Thin-film processing equipment maker AVACO Co Ltd of Daegu, South Korea, which specializes in sputtering (PVD) vacuum deposition equipment (in-line, cluster, and roll to roll), atomic layer deposition (ALD) equipment, back-end-of-line (BEOL) equipment, and factory automation equipment (such as clean stocker, clean crane, and overhead transfer system for large-scale substrate), says that it has developed a new concept of buffer layer deposition for photovoltaic. By using its ALD process, the firm claims that energy conversion efficiency can be improved to about 30% higher than in conventional copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) solar cells that use cadmium sulfide (CdS) for the buffer layer.
AVACO says that its new ALD process system can provide a solution for buffer layer optimization in the dry process to effectively convert solar energy during the photovoltaic development process. The new process enhances quantum efficiency in both the short-wavelength range and the near-infrared range. The jump in short-circuit current improvement in the I-V curve contributes to higher-efficiency CIGS solar cells without affecting the open-circuit voltage (Voc). The firm says that its new buffer layer deposition technique can also be applied to a wide range of CIGS absorber layers, regardless of the preparation methods.
"Expansion of our core technology further strengthens and broadens our offering of deposition process solutions," says business development director Chuck Ki. AVACO delivers mass-production manufacturing equipment for all aspects of thin-film coating, such as transparent conducting oxide (TCO), metal electrode, and dielectric layers. Target materials used in the firm's sputtering systems include Ag, AGZO, Al, Al2O3, AlNd, AZO, CIGS, Cr, Cu, CuGa, CuIn, GZO, IGZO, In, ITO, IZO, Mo, MoTi, MoW, Ni, Se, SiO2, TiO2, ZnO and others, with DC, pulsed-DC, and MF using a single or dual magnetron source.
