Press Release

Kahl am Main, March 19, 2008 - SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES (SINGULUS), Kahl/Main, and the globally leading producer of solar cells, Q-Cells AG, Bitterfeld-Wolfen, signed today a cooperation agreement for the development, the assembly and the qualification of a new coating machine for the production of crystalline solar cells.

The goal of the cooperation is the introduction of a new machine concept to improve the anti-reflective and passivation characteristics of mono-crystalline and poly-crystalline solar wafers. With a coating station, which will be fully integrated into the production line, the productivity will be improved and production costs reduced. At the same time, the anti-reflective layer applied in vacuum will increase the energy efficiency of the cells.

Q-Cells will contribute its production know-how into the cooperation and qualify the first machine under production conditions as soon as the end of 2008. SINGULUS will transfer its automation and coating technology for the mass production of CDs and DVDs to the solar cell manufacturing.

Short profile SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES
SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES is market leader for optical disc production lines and is the only supplier worldwide to cover the entire product range: mastering, molding and replication lines.

In addition to the further development of the core activities of Optical Disc, the diversification into new work areas is the most important challenge.

With the acquisition of the STANGL Semiconductor Equipment AG SINGULUS successfully entered the solar equipment market. The new business area Solar will be strongly expanded in the next couple of years.