Sinton Instruments

Sinton Instruments is an American technology company based in Boulder, Colorado, that designs and manufactures test and measurement instruments for the silicon photovoltaic (PV) and integrated-circuit industries. Its stated goal is to implement elegant solutions to test and measurement challenges in silicon PV, targeting problems that matter with a firm device-physics foundation and cost-effective designs. The company has become the de facto lifetime-measurement standard in laboratories worldwide, and its tools are used for research and development as well as for process control in solar-cell and wafer manufacturing. The company's product line spans bulk silicon characterization, offline wafer-lifetime measurement, temperature-dependent lifetime analysis, photoluminescence-based lifetime measurement, inline wafer testing, and light I-V testing for finished solar cells. Flagship instruments include the WCT-120/WCT-120MX wafer-lifetime tester, which introduced the Quasi-Steady-State Photoconductance (QSSPC) lifetime measurement method developed by Sinton Instruments in 1994; the BLS-I/BCT-400 for contactless bulk silicon lifetime and resistivity measurement on CZ or multicrystalline bricks and ingots; the WCT-120TS for temperature-dependent lifetime measurement from 25 to 200°C; the WCT-120PL, which adds a photoluminescence detector; the IL-800 for inline wafer lifetime, sheet resistance, and trapping monitoring; and the FCT-650 for in-line light I-V testing of solar cells. Sinton Instruments sells to laboratories, R&D groups, and industrial production lines worldwide. Its instruments are compliant with SEMI Standard PV-13, and the company publishes papers, research results, and white papers on lifetime measurement principles, including a lifetime round-robin interlaboratory study. It exhibits at major industry events such as the Renewable Energy India Expo, the World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion (WCPEC), and SNEC in Shanghai. The company also maintains a software and news presence, including EV-charging-related content under the ChargeBug name, alongside its core PV metrology business.

Sinton Instruments is a Boulder, Colorado-based company that develops test and measurement instruments for the silicon photovoltaic industry. Its foundational contribution to the field is the Quasi-Steady-State Photoconductance (QSSPC) lifetime measurement method, which the company developed in 1994. That method became the basis of the WCT-120 wafer-lifetime tester, which the company describes as the standard offline wafer-lifetime tool and which is fully compliant with SEMI Standard PV-13. Over time, the WCT-120 line was extended with the WCT-120MX for 230 mm wafers, the WCT-120TS for temperature-dependent lifetime measurement from 25 to 200°C, and the WCT-120PL, which adds a photoluminescence detector and supports both QSSPC and QSSPL methods. The company expanded from offline laboratory instruments into inline production metrology. The IL-800 applies the calibrated measurement techniques developed for the WCT-120 to inline wafer testing, monitoring lifetime, sheet resistance, and trapping on production lines, with the measurement unit mountable under or over a wafer track. The BLS-I/BCT-400 extended the company's reach to bulk silicon characterization, providing contactless measurement of true bulk lifetime and resistivity on CZ or multicrystalline bricks and ingots before sawing. The FCT-650 brought light I-V and Suns-Voc testing to solar cells for advanced R&D analysis and in-line testing. Sinton Instruments has become the de facto lifetime-measurement standard in laboratories worldwide. It supports the research community by publishing papers, research results, white papers on the principles of lifetime measurements, and a lifetime round-robin interlaboratory study. The company exhibits at major PV industry conferences, including the Renewable Energy India Expo, the World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion (WCPEC) in Milan, and SNEC in Shanghai. In addition to its core PV metrology business, the company has published news and software related to EV charging under the ChargeBug name, including an EV charging forecast that updates automatically.

• 1994

  Sinton Instruments develops the Quasi-Steady-State Photoconductance (QSSPC) lifetime measurement method.

• WCT-120 wafer-lifetime tester becomes the standard offline wafer-lifetime tool, fully compliant with SEMI Standard PV-13.

• WCT-120MX variant introduced for 230 mm wafer measurements.

• WCT-120TS introduced for temperature-dependent lifetime measurement from 25 to 200°C.

• WCT-120PL introduced, adding a photoluminescence detector and QSSPL method.

• IL-800 inline wafer lifetime testing system introduced for production-line process monitoring.

• BLS-I/BCT-400 bulk silicon characterization system introduced for contactless measurement on bricks and ingots.

• FCT-650 in-line light I-V testing for solar cells introduced.

Industry-leading, device-physics-based, cost-effective test and measurement instruments for silicon PV process control; the de facto lifetime-measurement standard in laboratories worldwide.

• BLS-I/BCT-400

  Bulk silicon characterization system for simple and accurate contactless measurement of true bulk silicon lifetime and resistivity on CZ or multicrystalline silicon bricks and ingots, with no surface preparation required.

• WCT-120/WCT-120MX

  The standard R&D wafer-lifetime tool for process optimization, using QSSPC and transient photoconductance decay techniques to measure lifetimes from 10 ns to greater than 10 ms. The MX version measures samples up to 230 mm. Fully compliant with SEMI Standard PV-13.

• WCT-120TS

  Wafer lifetime measurement instrument offering calibrated analysis of temperature-dependent carrier-recombination lifetime over a temperature range of 25-200°C.

• WCT-120PL

  Wafer lifetime measurement with photoluminescence detector, measuring calibrated carrier-recombination lifetime using both QSSPC and QSSPL methods.

• IL-800

  Inline wafer lifetime testing system for high-throughput production environments, monitoring lifetime, sheet resistance, and trapping with offline-tool accuracy. The measurement unit with integrated excitation source may be mounted under or over a wafer track.

• FCT-650

  In-line light I-V testing for solar cells, providing advanced R&D analysis including light I-V and Suns-Voc data.

1. 1Home - Sinton Instrumentssintoninstruments.com
2. 2Products - Sinton Instrumentssintoninstruments.com
3. 3IL-800 - Sinton Instrumentssintoninstruments.com
4. 4WCT-120 - Sinton Instrumentssintoninstruments.com
5. 5Sinton Instruments - Wikidatawikidata.org