The Varian Solion is based on the production-proven VIISta family and its installed base of over 1200 implanters. It has the legacy of a highly reliable manufacturing tool and with Varian's industry leading customer-support organization, new customers can be assured they will receive leading edge technology and service. It is targeted at lowering cost and improving manufacturability while increasing the efficiency of silicon solar cells.
Solion provides innovative and proprietary Precision Patterned Implant (PPI) technology which enables exceptional junction engineering capability -- critical for all high efficiency cell designs. PPI provides customers with a roadmap to greater cell efficiencies at lower $/Wp.
"We have combined our tremendous depth of knowledge in junction engineering with our market leading VIISta implant platform to deliver the only solution that will provide higher efficiency, tighter binning, reduced process complexity and lower $/Wp to the PV industry today and for many generations to come," said Jim Mullin, Vice President and General Manager of Varian Solar Products. "The response from the industry has been very positive. We are extremely excited to officially launch the Solion product at Intersolar NA and join the race towards grid parity."
"A major part of our corporate growth strategy is to expand our implant technology leadership into adjacent markets where we can bring highly differentiated value to our customers," said Gary Dickerson, Chief Executive Officer of Varian Semiconductor. "We have worked with customers to validate an improvement in cell efficiency and a reduction in process steps using ion implant in the solar manufacturing process. Implant can also enable future advanced high efficiency cell designs at low cost. Varian is committed to working with our solar customers to achieve a cell efficiency and cost per watt competitive advantage."
The Varian Solion product will be presented at Intersolar US at Moscone Center West in San Francisco, CA from July 13 through the 15th. Varian can be found on Level 2 at booth 8447.
About Varian Semiconductor
Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates is the leading supplier of ion implant equipment to semiconductor manufacturers, enabling them to pack more, higher performing transistors into computer chips that are revolutionizing the electronics industry. Varian Semiconductor's products are used by chip manufacturers worldwide to produce high-performance semiconductor devices. Customers have made Varian Semiconductor the market leader in ion implant because of its architecturally superior products that lower their costs and improve their productivity. Varian Semiconductor operates globally and is headquartered in Gloucester, Massachusetts. More information can be found on Varian Semiconductor's web site at www.vsea.com.
Contacts: Bob Halliday Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer 978.282.7597 or Tom Baker Vice President, Finance 978.282.2301