BTU International Receives Order for Multiple Solar Cell Rework Furnaces

BTU International, a leading supplier of advanced thermal processing equipment and processes for the alternative energy and electronics manufacturing markets, today announced the receipt of an order for multiple hydrogen annealing furnaces from a major Asian solar cell manufacturer.

"Because of the hydrogen annealing process, this customer now is able to extract value from solar cells that otherwise had inferior cell efficiency," said David Wong, Ph.D., BTU International's chief solar scientist. "Working closely with our process engineers in Shanghai, our customer saw a significant increase in absolute cell efficiency after hydrogen annealing, especially on Class B cells. The results were so consistent that multiple units were ordered."

BTU has extensive experience with hydrogen annealing processes and equipment. Today, with more than 125 hydrogen furnaces in operation in the semiconductor, nuclear and other industries, the safety and reliability of BTU's hydrogen tools is well established.

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BTU International (http://www.btu.com) is a market-leading, global supplier of advanced thermal processing equipment to the alternative energy and electronics assembly markets. BTU’s equipment and expertise are used in the manufacturing of solar cells and nuclear fuel as well as the production of printed circuit board assemblies and semiconductor packaging. BTU has design and manufacturing operations in North Billerica, Massachusetts and Shanghai, China with direct sales and service worldwide.