Oerlikon gets supply deal with CMC

Oerlikon Solar said today it signed a contract to deliver a 40 megawatt peak thin-film solar cell production plant to Taiwan's CMC Magnetics.

Oerlikon Solar, a supplier of thin-film production equipment, is a division of Swiss manufacturer Oerlikon (see Oerlikon introduces new thin film solar equipment).

Today's deal is Oerlikon Solar's first big contract in the Asia-Pacific region.

"With this major order, Oerlikon Solar becomes the world’s first company to supply a customer with a fully automated production line for thin-film solar modules with integrated test systems," said Uwe Krüger, chief executive officer of Oerlikon.

The company says the first components will be shipped to CMC this year, with production is planned for mid-2008.

Oerlikon, which also has supply contracts with API, Schott Solar and ErSol Thinfilm, isn't alone the thin-film production supply field.

Earlier this year, California's Applied Materials (NASDAQ: AMAT) announced supply contracts with Sunfilm in Germany, Moser Baer in India and T-Solar of Spain (see Solar startup Sunfilm to make thin film sandwiches).

Oerlikon Solar, headquartered in Truebbach, Switzerland, with an R&D Lab in Neuchâtel, said the CMC contract includes a service package for commissioning the process equipment and for getting production up to speed.

The company, which has 160 employees, has sales and service centers in the U.S., Europe and Asia.

Oerlikon's production plant is a turnkey end-to-end solution, covering the entire production process from glass purification to testing of the finished solar modules.

The company said the new plant will include the entire metrology system for quality control, the back end of module production as well as its proprietary transparent conductive oxide. 

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