Applied Materials accelerates solar roadmap

Applied Materials accelerates solar roadmap

Baccini acquisition to provide automated production technology for fabricating advanced c-Si solar cells

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

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SANTA CLARA, USA: Applied Materials Inc. announced an agreement to acquire Baccini S.p.A., a leading supplier of automated metallization and test systems for manufacturing crystalline silicon (c-Si) photovoltaic (PV) cells. This integrated equipment set addresses critical processing steps in c-Si solar cell production that significantly affect solar cell efficiency and yield, while enabling the use of ultrathin silicon wafers.

Combining Baccini's products and technologies with Applied's semiconductor interconnect processing expertise, manufacturing capabilities, and R&D resources will provide customers with world-class, automated production technology for fabricating advanced c-Si solar cells.

Baccini is a privately-held company founded in 1967 and based in Treviso, Italy. Baccini's product line provides state-of-the-art material handling automation capable of processing wafers less than 120 micrometers thick, which are significantly thinner than those typically used in the industry.

Reliable processing of ultrathin wafers is key to next-generation c-Si manufacturing because it will allow customers to minimize the use of silicon material, which now represents more than 60 percent of solar cell manufacturing cost.

"With this acquisition, Applied will become a leading provider of c-Si cell manufacturing solutions to the PV industry," said Mike Splinter, president and CEO of Applied Materials. "As a key supplier to both the c-Si and thin film solar markets, we are committed to driving down the cost and ramping up the scale of PV manufacturing to make solar energy competitive with grid electricity. We are especially excited by the opportunity to engage in key efforts to meet this challenge in Italy – a country with strong geographic potential for realizing early grid parity."

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