KIC’s e-Clipse and SunKIC Profiler Win the 2009 Global Technology Award

San Diego — November 2009 — KIC announces that two of its products, designed to increase solar cell efficiency through accurate profiling and process optimization, tied for a Global Technology Award. KIC’s e-Clipse solar cell thermocouple (TC) attachment fixture and compact SunKIC profiler tied in the category of Solar Manufacturing Products. The award was presented to the company during a Tuesday, November 10, 2009 ceremony that took place at the New Munich Trade Fair Center in Munich, Germany.

The e-Clipse delivers fast and convenient TC attachment, as well as accurate and repeatable profile readings. It features four spring loaded TCs within a lightweight fixture that also holds the solar wafer. The TCs have patented disk-shaped beads, rather than the traditional spherical shaped beads. These flattened TCs offer a more reliable contact to the surface of the solar wafer, as well as repeatable profile readings on the same wafer and across different wafers of the same type.

To operate, the user simply slides any relevant solar wafer into the fixture and the TCs seat themselves automatically. Today’s solar wafers can break easily because they are very thin and brittle. The e-Clipse allows for quick replacement of broken wafers. Four standard type K TC connectors plug into the profiler.

TC attachment has been a long-standing challenge for the production of solar cells. Traditional TC attachment methods have suffered from inaccurate and non-repeatable readings. The e-Clipse addresses this challenge and helps manufacturers advance toward better thermal process control, resulting in higher solar cell efficiencies.

KIC’s compact SunKIC profiler features a powerful analytical software that displays all relevant process data such as peak temperature, dwell time in various temperature ranges, slope gradients and more. The easy to use SunKIC software also measures “the area under the curve” at any given temperature level, to further help users analyze the recorded profile.

KIC’s Process Window Index (PWI) instantly confirms whether the profile is acceptable. The SunKIC comes standard with a prediction feature that helps solar cell manufacturers improve upon furnace set points, as well as their thermal process in general.

Premiering in 2005, the Global Technology Awards program is an annual celebration of product excellence in electronics surface mount assembly. Premier products based on the finest examples of creative advancement in technology are chosen by a distinguished panel of industry experts.

Based in San Diego, KIC has recently developed new profiling and thermal process optimization tools for the solar cell manufacturing industry. These products take advantage of KIC’s extensive technology platform developed in the semiconductor and SMT industries. They are designed for quick and accurate profiling and process optimization for higher efficiency cell manufacturing. The product range includes the SunKIC profiler, the e-Clipse TC attachment fixture, and the Spectrum process optimization software.