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Sanyo CX-1

Sanyo CX-1

Distinctive features: An early solar cell powered calculator, with a more efficient "Amorton" amorphous silicon solar cell, which was developed by Sanyo.
It has a footprint fractionally bigger than a credit card.

Technical details:
Display is 8 digits, LCD.

4-function, %, memory, square root.

Size: (slightly bigger than a credit card).

Made in Japan.

Introduced: 1980^[1].

Sanyo, on its website^[2], says about the "Amorton" amorphous silicon solar cell: "Unlike crystal silicon, in which atomic arrangements are regular,  amorphous silicon features irregular atomic arrangements ... . As a result, the reciprocal action between photons and  silicon atoms occurs more frequently in amorphous silicon than in  crystal silicon, allowing much more light to be absorbed."

 

References:

1. Sanyo Electric Co. Ltd., corporate history, web page.
2. Sanyo, Amorton, web page.

Vintage Calculators

© Text & photographs copyright Nigel Tout   2000-2023  except where noted otherwise.