Solar energy is the fastest growing alternative energy market in the world. Skyrocketing crude oil prices have aroused a strong interest in renewable energy and made solar energy one of the world's hottest technologies. As a segment, growth prospects are expected to be $14.7 billion by 2010. At its core, the solar market is based on polysilicon and silicon wafers. As a longtime leader in producing granular polysilicon for the manufacture of wafers for semiconductors, MEMC is uniquely poised to help make solar energy a global reality. We know polysilicon, and we understand wafer needs.

Silicon: The Element

Harnessing the sun's solar energy was long a goal of modern society. However, efficiently capturing the sun's energy was something that alluded scientists for many years. Surprisingly, Silicon, a base element that goes into making 156mm wafers, and therefore the technology that makes it possible to harness the sun's energy, occurs naturally and abundantly in nature. So much so, that next to oxygen, Silicon is the second most abundant element, making up 25.7% of the crust by mass.

Silicon and the Sun

Silicon acts as a semiconductor in that depending upon the manufacturing and production process, it can convey electrons, in a variety of ways, from one place to another. By harnessing this ability for the semiconductor industry, MEMC pioneered new techniques and material processes that allowed for greater efficiencies and features that benefited our customers.

MEMC Solar

This fundamental ability to manufacture and use polysilicon translates into a vast encyclopedia of knowledge. At the core of which is five decades of development, production, and research on polysilicon, its attributes, uses, and strengths. Today, MEMC extends its polysilicon knowledge into the solar wafer market. The result is a proven and robust process with tremendous cost and productivity advantages for the solar industry. We are currently working on enhancing 156mm wafer efficiencies, as well as other pioneering efforts that will impact the solar market for years to come. As technical advances and continued acceptance continue to grow in the solar industry, MEMC will be there to provide a solid and reliable foundation to build on.