Fraunhofer ISE with over 60 Contributions at the European PV Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition

Photovoltaics is booming worldwide. If one considers PV installations in 2017, Europe has lost its pioneering role and now holds fourth place behind China, the USA and India. On the other hand, Europe is leading worldwide in PV research and development as demonstrated by the 35th European PV Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition EU PVSEC, held this year in Brussels from 24-28 September 2018. Fraunhofer ISE, Europe's largest solar research institute, is represented at the conference with over 60 contributions in the form of talks, posters, session chairs and two plenary speeches as well as a booth at the exhibition.

 

The topics presented by Fraunhofer ISE at the conference cover the entire spectrum of the institute's photovoltaic research. Silicon photovoltaics makes up the largest share of contributions, which cover the entire value chain from materials through cells and modules, up to power plants and quality control. In addition, there are also papers on multi-junction solar cells and concentrator photovoltaics as well as perovskite solar cells.

"This year's European PV Solar Energy Conference has a symbolic character not only because it is held in Brussels," remarks Dr. Andreas Bett, Institute Director of Fraunhofer ISE. "The conference is taking place at a historic time, when highly relevant discussions on the preservation of European photovoltaic production are occurring that will set the course for Europe's future energy system based on renewables."  

Diamond wire sawn multicrystalline silicon wafers

The plenary talk on "Inline Characterization of Diamond Wire Sawn Multicrystalline Silicon Wafers" from Fraunhofer ISE focuses on the issues facing metrology during inline characterization of diamond wire sawn multicrystalline silicon wafers.

Due to the large cost reductions in monocrystalline silicon wafers over the past months, manufacturers of multicrystalline wafers experienced increasing competitive pressure. As a result, they switched from the conventional slurry-based slicing process to one based on diamond wire sawing, a process widely used for monocrystalline silicon. Through this changeover, the six-hour sawing process was shortened to less than three hours. The diamond-cut technology presents, however, a big challenge for the multicrystalline material. Technological solutions had to be found, also with respect to solar cell manufacturing. "Up to now, there has been little discussion about the metrology used for the quality assurance of the wafer specifications," says the speaker Dr. Jonas Haunschild, Group Head of Inline Wafer Analysis and Image Processing at Fraunhofer ISE. He adds: "The talk gives an overview of the current in-line characterization methods, in which special attention must be given to the challenges facing inline metrology of the diamond sawn multicrystalline wafers."

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