"We are very pleased by the rapid adoption of our power systems within the thin-film solar-cell market sector," noted Dr. Hans Betz, Advanced Energy president and CEO. "Our collaborative partnerships with equipment OEMs help us to understand their specific requirements and allow us to provide them with enabling products that optimize their critical processes for thin-film solar-cell manufacturing. This market's projected growth represents a significant opportunity for our process-optimization solutions, and we look forward to continuing our development efforts in the area of solar power."

According to AE, a critical process for thin-film solar-cell production is transparent conductive oxide (TCO) layer deposition. Key to depositing a successful TCO layer is the arc management within the PVD process step. The Summit DC power system offers precise arc management, managing 4,000 arcs per second to allow use of targets with cost-effective, relaxed-material requirements.