Key takeaways:
Linton, RCT Solutions, and NexWafe highlighted how wafer manufacturing is evolving alongside TOPCon, HJT, and BC cell technologies
Diamond-wire sawing continues to dominate, with focus shifting toward thinner wafers, higher yields, and improved automation
NexWafe’s direct gas-to-wafer approach aims to reduce oxygen content while improving carrier lifetime and resistivity control
The wafer slicing process, which follows ingot pulling, has evolved over the years, with wafer specifications increasingly dictated by downstream cell technologies such as TOPCon, HJT, and BC architectures.
In the wafering section, it is well known that the state of the art is diamond-wire-based sawing. The topics of focus here are thinner wafers, higher yield, and increased automation.
Zhixin Li of Linton highlights that next-generation slicing systems can handle multiple wafer formats ranging from 182 mm to 230 mm, including rectangular designs. The targeted wafer thickness is < 55 μm; at the same time, they deliver improved total thickness variation and reduced surface damage, to reach overall A-grade yields of ≥ 97%.
Wolfgang Jooß from RCT Solutions highlights tightening requirements across multiple parameters, including lower oxygen levels, higher minority carrier lifetime, tighter resistivity control, thinner wafers, and larger formats such as G10 and G12. As a result, wafer manufacturing is evolving from a generic process into an application-specific, technology-driven step aligned closely with cell performance requirements.
As an alternative to the traditional route of making solar wafers, NexWafe, a Germany-based startup and a spin-off of Fraunhofer ISE, developed Direct Gas-to-Wafer Silicon Production Using Epitaxial Growth. Frank Siebke, Co-founder and Senior VP Business Development of NexWafe, presented the company’s approach of producing silicon wafers using a direct gas-to-wafer process at the TaiyangNews High-Efficiency Solar Technologies 2025 Conference. He presented encouraging first results: 20 to 40 times lower oxygen content, controllable resistance through doping from the gas phase, and an average minority carrier lifetime of 4 ms with a peak of 6 ms. The commercialization of the company’s technology is slated for mid-2027.
The text is an edited excerpt from the TaiyangNews Report on Cell & Module Technologies Trends 2026, which can be downloaded for free here.