Research & development
We continuously endeavor to optimize our production lines and processes in order to increase the degree of efficiency of solar cells, improve yield and production output and to make solar cell production even more cost-effective.
Our own research and development center is located in Constance, where more than 25 experts are working in a group-wide research project on the development of high-efficiency solar cells and the corresponding manufacturing processes. At the same time, standard solar cell production processes are also being optimized. The short-term objective is to achieve average efficiencies of 18% to 18.5% for mono-crystalline solar silicon cells and 16.6% to 17% for multi-crystalline solar silicon cells. We use the International Solar Energy Research Center (ISC) as a technology platform for the development of the whole solar cell manufacturing process.
Our team is also working on the continous improvement and development of equipment to comply with new processes and meet the tight requirements of higher throughput.
We work with BASF on the development of chemicals for the crystalline cell production process. The first jointly developed ready-for-market products increase the efficiency of solar cells through the improvement of the texturing process. Our customers benefit from a reduction in operating costs and breakage rate. These savings are achieved as the launch of the new product enables the texturing process of the solar cells to be carried out at room temperature. The electrical efficiency of the solar cells is also increased through an optimized surface patterning. BASF’s expertise in the field of chemistry and our process know-how is an ideal combination for the development of new improved solutions for the photovoltaic industry.
We have also established research cooperation initiatives with universities and research organizations, such as the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE) in Freiburg and the International Solar Energy Research Center Konstanz e.V. These initiatives have already produced various developments, such as optimized anti-reflection coating, improved solar cell architectures and metallization structures for higher efficiency in crystalline solar cell production.
We are continually expanding cooperation initiatives, while also working closely with our customers on research and development.
