News

25 February 2009

 

LayTec enters new market with launch of SolR in-line monitoring systems for thin-film PV processes

LayTec GmbH of Berlin, Germany has launched what it says are the first in-line monitoring systems commercially available for thin-film photovoltaic (PV) applications. The SolR will be available in various editions for copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) and CdTe thin-film solar cell processes, and will enable users to monitor the film thickness of all layers throughout the process: transparent conducting oxide (TCO), absorber and buffer layers.

The main challenge was to obtain an accurate film thickness measurement, despite the reduced reflectance due to intentionally rough absorber layers, says the firm. Absorber layers (CdTe or CIGS) are designed to be rough in order to maximize internal reflections of sunlight in the cells for the purposes of efficiency. However, reflectance measurements work better with smooth layers, which meant that LayTec had to develop a robust method to establish film-thickness measurements under challenging conditions.

“SolR will help thin-film PV producers to control their production on-line and thereby enhance their yield. Besides, it will accelerate development cycles and help to transfer established processes to new lines, an important feature in times when thin-film PV industry grows rapidly,” says LayTec’s CEO, Thomas Zettler. “We realized a strong demand from CIS and CdTe based solar cell producers in discussions with researchers of big thin-film PV players at several conferences. Now, after less than a year of tightly focused engineering and testing works at LayTec, we are proud to have signed the first order contracts and to ship the first SolR system to a confidential thin-film PV manufacturer in May. Numerous further systems are expected to follow: better control pays off quickly.”

SolR is compatible with typical state of the art in-line and roll-to-roll processes, and works for all substrates and current PV cell designs.

LayTec will present its latest development results in the Exhibitor Presentation Area at the Photovoltaic Technology Show in Munich on March 4 at 1:40 pm, or for more details visit the firm at Booth i5, Hall C1.

See related item:

LayTec developing in-line monitoring for thin-film PV processes

Search: LayTec In-situ monitoring CdTe CIGS Solar cells

Visit: www.laytec.de