"?

Sure, printing is a form of deposition, but the (solar) industry standard is "vapor deposition".

[kristopher]

2. From their website

TECHNOLOGY

At the core of Innovalight’s technology is its proprietary silicon ink. Silicon ink combines the material advantages of silicon with the cost advantages of liquid based processing. Silicon is the second most abundant element in the earth’s crust, is non-toxic and has a rich history in both semiconductor and solar industries. However, processing this high purity material today is expensive due to substantial electrical and capital equipment requirements. Shifting from low throughput vacuum based processing to high throughput atmospheric inkjet manufacturing will retain the material advantages while reducing the cost to produce the product, which is a necessity for solar energy to compete with carbon emitting sources of electricity.

Innovalight has spent the last six years designing, developing and scaling its silicon ink technology. The silicon ink can be used for a variety of different applications, but Innovalight has focused solely on solar energy in order to accelerate its time to market. To date, the company has over sixty patents at various stages in the patent process. To further advance the technology, Innovalight has worked closely with leading research institutions, including the United States National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).
http://www.innovalight.com/technology.html

[OKIsItJustMe]

3. JA Solar Developing Next Generation Solar Products using Silicon Ink Technology from Innovalight

http://www.jasolar.com/news_releases_detail.php?id=66

JA Solar Developing Next Generation Solar Products using Silicon Ink Technology from Innovalight

2009-09-15

SHANGHAI, Sept. 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- JA Solar Holdings Co., Ltd. (Nasdaq: JASO), a leading manufacturer of high-performance solar products, today announced that it is working to commercialize a new generation of high-performance solar products using silicon ink technology from Innovalight, Inc.

Innovalight, Inc., a privately held firm based in Sunnyvale, Calif. recently announced that it has demonstrated a record 18 percent conversion efficiency using silicon ink technology and conventional silicon wafers. Results were independently certified by two of the world's recognized solar cell testing centers, the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), and The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE) in Germany.

JA Solar is currently developing silicon ink-based high efficiency solar cells at its R&D pilot line in Yangzhou, China with plans for initial commercialization in 2010.

"Innovalight's silicon ink in conjunction with JA Solar's leadership in high volume solar cell manufacturing with demonstrated yield, conversion efficiency, and low production costs, provides a very promising solution to enhance the conversion efficiency of solar cells utilizing our existing solar cell manufacturing lines," said Qingtang Jiang, JA Solar's chief technology officer. "JA Solar will continue to invest in new technologies to stay at the forefront of the solar sector," he added.

"We are delighted to be working with a solar industry visionary like JA Solar," said Conrad Burke, chief executive officer at Innovalight. "JA Solar's leadership in manufacturing and Innovalight's silicon ink technology offer a very powerful platform for producing solar cells," he said.

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