Schott will invest EUR 60M to enable its subsidiary, Schott Solar, Inc. to build a manufacturing facility for thin-film solar electricity modules in Jena, Germany. Manufacturing capacity of the facility will exceed 30 megawatts/pa. Due to open in 2007, "The establishment of this solar factory represents yet another milestone in our efforts to expand our solar activities. This investment means we will be expanding our thin film technology to the industrial series production level," explains Dr.Ungeheuer, Chairman/Board of Management of Schott. The new production facility will manufacture thin film solar electricity modules based on amorphous silicon. The process requires silicon to be vapor deposited onto glass. One advantage that thin film silicon technology offers over crystalline silicon technology is that much less silicon is required.
