Ossila, a UK-based supplier of scientific equipment and materials, has launched a new version of its slot die coater for research laboratories. It is suitable for teams working on thin-film solar photovoltaics in the feasibility testing phase.
Scientific equipment and materials supplier Ossila has launched a new version of its slot diecoater for PV research labs working on the feasibility of scaling up thin-film devices. Compared to a previous version of the product, it reaches a higher hob temperature, up to 140 C, and has a larger coating surface.
“Slot-die coating is the gold standard for scalable thin-film processing. The method is commonly used in manufacturing and can achieve high coating speeds with excellent accuracy and very little solution waste. The Ossila Slot Die Coater brings this to the laboratory,” says Ossila application scientist Mary O’Kane in a article introduce the technology.
“Ultimately, this helps ensure that their findings can be scaled up for real-world applications and makes the slot-mold coater ideal for pilot-level production and feasibility testing for process scale-up,” O’Kane explains.
The new Ossila slot die coater is a 10.35 kg unit with a motorized table for smooth, continuous movement over a range of processing speeds from 50 μm.s-1 to 75 mm.s-1 with a table travel length of up to 150 mm . With a maximum head width of 100 mm, the coating surface can be up to 150 cm2. It includes an integrated syringe with software controlled pumping and start/stop times.
The flatness of the stage surface is less than 20 μm. The linear movement has a 0.05% variation in flatness with a travel distance from head to substrate up to 13 mm. Ossila says the equipment “easily achieves bidirectional coatings” for consistent results across different substrate requirements. The power supply is DC 24 V, 6.2 A via a 100/240 V power adapter. The dimensions are 360 mm x 280 mm x 190 mm.
It is suitable for precision thin film coating for applications other than PV, such as electronics, pharmaceutical and packaging applications.
Ossila, founded in 2009, is based in Great Britain and has offices in the Netherlands. It supplies scientific equipment, high-purity materials and laboratory supplies to research teams in 90 countries. The product line includes spin coaters, glove boxes, optical spectrometers and laminar flow hoods.
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.
