Machine Gives Silicon Cells An Anti-Reflective Coating

Singulus Technologies commissioned the first SINGULAR inline coating machine for anti-reflective coating of silicon solar cells at a European customer. The cells produced  achieve an excellent efficiency. In addition, the cells are characterized by a very homogenous coloring. The SINGULUS inline coating machine is used in production lines for the manufacturing of silicon solar cells.

The machine integration know-how, which Singulus Technologies has acquired in the automation of CD, DVD and Blu-ray Disc production machines, was an optimum starting point for the development of the new SINGULAR plant.
The anti-reflective layer is an important element in the production process of solar cells and ties directly to value-added chain from STANGL’s LINEA machine. LINEA is a new inline plant for wet-chemical treatment of crystalline solar wafers. Singulus developed a modular, fully-automated handling system for silicon wafers for the integration of wet-chemical and vacuum coating processes, which connects STANGL’s LINEA machine with the SINGULAR equipment offered by Singulus Technologies.

www.singulus.de

Anti-Reflective Coating Has Improved Solar Efficiency 17%

DSM Functional Coatings  announced the further optimization of its KhepriCoat™ solar anti-reflective coating system which have already resulted in a significant contribution to the first multicrystalline-silicon solar panels in the world.  It has achieved a conversion efficiency of 17%, which were produced recently by REC and ECN (Energy research Center of the Netherlands).

DSM’s KhepriCoat™ solar anti-reflective coating system boosts light transmission of solar glass sheets by around 4%, resulting in a considerable improvement in solar module efficiency. This coating system offers the best performance in terms of light transmission, durability and flexibility. A dedicated research group within DSM is working on technology breakthroughs that improve efficiency while at the same time allowing significant cost reductions in solar systems.

The new world record, which was announced in December, was the result of a joint effort between the Norwegian company REC, which produces high quality multicrystalline solar wafers, and ECN, which produced the cells and assembled the world-record solar panel. DSM, for its part, provided the glass with the KhepriCoat™ solar anti-reflective coating. ECN has been working with DSM since 2009 owing to the performance leadership of the KhepriCoat™ solar anti-reflective coating system. This cooperation has now led to the 17% efficiency barrier of multicrystalline-silicon solar panels being broken.

www.dsm.com