PLAINVIEW N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Veeco Instruments Inc. (Nasdaq: VECO), announced the introduction of its FastLine(TM)
platform of Glass Coating Systems, leveraging Veeco's proven PV-Series(TM)
Thermal Deposition Sources. Veeco's new FastLine platform is
designed for high throughput, low cost of ownership production of CIGS
(copper, indium, gallium and selenium) solar cells.
Piero Sferlazzo, Ph.D., Senior Vice President of Veeco's Solar Equipment
business, commented, "Veeco is now the only equipment company offering
integrated production-scale solutions for CIGS manufacturing on glass
using thermal evaporation sources for the CIGS/absorber layer. Customers
can now choose Veeco to provide comprehensive, fully integrated
equipment to manufacture CIGS solar cells, whether they choose to use
our FastLine systems for glass or our FastFlex(TM)
systems for flexible substrates."
Thermal evaporation, as compared to other deposition methods, produces
the highest efficiency thin film solar cells and has the lowest
materials costs with high material utilization driving down the
manufacturing cost per watt. Veeco's FastLine systems can handle up to
thirty 1.1m x 1.4m glass panels/hour. The modular architecture of the
system allows customers to scale their output according to their needs.
The U.S.
Department of Energy'sNational Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)
has claimed a world record for CIGS thin-film solar cell conversion
efficiency of 19.9 percent. The conversion efficiency for CIGS is now
close to that of multi-crystalline silicon-based solar cells, according
to NREL. This achievement was hailed as an important milestone because
the efficiency of thin film solar cells is now achieving its goal of
matching silicon in performance.
About Veeco
Veeco Instruments Inc. manufactures enabling solutions for customers in
the HB-LED, solar, data storage, semiconductor, scientific research and
industrial markets. We have leading technology positions in our three
businesses: LED & Solar Process Equipment, Data Storage Process
Equipment, and Metrology Instruments. Veeco's manufacturing and
engineering facilities are located in New York, New Jersey, California,
Colorado, Arizona, Massachusetts and Minnesota. Global sales and service
offices are located throughout the U.S., Europe, Japan and APAC. http://www.veeco.com/
To the extent that this news release discusses expectations or
otherwise makes statements about the future, such statements are
forward-looking and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties
that could cause actual results to differ materially from the statements
made. These factors include the risks discussed in the Business
Description and Management's Discussion and Analysis sections of Veeco's
Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008 and in
our subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form
8-K and press releases. Veeco does not undertake any obligation
to update any forward-looking statements to reflect future events or
circumstances after the date of such statements.
Source: Veeco Instruments Inc.