PRESS RELEASES

Ampulse Orders AK Inline System for Revolutionary Solar Cell Manufacturing

Hohenstein-Ernstthal, 18 March, 2011 - Roth & Rau MicroSystems GmbH of Hohenstein-Ernstthal, Ger-many today announced an order for an AK 1000 inline system for solar cell process development from Golden, Colorado-based Ampulse Corporation, a developer and manufacturer of solar cell solutions based on proprietary and patented crystalline-silicon (c-Si) thin-film technology. The system is scheduled for delivery in the first half of 2011, and will ultimately be installed at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), in Golden, Colorado, within its Process Development and Integration Laboratory (PDIL).

Dr. Michael Zeuner, Managing Director of Roth & Rau Microsystems GmbH, said “We are delighted that Ampulse selected Roth & Rau MicroSystems as their equipment supplier. Ampulse is developing c-Si thin-film, one of the most exciting technologies in photovoltaics, which promises to offer the efficiency of crystalline silicon, lowest module cost and the ease of installation of flexible thin-film. We look forward to working with Ampulse and NREL to help deliver this technology to the market.”

The AK inline series is a modular line of processing chambers which can be combined in any number and order to form flexible inline processing systems. For photovoltaics, OLED, and other applications which need multilayer depositions and surface treatments, the flexibility of the AK inline system offers many advantages. It can accommodate large substrates up to 480 mm wide, or batches of wafers. It may be configured with a variety of sources, including plasma, ion beam, sputter magnetron, and hot-wire, among others. Finally, processes developed on the AK inline systems may be easily scaled up to Roth & Rau’s high-volume production platforms.

Dr. Zeuner also commented that the company has seen strong interest in the AK inline system from pho-tovoltaic customers. “Customers tell us that this tool fit the needs not only of their initial R&D tool, but also for small-scale production, thereby eliminating the need to buy separate tools to bridge the gap between R&D and large-scale production.”

Steve Hane, President and Chief Executive Officer of Ampulse, said “Ampulse’s next-generation c-Si thin-film technology aims to provide best-in-class combination of the three most critical metrics in solar PV – low cost, high efficiency and flexible form factors. Roth & Rau’s industry leadership in photovoltaics production equipment and adaptability of its AK inline system to meet our unique processing requirements will help us achieve our goal in delivering revolutionary c-Si thin-film technology to the market. We’re glad to have them join our efforts with NREL.”

Ryne Raffaelle, Center Director of NREL’s National Center for Photovoltaics (NCPV), commented “We are excited to have Roth & Rau join the partnership with Ampulse to accelerate the commercialization of its c-Si thin-film technology, which is a commercialization effort that supports the U.S. Department of Energy and NREL’s renewable energy goals. With higher efficiency and low total systems cost, Ampulse’s c-Si thin-film has the potential to advance mass deployment of solar technology to address a wide range of market application.”

About Ampulse:
Ampulse Corporation is a venture capital-backed developer and manufacturer of solar cell solutions based on proprietary and patented c-Si thin-film technology. The company leverages proprietary and pa-tented technology developed at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewal Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). For more information, please visit www.ampulse.com or call +1 303-376-6150.

About the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL):
NREL is the U.S. Department of Energy's primary national laboratory for renewable energy and energy ef-ficiency research and development. NREL is operated for DOE by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC.

About Roth & Rau MicroSystems:
Roth & Rau Microsystems GmbH is a 100% daughter company of Roth & Rau AG (ISIN DE000A0JCZ51) based in Hohenstein-Ernstthal. Roth & Rau MicroSystems is a specialized supplier of plasma and ion beam process systems for the microelectronics, optics and photovoltaic industry. High end solutions for ion beam technology are provided for localized ion beam trimming and figuring. In plasma technology, PECVD and RIE applications are addressed with platforms for large area processes. Besides these stan-dard equipment, systems such as roll-to-roll coating machines and systems for large area optical coatings are specialized products of Roth & Rau MicroSystems. Located in Hohenstein-Ernstthal in Germany about 80 employees in system engineering, process development and in mechanical assembling produce our pioneering vacuum equipment. For more information, please visit www.roth-rau.de/microsystems / microsystems@roth-rau.de or call +49 3723/4988-0.