14.07.2022
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The Solar Energy Research Institute in Singapore (SERIS) has upgraded its Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) machinery to the newer Spatial Atomic Layer Deposition (SALD) process. With SALD, the Dutch company SALD BV has developed a unique process for applying three-dimensional coatings on an industrial scale that are as thin as a single atom. These nanocoatings should be able to revolutionize numerous industrial manufacturing processes and thus entire branches of industry. In the solar industry, SALD coatings for the new generation of perovskite-silicon tandem solar cells should achieve efficiencies in power conversion that are far above the theoretical limit of pure silicon. It is precisely in this area that SERIS is also planning to use the new SALD system. The process allows new solar cell materials to be used, including tin oxides and transparent conductive oxides, as well as passivation and tunneling recombination layers. It is planned to make the technologies developed at SERIS available to industrial solar cell manufacturers via licensing agreements in the future. Perovskite solar cells are particularly efficient, easy to process and inexpensive to produce, but they still entail technical challenges with regard to their stability. An atomically thin coating, as can be achieved with SALD technology, makes the cells significantly more robust. SERIS wants to make this leap “from lab to fab”, i.e. from the laboratory to production, with the new SALD machine. The potential for perovskite solar cells is great: according to forecasts, the global market is expected to exceed two billion dollars by 2027.
Author (s): wi
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