Solar Research Shines in China

 

CHINA ALREADY DOMINATES IN SOLAR panel production and manufacturing. Now it is honing the efficiency of these processes and taking aim at basic research, too.

A prime example of this move is the Applied Materials Solar Technology Center in Xi'an.

The center, which opened last year, conducts reliability testing and solar research and development. “Our goal is to expand the depth of R&D and breadth of products that we will develop,” said Ruiping Wang, general manager of the center.

The choice of location for the center was strategic. Xi'an is in the Shaanxi province in northwest China. The province includes more than 40 colleges and universities and Xi'an is recognized as one of the leading high-technology research areas in the country.

Applied Materials has long cultivated talent in the region. It has awarded 166 university scholarships since 2005 through an R&D fund with the Xi'an Municipal Science and Technology Commission and Xi'an High Tech Park.

The center includes laboratory and office buildings covering more than 400,000 square feet. It is the largest nongovernment solar energy research facility in the world, according to Applied Materials.

Work at the center focuses on two types of silicon-based solar photovoltaic panel development – crystalline solar where the electronics are etched onto silicon wafers and thin-film solar made by spraying silicon or metals onto thin glass sheets.

To support this work, the center has an entire Applied SunFab thin-film manufacturing line and a complete crystalline silicon pilot process. These lines are configured to closely simulate customer fabrication environments.

Building such a center obviously takes money and a big commitment from management. To understand how important the center is to Applied Materials, consider that at the time the center was opening, company chairman and CEO Mike Splinter wrote a blog stating that “we stand at the dawn of a new revolution – the energy and environment revolution.”