Singulus Technologies, CNBM to Develop New Vacuum Coating Machines for CdTe Thin-Film Solar Modules

Singulus Technologies has partnered with its long-time customer China National Building Materials (CNBM) for the development of next-generation vacuum coating machines. The intended use case is the production of CdTe thin-film solar modules.

For several years Singulus has already been supplying production machines to the CNBM Group for the manufacturing of CIGS thin-film solar modules.

A new additional cooperation was now agreed for the application area of CdTe thin-film solar cells.

In addition to the 4 already existing CIGS sites, CNBM has been planning several other production sites for CdTe solar cells with an output volume exceeding 1 GW.

The two organisations plan to develop and supply new coating machines in order to further reduce the production costs, to improve cell performance and to also increase the production output.

Commenting on the development, Dr. -Ing. Stefan Rinck, Chief Executive Officer of Singulus Technologies, said “our vacuum coating machines are a key step for the entire production process. In addition to machines applying sputtering technology, we are also offering machines working on the principles of thermal evaporation.”

“The CdTe thin-film technology by CNBM will meet the high demands of the market even more in the future through the use of new coating equipment,” Dr. Rinck added.

The production capacities for CdTe and CIGS solar modules in China are set to increase substantially in the coming years. Thus, CNBM has been planning additional investments at several sites in China.

Singulus has been involved in all important projects in China with machines for the various processes and is currently discussing the realization of the projects for the planned CdTe production sites with CNBM.