Solliance and Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre (imec) have proclaimed that imec will be Solliance’s full partner and will carry on its thin film photovoltaic research and development works with Solliance cooperation.
Solliance’s Managing Director, Hein Willems stated that the inclusion of imec as its fifth member extends its research throughout the entire field, from basics of materials science to advanced manufacturing technologies.
With this partnership, Solliance plans to be a research and development group for the development of thin film solar power technology. The organization targets three major thin film technologies, organic photovoltaics (OPV), substitutes for CIGS and thin film Si. For these major technologies, it will utilize its facilities in Eindhoven and imec’s facilities in Leuven.
Solliance also focuses on standard technologies that will be important to the thin film photovoltaic industry, including in-line monitoring, characterization, testing, roll-to-roll processing, sheet-to-sheet processing, thin film deposition processes, new OPV device development, monolithic interconnection, transparent conductive layers, light control by mechanical texturization and laser technologies.
Solliance’s objective is to make the Eindhoven-Leuven-Aachen triangle as a leading player in thin film photovoltaic technologies in the world. The alliance now forms cooperation between over 250 scientists to achieve this common objective. It plans to achieve this goal through the alignment of research programs, advanced infrastructure and close partnership with the solar business community. The Dutch Province of Brabant provides the financial backup to Solliance.