Our String Ribbon™ Wafers — Genius in its Simplicity
Silicon wafers form the basis of solar cells and the bulk of all solar panels made today. Conventional technologies for producing silicon wafers are based on energy-intensive casting and oil-based machining and cutting of large silicon blocks. Not something you’d expect from a hi-tech, clean energy product. Our cutting-edge wafer technology in contrast is genius in its simplicity, efficiency and cleanliness.
Our String Ribbon™ wafers originate from the natural science of “surface tension”. In simple terms the making of a String Ribbon wafer is just like the making of a soap bubble — the surface tension between the soapy bubble solution and the wand creates the bubble.
The only difference is that instead of the “ring” inside which a bubble forms, we use two parallel high-temperature filaments between which a thin film of silicon is formed. With our proprietary technique, two high-temperature filaments are pulled vertically through a silicon melt, and the molten silicon spans and solidifies between the filaments.
This figure illustrates our patented low-cost wafer technology.
The process is continuous, silent and clean: long high-temperature filaments unwind from spools, run through the molten silicon and pull a long strip of silicon out of the melt. The wafer strip is harvested periodically and cut into smaller pieces for further processing into solar cells.
All this happens in our state-of-the-art, Quad furnaces. Our current furnaces grow four 3.2-inch (80mm) wide strips of wafer material at a time.
Photo of a Quad Furnace
Click here to view close-up
