AQT and Intevac enter into business agreement

SANTA CLARA, USA: Applied Quantum Technology (AQT), a leading developer of low-cost CIGS (copper-indium-gallium-diselenide) thin-film solar cells and Intevac, a leader in high-productivity manufacturing equipment have completed a business agreement in which Intevac will provide AQT with equipment for its current and future production needs. This announcement coincides with AQT’s latest funding news.

Under the terms of this business agreement, Intevac will provide AQT and its manufacturing partners with manufacturing capacity for the production of AQT’s CIGS cells. AQT plans to receive its first manufacturing system in the second quarter of this year at its new Silicon Valley R&D and production facility.

AQT has created a unique and highly scalable architecture to produce very low-cost drop-in replacements for conventional crystalline silicon cells utilizing Intevac’s production-proven manufacturing platform and AQT’s patented CIGS process technology.

“This agreement is an important milestone for Intevac as this tool will represent our first shipment in the solar industry,” said Kevin Fairbairn, president and chief executive officer of Intevac.

“By leveraging our proven high throughput lean manufacturing platform, Intevac enables the economic solution to AQT and the solar cell industry for conventional cell sizes. AQT is an important business partner and we are excited to begin a long term partnership as their manufacturing equipment supplier utilizing their CIGS process technology.”

AQT’s innovative approach to CIGS technology, dubbed CIGS 2.0, allows for continuous in-line manufacturing, which simplifies and streamlines the manufacturing process, resulting in the highest projected capital utilization efficiency in the industry, while dramatically reducing cell costs.

“This agreement with Intevac is a major step towards capitalizing on AQT’s breakthrough CIGS 2.0 approach,” said Michael Bartholomeusz, CEO, AQT.

“Our leverage-based business model depends on strategic partners like Intevac in order to address the three critical success factors required by the new PV market realities; scalability, aggressive cost reduction and continuous technical advancement. Intevac enables AQT to address our mission to achieve the highest cost/performance ratio of any solar cell manufacturer.”