Altatech, a subsidiary of Soitec, announced today that it has
introduced a multi-chamber chemical vapor deposition (CVD) system that
enables photovoltaic (PV) cell manufacturers to develop and optimize
their solar cell designs using advanced thin-film deposition of
amorphous silicon and other materials. By performing all deposition
processes within a single system, the new AltaCVD Solarlab™ tool reduces
cycle times and materials consumption in fabricating advanced
single-junction, tandem-junction and triple-junction PV cells.
Using
the AltaCVD Solarlab, customers can deposit transparent conducting
oxide (TCO) films that deliver the superior optical characteristics,
high doping mobility and smooth, defect-free surfaces needed to optimize
efficiency of their solar cells.
"Extending our core CVD technology for use in solar cell development
presents an additional market opportunity for us," said Jean-Luc
Delcarri, general manager of Soitec's Altatech subsidiary. "Reducing the
amount of material used in cells and improving photovoltaic conversion
performance will be the keys to growth in the next few years. We look
forward to continuing to apply our deposition expertise in both Research and Development
and commercial applications for the renewable-energy industry."
In
creating its newest CVD system, Soitec's Altatech subsidiary leveraged
its patented chamber architecture and deposition technology, which
enables the use of new precursor gases to achieve extremely high film
uniformity and tightly controlled stoichiometry. These capabilities have
been production-proven on the company's AltaCVD platform, which has
been used in both engineering and volume manufacturing of advanced
semiconductor devices since 2008.
The AltaCVD Solarlab system has
the versatility to perform standard thermal CVD processing as well as
plasma-enhanced CVD and atomic-layer deposition. These processes can be
run over a wide spectrum of temperatures, from 100° C to 800° C, to
create photosensitive films that can maximize the efficiency of PV cells
in converting sunlight to electricity. In addition, the system can
handle a variety of substrates, including transparent glass and both
round or square silicon wafers with thicknesses ranging from 150 microns
to several centimeters.
Soitec plans to begin shipping AltaCVD Solarlab systems to customers by the end of this year.
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