Date: 08/05/2011

BTU receives multiple solar cell rework furnace orders

BTU International has announced the receipt of an order for multiple hydrogen annealing furnaces from a major Asian solar cell manufacturer.

"Because of the hydrogen annealing process, this customer now is able to extract value from solar cells that otherwise had inferior cell efficiency," said David Wong, Ph.D., BTU International's chief solar scientist. "Working closely with our process engineers in Shanghai, our customer saw a significant increase in absolute cell efficiency after hydrogen annealing, especially on Class B cells. The results were so consistent that multiple units were ordered."

BTU said it has extensive experience with hydrogen annealing processes and equipment. Today, with over 125 hydrogen furnaces in operation in the semiconductor, nuclear and other industries, the safety and reliability of BTU's hydrogen tools is well established.