Veeco
Instruments Inc. (Nasdaq: VECO) announced today that it has entered into
a strategic partnership with Daiyang Metal Co., Ltd. of Korea, a leader in the
production of cold rolled stainless steel, to be its supplier of equipment to
manufacture CIGS (copper, indium, gallium, selenium) solar cells. As a first
milestone in this relationship, Daiyang has placed an initial multi-million
dollar purchase order with Veeco for its complement of FastFlex™ Web Coating
Systems to build a thin-film CIGS solar cell production line in Yesan, Korea.
This complement of tools is comprised of one Mo (Molybdenum) deposition system,
one TCO (Transparent Conductive Oxide) deposition system and two CIGS deposition
systems. Veeco currently expects to ship these systems during the fourth quarter
of 2009, after which it expects to firm up a follow-on order with Daiyang.
Chan Ku Kang, Chief Executive Officer of Daiyang, commented, "Daiyang
Metal has an aggressive multi-year, multi-site plan to become a leading worldwide
manufacturer of CIGS solar cells. Our short term goal is to aggressively ramp
to 200MW capacity during 2010 and 2011, which will entail the purchase of additional
Veeco systems. Ultimately it is our goal to achieve one gigawatt of CIGS production
capacity by 2013. We spent a lot of time researching and surveying the suppliers
of CIGS manufacturing tools, and were very impressed with the level of process
support and collaboration we received from Veeco during that period. We chose
Veeco because they are best prepared to meet our manufacturing and technology
needs today and in the future."
John R. Peeler, Veeco's Chief Executive Officer, commented, "We
are pleased to be selected by Daiyang as they enter the CIGS solar cell market.
This partnership is especially important to us because together, with Daiyang
as the substrate manufacturer and Veeco as the production equipment supplier,
we can accelerate the solar industry's efficiency roadmap. CIGS is emerging
as the next generation solar technology, offering combined benefits of higher
efficiencies and lower costs when compared with silicon."
Market research firm Nanomarkets estimates CIGS production capacity will reach
1.4 GW in 2012 and 4.9 GW in 2015 (a 30x increase over 2008's 152 MW).
CIGS solar cells offer the broadest range of applications of any thin film solar
technology - they can be used in solar farms, in BIPV (building integrated
PV), flat and pitched roofs, rooftop shingles and in portable devices.
Piero Sferlazzo, Ph.D., Senior Vice President of Veeco's Solar Equipment
business, commented, "Daiyang's selection of Veeco is confirmation
of our leadership in thermal evaporation sources. Thermal source technology
is quickly becoming the preferred CIGS deposition method because it provides
customers with high volume, low cost manufacturing solutions that drive down
the manufacturing cost per watt."
Veeco's FastFlex platform features flexible architecture with high uptime
that can be configured to specific needs, with a choice of rotary or planar
magnetrons for high throughput, high temperature effusion sources, and substrate
sizes up to one meter wide.