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 manufacturing 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 manufacturing lines to increase yield and lower manufacturing costs.

KLA-Tencor’s P-6 wafer inspection system provides stylus profiling and analysis of surface topography for wafer manufacturing 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 wafers and cells at the final stage of the solar wafer manufacturing flow.

Optical Inspection

Surface Metrology

In-Situ Process Monitoring