Flamac, imec partner to develop new materials for solar cells

Leuven, Belgium--Imec is working together with Flamac, a division of SIM vzw (Strategic Initiative Materials; Zwijnaarde, Belgium) to develop novel semiconductor materials for solar cell applications. Within the collaboration, novel materials are screened as an alternative for standard solar cells made of copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS).

Flamac’s recently installed physical vapor deposition (PVD)/plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PE-CVD) coater enables automated deposition of a variety of thin film materials. The platform consists of eight process chambers for studying PVD and PE-CVD coating processes; when combined with the variety of high-throughput analytic tools available at Flamac, the platform can perform accelerated screening of novel materials.

Imec’s research on solar cells focuses on improving efficiency and manufacturability of a number of key technologies, most notably silicon-based solar cells, thin-film solar cells such as organic solar cells, and printed inorganic cells based on nanoparticle inks. Imec’s thin-film solar cell activities are integrated in the Solliance collaboration platform and in the SIM SoPPoM program. Solliance’s ambition is to strengthen the position of the Eindhoven-Leuven-Aachen triangle (ELAT region) as a world player in thin-film photovoltaics (PV). Solliance aims to realize this ambition by joint use of state-of-the-art infrastructure, alignment of research programs, and close cooperation with the solar business community. The SIM SoPPoM program, supported by the Flemish Government, aims to create new, promising printing technologies, thus enabling more efficient and cheaper processes to lead to further spread of PV technology.

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