Nines PV :: DEMOSOLNOWAT

Testing and up scaling of technology developed under the SOLNOWAT FP7 Project which developed a competitive 0 GWP, dry, atmospheric pressure etching process for use in manufacture of PV solar cells.

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Project acronym:
DEMOSOLNOWAT

Type of funding scheme:
Collaborative projects - DEMONSTRATION ACTIVITIES - FP7-SME-2013-3

DEMOSOLNOWAT aims to demonstrate at an industrial scale the viability of a dry process alternative for the Solar Photovoltaic cell industry. This demonstration will apply the results and processes successfully developed during the SOLNOWAT project. This technology allows for the reduction in the very high water consumption and Global Warming Potential (GWP) emissions of the current manufacturing process while meeting all industrial production requirements. Equipment Prototypes will be built and scaled to be tested in industrial conditions:

- Automated Atmospheric Dry etching tool prototype with capacity of 1000 wafers/hour
- Integrated non-contact wafer conveyor
- Industrial F2 gas monitoring mass spectrometer hardware prototype

This project will allow the SMEs to demonstrate the viability of their new technology and process equipment to the Photovoltaic industry at an industrial scale, and bridge the gap to market.

BENEFITS

- Dramatic reduction of water usage*
- Very low environmental impact processing *
- Advance process control, real time monitoring*
- High-throughput, high-yield, integrated industrial processing (inline)*
- PV solar cell devices with increased conversion efficiency*
- Enabling thin Si wafer processing* and surface decoupling (single sided).
- Smaller footprint manufacturing equipment (>50% reduction)
- Low manufacturing cost of ownership* (CoO) (<1€/Watt)

Most of these benefits(*) are fundamental criteria outlined by the European Photovoltaic Technology Platform in its Strategic Research Agenda for Photovoltaic Solar Energy Technology, in order to meet the sector’s ambitions for technology implementation and industry competitiveness.

The Problem:
The current water usage in the photovoltaic (PV) solar cell manufacturing industry is not sustainable. The PV solar industry as a whole has been growing dramatically over the last 10 years. PV solar is indeed recognised as the renewable energy alternative that can meet our global energy needs for the foreseeable future. Companies involved in this industry have been growing significantly, answering the demand, and scaling their production capacity accordingly. Equipment and processes developed by cell manufacturers have been for most adopted and scaled up from semiconductor manufacturing. However, the value-add and cost structures for both sectors are vastly different despite the manufacturing processing technologies being similar. As the industry continues to increase its capacity, very large footprint factories that have heavy consumption of chemicals, water and emissions of high Global Warming Potential (GWP) gases become unsustainable. New regulations, including the Kyoto agreement, will enforce strict control on water management and
emissions. The availability of environmentally friendly production technologies that can cope with emission regulations in Europe will be crucial for the continuity of cell manufacturing in the EU. At the same time EU regulations are expected to further restrict the use of production technologies with high GWP. There is therefore a need to rethink and develop new process solutions that meet these requirements in order to strengthen the economic and ecological innovation ability of European SMEs and cell producers.

THE PRIME INDUSTRIAL OBJECTIVES ARE:
- Demonstrate the technology at an industrial scale
- Reduce overall cost of solar cell production
- Deliver a process with Increased throughput that can meet future needs
- Reduce production costs related to GWP emission and water consumption
- Streamline the production process
- Reduce the footprint of equipment required for etching steps
- Enable a number of advanced cell technologies

This project is coordinated by Nines Photovoltaics.

Alyxan - Zimmermann & Schilp - Nines Photovoltaics

The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme managed by REA - Research Executive Agency http://ec.europa.eu/research/rea ([FP7/2007-2013] [FP7/2007-2011]) under grant agreement n° 606400.