Reactor System For Solar Cells
AIXTRON AG has announced an order for one AIX 2800G4 (15x4") Planetary Reactor system from the CESI RICERCA a company based in Milan, Italy. The order was received in December 2008 and the reactor will be delivered in the fourth quarter 2009.
The new system will be used to develop multi-junction solar cells forming an integral part of a pan-European collaboration, the ‘Apollon Project' of the Seventh Framework Programme [FP7/2007-2013] under the Grant Agreement 213514, which supports the transfer of new technologies to mass production. The aim of the Apollon Project is the development and realization of an MOCVD technology for highly efficient multi-junction solar cells.
Dr. Gianluca Timò, Apollon Project Director at CESI RICERCA, comments, “For this project we are developing triple-junction and multi-junction solar cells with new materials and so we needed an MOCVD system with sufficient flexibility. The AIXTRON Planetary Reactor design is perfect in this respect plus it has a wide process window thanks to its new inlet geometry and reactor design. We will also be able to easily tune the system for our new processes and materials. In particular, with this system the testing of new hydride and metal-organic sources will be straightforward. Such features together with the advanced in-situ monitoring technologies and flexible wafer configurations up to multiple 8.5” will ensure that our development program can investigate all possibilities smoothly and efficiently.”
The five-year duration APOLLON Project will develop High Concentration Point Focus and Dense Array Concentrator Photovoltaic (CPV) systems that are based on monolithic and discrete multi-junction technologies. It has a final target cost of 2 €/Wp.
