ECD Ovonics Solar Technology Overview

ECD Ovonics originated and has patented our proprietary continuous web, multilayer, large-area thin-film amorphous silicon (a-Si) technology. We have invented a unique proprietary approach to the manufacture of thin-film photovoltaic (PV) products. Our proprietary position in PV technology ranges from the invention of materials and the development of products to the design and manufacture of production equipment.

Crystalline silicon was the original materials technology used by the PV industry. First widely used in space satellites, conventional crystalline silicon solar cells are fabricated in a step-and-repeat, batch process from small wafers of single crystal or polycrystalline silicon semiconductor materials. Notwithstanding, the substantial advances that have been made in the development of this technology, the cost of crystalline PV modules is still high because of high materials costs and because many processing steps are needed to manufacture the modules. Crystalline silicon solar cell modules are also bulky and break easily and consume more energy in their manufacture.

There are other thin-film technologies for producing solar cells using materials containing cadmium, which is not environmentally friendly and requires that care be taken with the products using such materials during manufacture and after sale. These other thin-film technologies, as well as crystalline silicon technology, employ a step-and-repeat batch process, not a continuous roll-to-roll manufacturing process.

Using our proprietary thin-film, vapor-deposited a-Si alloy materials, we have developed proprietary technology to reduce the materials cost in a solar cell. Because a-Si absorbs light more efficiently than its crystalline counterpart, the a-Si solar cell thickness can be 100 times less, thereby significantly reducing materials cost. By utilizing a flexible, stainless steel substrate and polymer-based encapsulants, PV products utilizing our technology can be very lightweight, flexible and abuse-tolerant. They do not break during shipping, are particularly easy to transport to remote rural areas, thus saving shipping costs, and can be installed without breakage.

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