Diffusion furnaces remain a core element of emitter formation in solar cell production. For the latest TaiyangNews Market Survey on Cell Production Equipment 2025, we have received data from 7 companies covering 14 diffusion furnace tools, all of which adopt low-pressure designs. Among these, LAPLACE stands out as an early adopter of horizontal wafer orientation, a configuration now increasingly favored for its throughput and handling advantages.

LAPLACE has provided data for 2 models: LRB480/06 and LRP480/06, both introduced in 2022. These low-pressure diffusion furnaces are designed for boron and phosphorus diffusion, respectively. Both systems are equipped with 6 process tubes, each with an inner diameter of 480 mm.

The company’s diffusion tools are based on horizontal wafer processing. Our previous publications have highlighted the benefits of such wafer orientation: it enables higher packing density of the wafer in the quartz boats, which in turn enables higher throughput, better process uniformity, and ease of handling to support thinner wafer processing.

The tools support wafer sizes ranging from 182 mm to 230 mm, with a minimum thickness of 100 µm. Each tube can accommodate 2,000 to 2,400 wafers per boat, depending on wafer specifications. Throughput is listed at a maximum of 4,500 wafers per hour and an average of 4,300 wafers per hour. They have a system uptime of 96% and a mechanical yield of 98%.