Solliance and imec join forces in thin film PV R&D

Solliance works in close cooperation with industry, both to fulfill short-term needs of industry, and to convey promising programs of mid- and long-term research. It focuses on three main thin film technologies: thin film Si, alternatives for CIGS, and organic photovoltaics (OPV).

For these principal themes Solliance will collaborate with the industry at its facilities in Eindhoven as well as at imec’s facilities in Leuven, providing direct answers to the industry’s most pressing questions. Solliance also concentrates on generic technologies that will be vital to any thin film PV industry: testing, characterization and monitoring, laser technologies, light management by mechanical texturization, transparent conductive layers, monolithic interconnection, new OPV device development, thin film deposition techniques, sheet-to-sheet processing, roll-to-roll (R2R) processing, and in-line monitoring.

Says Luc Van den hove, President and CEO imec: “The joining of forces in Solliance creates focus and critical mass, needed to be a top level player in the world of thin film PV.” And Hein Willems, Solliance’s managing director: “Strengthened by imec as the fifth member, our research now stretches across the entire field, from fundamentals of materials science to sophisticated production technologies.” Imec specifically excels in nanoelectronics, and harbors CIGS-related and OPV research teams of significant volume and expertise. It will now continue its thin film R&D within the Solliance cooperation.

Solliance’s ambition is to strengthen the position of the Eindhoven-Leuven-Aachen triangle (ELAT region) as a world player in thin film PV. Solliance now creates synergy among more than 250 researchers with this common goal. Solliance aims to realize this ambition by joint use of state-of-the-art infrastructure, alignment of research programs, and close cooperation with the solar business community. Solliance is amongst others financially supported by the Dutch Province of Brabant.

Solliance partners

ECN, the leading energy research institute in the Netherlands, very successful in the development of crystalline silicon PV technology; will transfer its entire thin film research group to Eindhoven.
See: www.ecn.nl

Imec, a world-leading research institute in nanoelectronics, based in Flanders, participates with its OPV and CIGS PV research groups.

TNO, the leading Dutch institute for applied scientific research and strong in generic technologies; has transferred all its work on PV to Solliance
See: www.tno.nl

Holst Centre, a joint research initiative of imec and TNO, joined Solliance with a focus on its work on roll-to-roll processes, mainly oriented towards OPV on flexible substrates.
See: www.holstcentre.com

TU/e, Eindhoven University of Technology, participates with its research groups Molecular Materials & Nanosystems, and Plasma & Materials Processing.

Solliance is supported by the Dutch province of North Brabant, which has dedicated € 28 million to Solliance. This will fund a large shared laboratory in Eindhoven with the newest equipment, complementing the partner’s labs which are also available to the other partners.