CASE STUDIES: Solar Energy
1. CIGS Manufacturing Process Automation Reliability
A leading thin film solar photovoltaic startup was having many reliability problems with the automation to transfer their product from the carriers used for deposition into carriers used for general transport. They were experiencing machine jams, damaged carriers, and yield loss. Owens Design worked collaboratively with the client to redesign all of the critical mechanisms, improving system reliability by 50 times.
2. PV Cell Process Automation
Solar startup company had an urgent need to develop an automated process tool to deploy their innovative solar photovoltaic (PV) technology. The company had successfully demonstrated their process with manual process tools and now needed to quickly ramp their capacity to meet the expanding requirements of the solar industry.
3. PV Cell Handling Automation
Solar concentrator startup needed an automate handling solution on an existing process tool to meet yield and throughput requirements. The equipment must support high volume manufacturing for overseas facilities.
4. Solar Diffusion Furnace Boat Load System
A leading OEM of diffusion furnaces, transitioning a product from the semiconductor industry to the solar industry, needed to respond quickly to their customer’s demand for higher throughput and lower cost of ownership tool by adding automating the quartz boat load and unload of their flagship diffusion furnace.
5. PV Cell Flash Tester
One of the critical parameters of photovoltaic (PV) cells is the cell efficiency. Owens Design developed a high speed tester that integrated an industry standard I-V flash test head with custom automation that met the high throughput and reliability the client needed.
6. Flexible Substrate Handling for CIGS Process
The CIGS thin film solar photovoltaic process is often implemented on flexible substrates. While these substrates are chosen for their extremely low cost, the handling of them requires special techniques.
7. Custom Equipment for CIGS Manufacturing Process
Virtually all thin film CIGS processes are implemented with custom designed proprietary equipment. Even though all precautions are taken, sometimes the initial equipment design does not meet requirements.
8. c-Si High Vacuum Processing Equpment
The client’s process required a high vacuum environment and precise substrate positioning. Thermal loading and cooling in a vacuum were critical to achieve the required performance specifications.
9. Solar Thin Film Metrology
A leading thin film solar manufacturer needed to implement an inline metrology system to monitor their deposition process. Owens Design completed the metrology system design, built the unit, resolved performance issues, and supported the integration with the manufacturing line.
10. Polysilicon Feedstock Automation
Industry leader in polysilicon feedstock reactors needed to ramp manufacturing output. Manual handling of feedstock created yield loss and potential operator hazards.
