Dutch atomic layer deposition (ALD) equipment manufacturer SALD BV has launched a new sheet-to-sheet spatial ALD tool for pilot production of large area perovskite solar devices on glass substrates.
The scalable system for deposition of functional thin film layers on glass sheets can reportedly achieve process speeds of up to 1 m per second and is described as suitable for substrate measuring up to 1.2 m x 0.6 m to match customer pilot line specifications.
It is a larger capacity tool and made for open-environment operation typical of commercial manufacturing conditions compared to its earlier system launched in 2022, which was made for wafer-sized formats and glovebox integration.
The tool is suitable for applying functional layers for a variety of cell types. For example, within single junction perovskite devices it can be used for tin oxide (SnOₓ) and nickel oxide (NiO) buffer layer deposition, as well as aluminum oxide (AlOx) for interlayers or encapsulation, as well as aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO) deposition at the recombination junction in tandem solar cells.
These are functional layers in the cell stack where low-temperature SALD processing is particularly valuable for temperature-sensitive device stacks containing perovskite absorbers, according to the company.
When it comes to crystalline silicon cells, it can be used for aluminum metal oxide (Al₂O₃) and hafnium oxide (HfO₂) deposition, with the former also applicable in flexible solar PV manufacturing.
A reduced cost of ownership is claimed compared to conventional vacuum vapor deposition for such layers. “The reduction mainly comes from higher throughput without vacuum infrastructure, which reduces operational complexity and cost compared to conventional vacuum deposition tools,” a company spokesperson told pv magazine.
The platform was developed to address typical bottlenecks in the transition from laboratory scale to higher volume production, enabling process development under manufacturing-relevant conditions, providing uniformity, throughput, and reproducibility, according to the company.
Founded in 2019, SALD develops and builds a line of atomic layer deposition systems, including research-sized and high-volume deposition systems for industrial applications, requiring high throughput, precision and process reproducibility.
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