Umicore in a nutshell
Umicore is a materials technology group. Its activities are centered on four business areas: Advanced Materials, Precious Metals Products and Catalysts, Precious Metals Services and Zinc Specialties. Each business area is divided into market-focused business units, be it in products that are essential to everyday life or those at the cutting edge of new technological developments.
Umicore focuses on application areas where it knows its expertise in materials science, chemistry and metallurgy can make a real difference. Umicore generates approximately 50% of its revenues and spends approximately 80% of its R&D budget in the area of clean technology, such as emission control catalysts, materials for rechargeable batteries and photovoltaics, fuel cells, and precious metals recycling. Umicore’s overriding goal of sustainable value creation is based on this ambition to develop, produce and recycle materials in a way that fulfils its mission: materials for a better life.
The Umicore Group has industrial operations on all continents and serves a global customer base; it generated a turnover of EUR 6.9 billion (€1.7 billion excluding metal) in 2009 and currently employs some 13.700 people.
PV Materials @ Umicore
Umicore is supplying PV device manufacturing organizations with a wide range of sophisticated products and recycling services. We enjoy a leadership position in germanium substrates, rotary and planar targets and high purity evaporation materials for thin films, precious metals products for manufacturing pure silicon, ruthenium dyes for DSSC PV, BIPV elements and last but not the least, recycling services for CIGS production waste.
Our products and services are conceived to be of high performance and to make significant contributions in reducing overall PV manufacturing costs.