DGAP-News

centrotherm presents groundbreaking products and processes for the manufacturing of high-efficiency solar cells at the SNEC PV in Shanghai

DGAP-News: centrotherm photovoltaics AG / Key word(s): Product Launch
centrotherm presents groundbreaking products and processes for the
manufacturing of high-efficiency solar cells at the SNEC PV in
Shanghai

27.04.2015 / 09:09

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centrotherm presents groundbreaking products and processes for the
manufacturing of high-efficiency solar cells at the SNEC PV in Shanghai
- centrotherm c.REG regeneration furnace for the reduction of light
induced degradation (LID)
- PECVD process for aluminum oxide coating (AlOx)

- Low-pressure boron diffusion for bifacial n-type solar cells

Blaubeuren, April 27, 2015 - From April 28 to 30 centrotherm will be
presenting new pioneering products and processes for the production of
crystalline solar cells at the main Asian photovoltaic trade fair SNEC PV
in Shanghai. These allow manufacturers the next step from the standard
solar cell to the production of highly efficient PERC and n-type solar
cells. The newly developed centrotherm products and processes can be
optimally integrated into existing mass production and achieve cell
efficiencies of more than 20%.

Newly developed regeneration furnace c.REG reduces significantly light
induced degradation (LID)
After first exposure to light mono-crystalline p-type solar cells might
suffer performance losses due to light induced degradation (LID). This
effect is ascribed to recombination active boron oxygen (B-O) complexes in
the wafer bulk that reduce conversion efficiency substantially.

To passivate B-O-defects centrotherm developed a regeneration process and
corresponding equipment that is applied directly after fast firing, after
sorting or even before module manufacturing. LID is significantly reduced
with the belt furnace c.REG. A particularly efficient and quick
regeneration can be achieved in connection with the direct plasma process
of the centrotherm PECVD system c.PLASMA.

centrotherm aluminum oxide PECVD process for the manufacture of PERC solar
cells
Many cell manufacturers are turning towards more complex cell architectures
with higher efficiencies. Therefore, the next generation of crystalline
solar cells requires a highly effective surface passivation of front and
rear side of the wafer.

The newly developed centrotherm process for the rear side passivation by
AlOx/SiNx stacked layers is characterized by excellent surface passivation