Air Products has brought onstream an expansion of its high-purity hydrogen selenide (H2Se) production capabilities at its electronic specialty materials manufacturing facility in Hometown, Pa., the company said late Thursday.

The new capacity was added to serve the growing Copper Indium Gallium Selenium (CIGS) thin-film solar cell manufacturing market, according to Air Products.

Air Products can deliver H2Se to semiconductor and photovoltaic customers at more than 99.99% purity levels, it said.

"Air Products has a long history of supplying hydrogen selenide and will continue to deliver the cutting edge materials our customers need to manufacture state-of-the-art products," said Joe Stockunas, global business director for electronic materials at Air Products.

Industry observers believe CIGS technology holds promise going forward based on the significant advances in efficiency improvement and high-volume manufacturing that producers have already made, Air Products said.

To learn more about H2Se and view a short video on Air Products' H2Se capabilities, visit their H2Se website by clicking here.