Makers of Cadmium Telluride (CdTe) photovoltaic cells, crystalline silicon solar modules, thin-film PV Copper Indium Gallium DiSelenide (CIGS) solar cells, and other solar energy research companies are the newest industry group to order glassware from Wacom Quartz.
When compared to our history of products based mainly in the semiconductor and bio-medical industries, the quartzware for these solar energy customers can be described in one word: LARGE.
These customers are depositing the same or similar coatings and films onto glass, silicon and other substrates as do semiconductor manufacturers. The methods and materials are similar; the scale is multiplied by as much as twenty times; but the requirement for a material to build the vessels and fixturing used in their processing is the same. It must be capable of extreme temperatures, while at the same time being clean and dimensionally stable. Quartz glass is still the most efficient material for this purpose.
Luckily for our customers, Wacom Quartz has never shied away from a large, even HUGE, fabrication job. We have in fact sought out these "difficult" products, with the knowledge that the experience and skill of our employees gives us the edge over our competition when a job is very high risk. We know that when a commitment is made to spending tens of thousands of dollars on raw materials, then investing dozens or even hundreds of hours fabricating a part; neither we nor the customer can afford to have it come out anything but "right the first time, every time."
