Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. (NYSE: STP), a leading manufacturer of photovoltaic (PV) cells and modules, announced the commercial adoption of its latest 18% “semiconductor finger” conversion efficiency technology is proceeding on schedule starting in the fourth quarter of 2006 and that the performance of this technology with respect to lower-grade and poor quality silicon wafers has exceeded the company’s expectations.
‘We are very pleased with our semiconductor finger technology which has increased the average conversion efficiencies of our best monocrystalline PV cells to 18% — well above the industry average of 14% to 15%. At the same time, we have maintained the lowest cost production base relative to our peers,’ said Dr. Zhengrong Shi, Suntech’s chairman and CEO.
The company’s semiconductor finger technology, which is co-developed and owned with the University of New South Wales in Australia, overcomes the major limitation of the traditional screen printing process that is the industry standard.
Heavily doped semiconductor strips are built into the PV cell surface which more efficiently collects the generated electrical charge without requiring the surface dead layer found in conventional screen printed cells. The technology also potentially enables the company to reduce the number of traditional lines of metal contact strips on the top surface of the PV cell thereby reducing shading from the sun to enable the PV cell to generate even greater watts of electricity.
‘Perhaps the most exciting part about this new technology is that it has worked particularly well with the lower-grade and poor quality silicon wafers for which we have seen increases in conversion efficiency of upwards of 17%,’ continued Dr. Shi. ‘This will give Suntech the added benefit of being able to process lower cost silicon wafers at higher conversion efficiencies than peer companies that would likely otherwise treat such wafers as returns or rejects.’
‘The tangible benefit of these improvements is that Suntech’s PV cells and modules will generate higher watts of electricity, enabling Suntech to achieve higher incremental revenue with marginal incremental cost,’ noted Dr. Shi.
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