History

Milestones in the History of Wire Sawing Technology
2000 B.C.
The Egyptians were the first to cut stone blocks using rope, and a mix of water and sand as abrasive.

19th century
Marble in Italy was cut with cables.

1920’s
The first patents were granted for wire sawing using cables for cutting large blocks of marble in slices of approximately one inch thickness.

1960’s
The first wire saws using short reciprocal movement were used for cutting several slices of crystal individually.

1970’s
Short reciprocal wire saws were used for silicon wafers 1-2 inches in diameter.


Milestones in HCT’s History

1982
Start of Dr. Hauser’s initial research

1983
First shipment of a wire saw

1996
Shipment of the 100th wire saw

1998
HSBC (today Montagu) becomes a new majority shareholder

2002
Shipment of the 250th machine

2005
Introduction of squaring machine for solar wafer production

Manufacturing of the world's largest multi-wire saw

Established a service center in China

2006
Introduction of cropping machine for solar wafer production

Shipment of more than 100 machines in one year

2007
Joint venture with Courbis Synthèse in China

Shipment of the 500th wire saw

HCT Shaping Systems SA (Precision Wafering Systems "PWS") becomes part of Applied Materials Inc., Santa Clara, USA

2009
Introduction of the Applied HCT MaxEdge wire-saw - major advances to lower solar cell cost