High-throughput epitaxial reactor for large-scale production of wafers for the photovoltaic industry

Profil Titel	High-throughput epitaxial reactor for large-scale production of wafers for the photovoltaic industry
Referenz	05 ES MADG 0DRF
Herkunftsland	Spain
Kooperationsart	Angebot
Eintrag/Änderung	2005-11-28 / 2007-10-29
Status	Dieses Profil ist abgelaufen! Falls Sie denoch Interesse haben, kontaktieren Sie uns. (2007-11-10)

Kurzfassung

A Spanish public university has developed an epitaxial reactor able to produce wafers with a very high throughput and a very low cost. These wafers are those that are used, mainly, for the processing of photovoltaic cells used in solar modules. The novel method is able to increase substantially the efficiency of silicon CVD systems. Collaboration with public or private companies for its manufacture is wanted.

Details

The offer consists of a high-performance epitaxial reactor that produces wafers on a large scale for the photovoltaic industry. Its main innovation is the high stacking density of susceptors, which are placed vertically, parallel to each other and interconnected, and they are heated up by Joule effect. The electrical current is fed by specially designed contacts that connect the outside (room temperature) with the susceptors (1000 ºC). A gas flows between susceptors; on them, substrates are placed, and underneath them, a pre-chamber is found, that distributes the incoming gas in a homogenous form and eliminates turbulences. The whole system is inside a stainless steel chamber, internally covered by reflecting material, and externally cooled by water, that has an entrance and exit of gases. The exit gases are partially re-circulated, which saves gas and increases the efficiency of the process. The Polytechnical University of Madrid, through the Solar Institute of Energy, is referring worldwide in the investigation on solar energy and is origin of the first manufacturing company of solar cells in Spain and one of the first at international level.

Innovative Aspects:
Novelty is double: on the one hand, the dense packing of substrates with Joule heating, which allows the reactor to attain a high capacity of production of wafers in each run with an efficient use of energy, and on the other hand, the partial recirculation of gas, which brings about an improvement of the efficiency of its use and savings in production costs. Silicon epitaxial reactor that overcomes existing ones because of its high throughput and a very efficient use of pure gases and energy. This way, it is well suited to the mass production of wafers from low-grade substrates for photovoltaic cells. These wafers are potentially cheaper than conventional ones, obtained from hyper-pure silicon.