Photovoltaic or ‘solar’ cells are used to produce electrical power from light and are one of the cleanest sources of energy. The continuing growth of solar cells is closely related to their production cost, as economic viability increases with lowering prices. To enable the solar cell growth, KLA-Tencor offers both surface profilers and solar wafer and cell inspection modules which are integrated in different stages of the solar wafer and cell production lines to increase yield and lower production costs.

KLA-Tencor’s P-6 inspection system provides stylus profiling and analysis of surface topography for issues such as roughness, film stress, and curvature, in an economical benchtop design for samples up to 150mm.

The ICOS division’s PVI-6 solar wafer and cell inspection module is designed for high speed, automated, optical in-line inspection of both the front surface and back surface of monocrystalline and polycrystalline solar wafers and cells, as well as the fast and reliable optical classification of solar cells at the final stage of the production flow.

Optical Inspection

Surface Metrology

In-Situ Process Monitoring