BOULDER - imaging Technology international Corp. in Boulder has created an equipment manufacturing division to apply its inkjet technology to help solar cell producers improve production efficiency and reduce manufacturing costs.
 
itiSolar will use iTi's patented inkjet application systems to help manufacturers make efficient, low-cost solar cells for both silicon-based and next generation thin-film photovoltaic cells.  

"Harnessing solar power efficiently and at a reasonable cost requires significant breakthroughs in cost and performance versus traditional solar-cell manufacturing technologies," said Harry Zervos, technology analyst at IDTechEx, a research firm.

"Inkjet fabrication is in an enviable position as it can be applied to today's technologies as well as to the solar technologies of tomorrow. With its advantage of efficiently applying materials onto a variety of flexible and rigid substrates, we believe inkjet fabrication is one of the key enabling technologies for driving substantial solar cell manufacturing cost and energy conversion efficiencies."

Inkjet printing of flexible and rigid thin-film photovoltaic solar cells offers a way to manufacture solar cells at a fraction of the cost of present day technologies.

Glass, ceramic, printed circuit boards and thicker plastics are examples of rigid substrates that can support thin-film technology and are less expensive than silicon, although flexible substrates offer the biggest cost improvement opportunities. Inkjet fabrication techniques, combined with thin-film photovoltaics, provide significant advantages compared with leading silicon alternatives.

 "iTi Corp. is  leveraging our extensive inkjet experience and patented technologies with the formation of iTi Solar to become an integral part of the new energy economy in Colorado," said Bruce Morgan, iTi's chief executive officer.