The Dutch manufacturer of spatial atomic layer deposition equipment has launched a new sheet-to-sheet instrument for the pilot production of large-area perovskite solar panels on glass substrates.
Dutch atomic layer deposition (ALD) equipment manufacturer SALD BV has launched a new sheet-to-sheet spatial ALD tool for the pilot production of large-area perovskite solar devices on glass substrates.
The scalable system for the deposition of functional thin film layers on glass plates is said to be able to achieve process speeds of up to 1 m per second and is described as suitable for substrates with dimensions up to 1.2 m x 0.6 m to meet customer pilot line specifications.
It is a tool with a larger capacity and made for use in an open environment, typical of commercial production conditions compared to the previous system launched in 2022 and was made for waffle formats and glove box integration.
The tool is suitable for applying functional layers for different cell types. For example, within single junction perovskite devices it can be used for the deposition of tin oxide (SnOₓ) and nickel oxide (NiO) buffer layers, as well as aluminum oxide (AlOx) for interlayers or encapsulation, as well as aluminum doped zinc oxide (AZO) deposition at the recombination junction in tandem solar cells.
These are functional layers in the cell stack where low-temperature SALD processing is particularly valuable for temperature-sensitive device stacks containing perovskite absorbers, the company said.
When it comes to crystalline silicon cells, it can be used for the deposition of aluminum metal oxide (Al₂O₃) and hafnium oxide (HfO₂), with the former also applicable in flexible solar energy production.
For such layers, operating costs are claimed to be lower than conventional vacuum vapor deposition. “The reduction is primarily due to higher throughput without vacuum infrastructure, which reduces operational complexity and costs compared to conventional vacuum deposition tools,” a company spokesperson said. pv magazine.
The platform was developed to address typical bottlenecks in the transition from laboratory scale to higher volume production, enabling process development under production-relevant conditions, providing uniformity, throughput and reproducibility, the company said.
Founded in 2019, SALD develops and builds a range of atomic layer deposition systems, including research-sized and high-volume deposition systems for industrial applications, requiring high throughput, precision and process reproducibility.
This content is copyrighted and may not be reused. If you would like to collaborate with us and reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.
Popular content
