Santa Clara, CA--Coherent, Inc. (Nasdaq: COHR) and SiOnyx, Inc. (Beverly, MA) announced in a press release today that they have entered into a joint development agreement for solar cell capital equipment (tools) manufacturing utilizing SiOnyx’s black silicon processing that is based upon the interaction of ultrafast (femtosecond) laser light and silicon in a controlled environment. According to the companies black silicon offers the potential of a number of advantages over currently deployed technologies, including reduction of costs, an increase of conversion efficiencies, and improvements in manufacturing yields.
Stephen Saylor, President and Chief Executive Officer of SiOnyx commented, “Partnering with Coherent gives SiOnyx access to the industry’s most advanced ultrafast laser technology and allows us to continue the rapid pace of advancement of the black silicon platform. With this collaboration, we look forward to demonstrating the scalability of our process beyond the initial applications of photodetection and imaging and exploit the compelling benefits of Black Silicon’s enhanced quantum efficiency in the solar industry.”
“We are excited that this agreement brings together SiOnyx‘s unique process expertise with Coherent ultrafast laser technology to increase the pace of development in this exciting area,” said John Ambroseo, Coherent’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “Together with our rapidly growing solar tools business, it will position both companies to capture new opportunities in the photovoltaic industry as it continues to expand towards grid parity.”
For more information, please visit: www.Coherent.com.
Stephen G. Anderson | Director, Industry Development - SPIE
Stephen Anderson is a photonics industry expert with an international background and has been actively involved with lasers and photonics for more than 30 years. As Director, Industry Development at SPIE – The international society for optics and photonics – he is responsible for tracking the photonics industry markets and technology to help define long-term strategy, while also facilitating development of SPIE’s industry activities. Before joining SPIE, Anderson was Associate Publisher and Editor in Chief of Laser Focus World and chaired the Lasers & Photonics Marketplace Seminar. Anderson also co-founded the BioOptics World brand. Anderson holds a chemistry degree from the University of York and an Executive MBA from Golden Gate University.