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The Business of Fast ALD Equipment for Depositing Alumina Passivation Layers on Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 October 2011

Ad Vermeer ,
Roger Gortzen ,
P. Poodt  and
F. Roozeboom
Ad Vermeer
Affiliation:
SolayTec B.V., Dillenburgstraat 9G, 5652AM Eindhoven, The Netherlands
Roger Gortzen
Affiliation:
SolayTec B.V., Dillenburgstraat 9G, 5652AM Eindhoven, The Netherlands
P. Poodt
Affiliation:
TNO, De Rondom 1, 5612AP Eindhoven, The Netherlands
F. Roozeboom
Affiliation:
TNO, De Rondom 1, 5612AP Eindhoven, The Netherlands Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
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Abstract

Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) is a gas phase deposition technique for depositing very high quality thin films with an unsurpassed conformality. The main drawback of ALD however is the very low deposition rate (~ 1 nm/min). Recently, record deposition rates for alumina of up to 1 nm/s were reached using spatial ALD, while maintaining the typical assets regarding film quality as obtained by conventional, slow ALD [1]. This allows for ALD at high throughput numbers.

One interesting application is passivation of crystalline silicon solar cells. Applying a thin alumina layer is reported to increase solar cell efficiency and enables the use of thinner wafers, thus reducing the main cost factor [2]. In this paper we report on the latest progress made by SoLayTec that delivered a working prototype of a system realizing full area single sided deposition of alumina on 156 x 156 mm2, mono- and multi crystalline silicon wafers for solar cell applications. The alumina layers showed excellent passivation. Based on this concept, a high-throughput ALD deposition tool is being developed targeting throughput numbers of up to 3000 wafers/hr. Finally, we report on the process of commercializing this technology.

Keywords

atomic layer depositionpassivationphotovoltaic
Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 1353: Symposium HH – The Business of Nanotechnology III , 2011 , mrss11-1353-hh03-05
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2011

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References

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