GT Advanced Technologies' New Furnace Increases Grade I Wafers per Ingot

GT Advanced Technologies has introduced its DSS 450 MonoCast crystal growth system in the market.

The DSS450 MonoCast furnace' novel features help delivering ³80% mono volume yield for every slabbed ingot and substantially increase Grade I wafers (more than 90% mono area per wafer) for every ingot when compared to other cast mono technologies. Customers who use GT Advanced Technologies' DSS450HP and DSS450 systems that feature its MonoCast technology can shift to the latest DSS450 MonoCast system via a field upgrade.

Modules made from materials developed in the new DSS 450 MonoCast furnace are competitive in terms of overall output to modules that integrate conventional boron-doped batch CZ monocrystalline wafers. The DSS450 MonoCast wafers produce cells with lower light induced degradation.

The DSS450 MonoCast wafer' full square surface dimension area offers better electricity production surface area when compared to a conventional monocrystalline wafer's pseudo square shape. Thus, modules made of the DSS450 MonoCast material demonstrate efficiency competitive with that of modules integrating batch monocrystalline wafers.

The DSS450 MonoCast crystal growth system has latest sophisticated hardware and first-of-its-kind automatic seed retention capability that avoids manual interference and dipping between melt and growth, thus facilitating process automation as well as the system's production value. Together with the latest Acuity performance software of GT Advanced Technologies, the DSS450 MonoCast furnace is capable of generating superior quality ingots run after run.

According to Vikram Singh, Vice President and General Manager at GT Advanced Technologies, the company's involvement in materials science and cell designs with the Georgia Institute of Technology has continually shown that the MonoCast material together with sophisticated cell processing technology can provide more than 19% conversion efficiency.