TY - GEN
T1 - The business of fast ALD equipment for depositing alumina passivation layers on crystalline silicon solar cells
AU - Vermeer, Ad
AU - Gortzen, Roger
AU - Poodt, P.
AU - Roozeboom, F.
PY - 2011/12/1
Y1 - 2011/12/1
N2 - 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 × 156 mm 2, 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.
AB - 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 × 156 mm 2, 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.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84860121321&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1557/opl.2011.1497
DO - 10.1557/opl.2011.1497
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:84860121321
SN - 9781618395559
T3 - Materials Research Society symposium proceedings
SP - 61
EP - 67
BT - The Business of Nanotechnology III
PB - Materials Research Society
CY - Warrendale
T2 - 2011 Materials Research Society Spring Meeting
Y2 - 25 April 2011 through 29 April 2011
ER -