Press Release

Eichenau, March 9, 2009, - STANGL Semiconductor Equipment AG (STANGL), producer of qualified wet process equipment, started the market introduction of its new LINEA Inline wet process equipment for photovoltaic Si cells at Photon’s 4th Photovoltaic Technology Show 2009 Europe in Munich.

LINEA is a horizontally working inline wet process platform for cleaning and etching of crystalline solar wafers. Stangl´s LINEA inline etching system can be configured up to max. 1,700 or 3,400 wafers per hour (156mm) which equals a production capacity of 30 and 60 MW. LINEA completes the portfolio of STANGL’s integrated wet process solutions for solar cell manufacturing lines.

The LINEA design is based on a newly developed sophisticated transport system and a special chemical flow system to process the wafers horizontally with a very low breakage rate (<0.1%) and a high etching uniformity. STANGL’s new system LINEA follows the trend towards handling solar wafers down to 150 μm.

Not only the highly integrated design and a high throughput, but also the high availability and low breakage rate make LINEA attractive for solar cell manufacturers worldwide. Furthermore, LINEA is characterized by its high flexibility concerning wafer type, size and thickness as well as its reduced chemical consumption.

Short profile SINGULUS/ STANGL
SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES is the global market leader for optical disc production lines for CDs, DVDs and Blu-ray Discs and the only provider to offer the entire product range: mastering, molding and replication lines. In addition to the further expansion of the core activities Optical Disc, the diversification into the work area Solar is the most important strategic goal.

STANGL and SINGULUS will systematically expand the Solar activities. As of today, STANGL is one of the few providers of wet-chemical machines for both the crystalline silicon solar technology as well as for the thin-film solar technology. SINGULUS has been marketing its own solar coating machine, which is based on the know-how gained in the core area of Optical Disc, since September 2008. In addition, STANGL’s experience and market knowledge will be tapped.

Combined with STANGL’s machines, SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES will be able to offer the two important machine groups with wet-chemical and vacuum coating processes for a production line for crystalline silicon solar cells. The goal is to strengthen its global position for production equipment for crystalline solar cells over the next few years.