F3 Thin-Film Solar Panel Manufacturing Process
The manufacturing process for amorphous silicon solar panels is a highly successful, third-generation technology where a large number of tin oxide coated glass plates (typically 48) are coated simultaneously with amorphous silicon (a-Si) in a single vacuum chamber. This method allows a high plate throughput along with the advantages of relatively low capital costs, straightforward maintenance and minimal downtime.
Specific features of this design for the chambers and fixturing include low atmospheric impurities and also other kinds of impurities, low dopant cross-contamination, low particulates, and good gas utilization. Proprietary designs are employed to obtain amorphous silicon deposits with unusually good thickness uniformity.
F3 thin-film solar panel factories are the lowest-cost, most advanced and most proven facilities of their kind in the world.
More than half of the world’s currently-installed thin-film solar panels were manufactured with Amelio Solar technology.
When establishing or expanding a joint venture operation in a particular territory, F3 Energy Group, on behalf of its local joint venture partners, sets-up local factories which directly produce and supply Amelio Solar thin-film solar panels in that territory. These facilities have a “modular” design that enables efficient expansion to accommodate increased production capacity or the addition of new product lines. Ranging from a minimum of 10MW to 10MW or more in annual solar panel power production capacity,
the first production lines of these facilities can be placed into initial operation in as few as seven months afterF3 Energy receives the order and, depending on the size of the facility, can reach full operation in as few as six months after initial operation commences. F3 Energy Group coordinates delivery and installation of a “turn-key” manufacturing system at the Factory site. F3 Energy Group and its affiliated engineers collaborate on design of the plant, construction planning, sourcing, shipment and integration of the specialized manufacturing equipment, training of the local workforce and initial operation of the new Factory to ensure that it produces solar panels at designated performance levels.
Over the past two decades, Amelio Solar has assisted in the deployment of sixteen such facilities in diverse locations around the world. Fourteen of these continue to operate (two that are no longer operating had moved their equipment to other Amelio Solar related facilities overseas). The facility in Lens, France has now been in operation for more than 20 years and is an example of the durability of Amelio Solar’s thin-film manufacturing equipment.
