By Cameron Chai
Imec, a Leuven, Belgium-based nanoelectronics research center is collaborating with a subsidiary of Strategic Initiative Materials in Flanders to design innovative semiconductor materials for solar cells. As part of this partnership, innovative materials are screened as a choice for the normal solar cells made of copper indium gallium and selenium (CIGS).
The Physical Vapor Deposition/ Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition coater installed in the recent past by Flamac enables the deposition of a range of thin film materials. The platform comprises eight process chambers allowing the study of PE-CVD and PVD coating techniques. This coating system integrated with a range of high-throughput analytic tools offered at Flamac signifies a strong screening platform for rapid screening of innovative materials.
Imec's solar cell research concentrates on enhancing effectiveness and production capability of a range of major technologies especially silicon-based and thin-film solar cells that include printed inorganic and organic solar cells with nanoparticle inks as the basis. The thin-film solar cell actions of Imec are incorporated in the Solliance collaboration platform. Solliance's aim is to establish the Eindhoven-Leuven-Aachen triangle (ELAT region) position as a major player in thin film PV.
Source; http://www.imec.com