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Gold/Mining/Energy : First Solar, Nasdaq: FSLR

FSLR 253.39

-3.5%

10:19 AM EST

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From: David C. Burns	4/6/2010 11:42:06 PM
	of 912

Explosive Silicon Gas Casts Shadow on Solar Power Industry Silane gas has killed and injured workers at cell-making plants. Can the photovoltaic industry live without it? In 2007, outside Bangalore, India, an explosion decapitated an industrial worker, hurling his body through a brick wall. In 2005 a routine procedure at a manufacturing plant in Taiwan caused a spontaneous explosion that killed a worker and ignited a blaze that ripped through the factory, shutting down production for three months. Both incidents shared a common cause—silane, a gas made up of silicon and hydrogen that explodes on contact with air. And both incidents occurred in the same industry—solar power. ... such issues have driven major companies such as General Electric to opt for competing technologies, investing in thin-film solar cells made from cadmium telluride by PrimeStar. Amorphous silicon "is attractive because of the availability of silicon but you still have to have silane in high purity," says electrical engineer Danielle Merfeld, director of solar technologies at GE Global Research. Making solar cells from cadmium telluride "is a much more robust and forgiving process and material structure." more at ... scientificamerican.com

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