Attached files
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| 8-K - NovAccess Global Inc. | v162887_8k.htm |
| EX-99.2 - NovAccess Global Inc. | v162887_ex99-2.htm |
Stock
Hideout Interview Questions and XsunX, Inc. Chief Executive Office Tom Djokovich
Responses, October 13, 2009
The
interview was preceeded by the following advisement:
Safe Harbor
Statement: Matters discussed in this interview may contain forward-looking
statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995. When used in this interview, the words “anticipate”, “believe”,
“estimate”, “may”, “intend”, “expect” and similar expressions identify such
forward-looking statements. Actual results, performance or achievements
could differ materially from those contemplated, expressed or implied by the
forward-looking statements contained herein. These forward-looking
statements are based largely on the expectations of the Company and are subject
to a number of risks and uncertainties. These include, but are not limited
to, risks and uncertainties associated with: the impact of economic,
competitive and other factors affecting the Company and its operations, markets,
product, and distributor performance, the impact on the national and local
economies resulting from terrorist actions, and U.S. actions subsequently; and
other factors detailed in reports filed by the Company.
XsunX
encourages participants to read the investor information available at the web
sites of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) at http://www.sec.gov
and the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) at
http://www.nasd.com. Interested participants can review all public filings by
the Company at the SEC's EDGAR page.
This
interview does not constitute an offering of securities by the Company, nor
shall there be any sale of securities related to this interview.
The
following are the question and answers:
1. Stock Hideout
Question: XsunX was working on amorphous thin film and now you
are focused on developing a CIGS solution. What expertise does the company have
in CIGS thin films?
XsunX CEO Response: Our chief
technology officer, Mr. Robert Wendt, has more than 15 years experience in
thin-film solar technologies dating back to the late 1990’s where he worked
under a grant with NREL researchers developing and testing different CIGS
deposition methods. Prior to starting with XsunX in 2007 he directed several
areas for Global Solar Energy Inc., a major producer of CIGS thin-film PVs,
including copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) technology development,
equipment design and integration, facilities design and construction,
engineering, production and operations.
We have
also announced our business development relationship with Intevac, Inc., an
established equipment supplier to the hard disc drive industry, and through
Intevac we have access to extensive equipment and engineering resources to
assist in the manufacturing technology development.
2. Stock Hideout
Question: How does the use or adaptation of hard disc
drive equipment work in your new plan?
XsunX CEO Response: What we
have announced is that we believe that the key to high efficiency and lower
production costs may lie in keeping the size of the solar cell small or rather
similar in size to silicon wafers. The record for CIGS conversion efficiency is
nearly 20% while the best commercial CIGS solar modules range between 8% to 10%.
That equates to a 100% efficiency difference between best laboratory and best
factory performance. We believe that a major cause for this difference is that
factory manufacturing methods have scaled the size of the deposition area to
provide for more product throughput, but in doing so they introduce numerous
process variations resulting in defects to the cell structure.
We
believe that the use of hard disc manufacturing equipment may allow us to keep
the processing area small, initially about 5 inch by five inch wafers, thereby
reducing the number of process variables between small area laboratory results
and factory manufacturing levels. The key is to reduce the amount of
processing defects which can lead to better cell performance while at the same
time introduce a manufacturing method that can compensate for the individual
small area wafer processing with high throughput manufacturing
techniques.
We
obviously have to complete this development and adaption process and prove our
plan works.
3. Stock Hideout
Question: Where is the company in the development
process and how long will it take?
XsunX CEO Response: We have
not provided or announced a timeline for the completion of this CIGS project.
The main reason for this is that while we do have a detailed work plan
scheduling innovation is virtually impossible. Some work plan items can occur
more rapidly while others may take a second effort. What we have been doing is
providing monthly information related to our goals for the next month or period
and then providing an update on progress or the achievement of that
goal.
For
September we announced that our goal was to begin testing the design of a
thermal evaporation source for its suitability in manufacturing the core CIGS
sun absorber. We announced in October that we achieved that goal and had begun
evaporating metal, analyzing results, and establishing deposition rates for both
the evaporation source and sputtering tools. There are a number layers to the
CIGS structure and for the next several months our work effort will be to
analyze results and refine designs, with the goal of combining these
designs within a tool set and the ability to deposit CIGS devices.
4. Stock Hideout
Question: With the Oregon factory and manufacturing no longer
part of your business development plan how does the company plan to generate
revenue from this new CIGS technology?
XsunX CEO Response: Our
website provides detailed information about our plans to offer this new CIGS
manufacturing technology through joint venture manufacturing partnerships. What
this means in a nut shell is that we plan to offer the technology to companies
in the form of a joint venture where XsunX provides the technology and the
partner provides the capital and business infrastructure to build the facility,
manufacture the product, and market. XsunX plans to earn a fee or royalty from
the manufactured products.
We
believe that as solar continues to build its presence as a viable energy source
it will attract existing companies and new entrants to establish manufacturing
capabilities. XsunX hopes to complete the development of our new CIGS
manufacturing method and then market to these groups. In this way XsunX can
continue to focus on what we do best while empowering other companies to do what
they do best.
5. Stock Hideout
Question: How would a thin film solar wafer be
used?
XsunX CEO Response: Good
question. Currently, over 80% of the solar market uses silicon wafers to
manufacture solar modules. We believe that by making a thin film CIGS wafer on a
stainless steel substrate we may be able to provide or produce an alternative
technology to silicon. The thin film CIGS wafer would be used as a substitute to
silicon wafers in the assembly process of a solar module. Obviously the
efficiency of the CIGS solar cell would have to be high enough to provide value
but as provided on our web site we believe that at only 12% efficiency a CIGS
solar cell would provide cost savings and possibly attract use as an alternative
to silicon. There are numerous other uses as well and you can find more detail
on our web site in the technology section.
6. Stock Hideout
Question: The Intevac XsunX relationship is hard to
understand. Intevac appears to be offering their own solar solution. How does
this fit into the XsunX plan?
XsunX CEO Response: We have
received numerous questions from investors related to Intevac and the use of
Intevac technologies for our CIGS manufacturing technology development. Intevac
does have a tool set that it is preparing to offer to manufacture CIGS cells.
What we’ve announced and the easiest way to explain what we are doing
differently is to first mention that two of the established methods for
manufacturing a CIGS solar device are (1) sputtering (this is the Intevac
method) and (2) sputtering combined with evaporation (this is the approach that
XsunX is using).
Using
sputtering technologies alone, it is possible to manufacture all of the layers
necessary to make a CIGS device. However, industry research has shown that
sputtering alone has not achieved the same efficiency milestones that have been
achieved when sputtering is used in combination with evaporation techniques to
make the CIGS device. Evaporation requires less processing time and in the long
run provides a more efficient use of less costly materials. You have to have the
knowhow though to engage in an effort with evaporation.
The
difference in efficiencies between sputtering and evaporation can be
significant. This is what our chief technologist, Robert Wendt, learned in his
many years working with CIGS.