Nines Photovoltaics

Nines Photovoltaics is an Irish technology company based in Dublin that develops and supplies industrial dry etching equipment for the photovoltaic (PV) solar cell manufacturing industry. Established in 2010, the company is focused on bringing new innovative process technology, machinery and equipment to the international PV solar cell manufacturing sector. It is a sister company of Nines Engineering, an Irish firm set up in 2007 based on the founders' experience in the semiconductor manufacturing industry. The company's core offering is its patented ADE (Atmospheric Dry Etching) technology, a unique low-cost gas-phase etching process for silicon. Unlike Reactive Ion Etching (RIE), ADE does not require high-cost vacuum pumps or plasma modules and is purely a chemical etch process with no ions. The process uses no water and no greenhouse gas, giving it a low environmental impact compared with traditional wet etching methods. Nines states that its dry etch tools provide superior efficiencies, etch rate and tighter process control in a very small package with low power requirements, leading to a very low cost of ownership. Nines Photovoltaics offers a range of standard processing tools built around the ADE technology. The ADE-100 is aimed at R&D and pilot production lines, with a single-lane in-line processing layout and compact footprint suitable for laboratory environments. The ADE Single Side Etch Serie is an industrial product platform for capacity production, with multi-lane configurations and throughputs beyond the current industry roadmap. The ADE SS POLY-ETCH is designed for single-side etching of poly-silicon layers, especially suited to TOPCon solar cells and other advanced architectures using passivated contacts. Additional tools in development include the ADE SS E-ETCH for single-side edge isolation and the ADE SS nano-TEX for single-side texturing of silicon wafers for tandem devices and perovskite deposition. The company is led by founder and CEO Edward Duffy, who has been involved in the semiconductor capital equipment business since 1996, and CTO Laurent Clochard, who joined Nines in 2008. Nines Photovoltaics is headquartered at the Synergy Centre on the TU Dublin-Tallaght Campus in Dublin 24, Ireland. It markets its equipment internationally to solar cell manufacturers, positioning ADE as a future-proof, sustainable manufacturing technology that helps the industry move away from water-hungry wet etching processes.

Nines Photovoltaics was established in 2010 as a dedicated team focused on bringing new innovative process technology, machinery and equipment to the international photovoltaic (PV) solar cell manufacturing industry. The company is based in Dublin, Ireland, and is a sister company of Nines Engineering, an Irish company set up in 2007 and built up based on the founders' experience, knowledge and contacts within the semiconductor manufacturing industry. In 2009 the management team identified opportunities in the PV space in which they could bring their extensive semiconductor industry knowledge and add value to the sector by developing novel processing technologies. The founder and CEO, Edward Duffy, has been involved in the semiconductor capital equipment business since 1996. He was a lead engineer for Applied Materials, working on new equipment installs and process qualification for the Intel global account, and served as R&D engineering manager at Magnetic Solutions, responsible for the development of their first machine tools for semiconductor manufacturing. He founded Nines in 2007 to address PV solar cell manufacturing market needs. Laurent Clochard, CTO, has been involved in research, technology transfer and product development since 1998, with experience in several technology spin-outs internationally and significant product development experience for the semiconductor and photovoltaic markets; he joined Nines in 2008. The company developed its proprietary ADE (Atmospheric Dry Etching) technology, a unique low-cost gas-phase etching process for the PV solar cell manufacturing industry. ADE is patented by Nines PV and, unlike Reactive Ion Etching (RIE), does not require high-cost vacuum pumps or plasma modules, being purely a chemical etch process with no ions. The process uses no water and no greenhouse gas, giving it a low environmental impact. Nines has stated that as the solar industry scales exponentially, it is critical to select low-impact manufacturing technologies, and ADE allows solar cell manufacturers to move away from traditional wet etching methods that have large environmental footprints, power requirements and impact on water resources. Nines Photovoltaics offers a range of standard processing tools with the ADE technology at the core. The ADE-100 is ideal for R&D and pilot production lines, introducing process flexibility and ease of use to integrate and develop new cell architectures and process flows, with a single-lane in-line processing layout and compact footprint for laboratory environments. The ADE Single Side Etch Serie is a product platform aimed at industrial cell manufacturers for capacity production, with best-in-class throughputs. The ADE SS POLY-ETCH is a multi-lane, industry-ready version of the ADE-100 dedicated to poly-silicon wrap-around removal in cell manufacturing using passivated contacts (TOPCon), described as lab to fab. The industrial tools are designed using multiple parallel lines of processing and atmospheric pressure chemical reactors similar to the one used in the development tool, and the industrial process is compatible with on-site generation of the etching gas, delivering even lower cost of ownership. The ADE SS POLY-ETCH can remove selectively and at very high etch rate the few hundreds of nanometres of a-Si or poly-silicon from one side of the wafer, with non-metallic soft handling conveyor, low temperature process, multi-lane modular design of up to 3,000 wafer/hour/lane and up to 24,000 wph. Additional tools in development include the ADE SS E-ETCH, specifically developed for the single-side edge isolation cell process at ultra-high throughput, and the ADE SS nano-TEX, a new nano-texturing process designed for single-side texturing of silicon wafers to suit the needs of tandem devices bottom cells and perovskite deposition. The company continues to present its latest developments at industry conferences such as EUPVSEC 2024 in Vienna, and communicates news through LinkedIn. Nines Photovoltaics is headquartered at the Synergy Centre, TU Dublin-Tallaght Campus, Dublin 24, D24 A386, Ireland.

• 2025

  Announces LinkedIn presence for latest news on 23 January.

• 2024

  Attends and presents latest development at EUPVSEC 2024 in Vienna on 24 September.

• 2010

  Nines Photovoltaics is established in Dublin, Ireland.

• 2009

  Management team identifies opportunities in the PV space.

• 2008

  Laurent Clochard joins Nines.

• 2007

  Nines Engineering, sister company, is set up in Ireland.

Low-cost, sustainable, future-proof dry etching equipment for the PV solar cell manufacturing industry.

• ADE-100

  R&D and pilot production dry etching tool with single-lane in-line processing layout and compact footprint.

• ADE Single Side Etch Serie

  Industrial product platform for capacity production with multi-lane configurations and best-in-class throughputs.

• ADE SS POLY-ETCH

  Multi-lane industrial tool for single-side poly-silicon etching, especially suited to TOPCon solar cells.

• ADE SS E-ETCH

  In development; for single-side edge isolation cell process at ultra-high throughput.

• ADE SS nano-TEX

  In development; nano-texturing process for single-side texturing of silicon wafers for tandem devices bottom cells and perovskite deposition.

1. 1Nines PV :: Homenines-pv.com
2. 2Nines PV :: Productsnines-pv.com
3. 3Nines PV :: About Usnines-pv.com
4. 4Nines PV :: Industrial toolnines-pv.com
5. 5Nines Photovoltaics (Ireland) - Wikidatawikidata.org