New Metallization Pastes from Ferro Electronic Material Systems Improve Performance, Ease Manufacturing of PV Silicon Solar Cells

CLEVELAND-(Business Wire)-September 21, 2009 - Ferro Electronic Material Systems, a leading supplier of materials for fabricating photovoltaic silicon solar cells for more than 25 years, broadened its product line with the introduction of five new products at the 24th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition held in Hamburg, Germany September 21–24. The products improve electrical output, efficiency, and manufacturability, enabling solar energy to become a more cost-competitive energy generation alternative.

Front Silver Pastes for Shallow Emitters

Products in this family, NS 33-510 and NS 33-520, yield greater power output, fire through silicon nitride anti-reflective coatings, and provide a broad processing window. They form excellent contact on 55-70 ohms/square high sheet resistivity emitters, and their rheology is suitable for high aspect ratio grid lines. The products are compatible with all Ferro rear silver pastes as well as lead-free and low-bow aluminum pastes. Both NS 33-510 and NS 33-520 are for use with emitters having a low surface concentration diffusion profile. They also are RoHS compliant and Cadmium-free.

In addition, NS 33-510 and NS 33-520 offer the advantages of Ferro’s patented Hot Melt ink technology. This specially designed silver conductor system eliminates the drying process of conventional pastes, resulting in higher throughput rates, increased productivity, improved yields, and reduction of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Solid at room temperature, Hot Melt pastes are resistively heated above their melting points to screen print similarly to conventional thick film pastes. Unlike conventional pastes, they instantly re-solidify when transferred to the solar cell surface and are ready for the next printing sequence. This unique property also improves the aspect ratio of printed grid lines and reduces shading, contributing to a higher cell efficiency than can be achieved with conventional screen printing materials. Fired line resolution of 80 microns wide x 30 microns thick has been achieved under optimal conditions.

Back Side Aluminum Paste

Ferro’s AL 53-110 Series are lead- and cadmium-free aluminum conductors for the back surface of 180–220-μm thick silicon wafers. They exhibit less than 1.5 mm camber on 150 x 150-mm wafers at 180-μm thickness, enabling solar cell manufacturers to reduce silicon usage and costs. They eliminate aluminum bead formation during the firing process and can be fired over a broad range of conditions, including co-fire processes with front contact silver inks. AL 53-110 Series inks provide a shallow eutectic and a uniform back surface field (BSF) to yield a smooth surface and high electrical efficiency.

High Adhesion Rear Silver Pastes

PS 33-610 and PS 33-612 are cost-effective thrifted silver conductor pastes that provide high adhesion and excellent solderability when used with lead-free solders. Low interfacial resistance yields improved electrical performance. Both products are cadmium-free, and PS-610 is led-free. Both inks also offer the additional manufacturing benefits of Ferro’s Hot Melt ink technology.

About Ferro

Ferro Electronic Material Systems has locations in Vista, CA; Penn Yan and Niagara Falls, NY; South Plainfield, NJ; Haverhill, United Kingdom; Uden, The Netherlands; Hanau, Germany; Tsukuba, Japan; and Suzhou, China. Its products include metal pastes and powders for solar energy applications, advanced packaging and thick film conductors; chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) slurries for semiconductors and advanced integrated circuits; dielectrics used in chip components and multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCC); and surface finishing materials for LCD, hard disk, and ophthalmic polishing.

Ferro Corporation (NYSE:FOE) is a leading global supplier of technology-based performance materials for manufacturers. Ferro materials enhance the performance of products in a variety of end markets, including electronics, telecommunications, pharmaceuticals, building and renovation, appliances, automotive, household furnishings, and industrial products. Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, the Company has approximately 6,700 employees globally and reported sales of $2.0 billion in 2006. Additional information about the Company can be found at www.ferro.com.

Cautionary Note on Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this Ferro press release may constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Federal securities laws. These statements are subject to a variety of uncertainties, unknown risks and other factors concerning the Company’s operations and business environment, which are difficult to predict and often beyond the control of the Company.

Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those suggested by these forward-looking statements, and that could adversely affect the Company’s future financial performance, include, but are not limited to the following:

the availability and cost of raw materials and other supplies;
intense competition in the markets the Company serves;
successful execution of projects designed to improve operating margins;
successful execution of restructuring programs to improve manufacturing efficiency and reduce costs;
the unpredictability and cyclicality of demand in the Company’s markets;
exposure to currency conversion and changing global economic, social and political conditions;
the Company’s ability to compete lawfully with local competitors in the Asia/Pacific region;
aggressive global regulation of hazardous materials could affect sales of our products;
costs of compliance with stringent environmental, health, and safety regulations;
access to capital markets or borrowings;
variable interest rates on some of our external borrowings could increase;
encumbrances on the Company’s assets granted to lenders affect our flexibility to dispose of assets;
restrictive covenants in our credit facilities could affect our flexibility in funding strategic initiatives;
the Company’s ability to utilize significant deferred tax assets;
the outcome of any legal claims against the Company;
the Company’s ability to continuously introduce new products to respond to demand;
the uncertainty of future employee benefit costs and the impact of funding of those costs;
and risks associated with acts of God, terrorists, and others, as well as fires, explosions, wars, riots, accidents, embargos, natural disasters, strikes and other work stoppages, quarantines and other governmental actions, and other events or circumstances that are beyond the Company’s reasonable control.

Additional information regarding these risk factors can be found in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the period ended December 31, 2006.

This release contains time-sensitive information that reflects management’s best analysis only as of the date of this release. The Company does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect future events, information or circumstances that arise after the date of this release.

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