Annual report 2009 - Imec

hIGhLIGhTs
IMEC ENERGY
HIgHLIgHTS - Imec’s photovoltaic research focuses on improving the conversion
efficiency and lowering the price of silicon solar cells. Imec also works on organic
solar cells and on high-efficiency cells based on III-V materials. Another focus of
the energy research is gaN for power electronics and LED lighting.
01
Imec signs
collaboration agreements
2009, imec signed a collaboration agreement with
Total and GDF-Suez (two major energy companies),
Photovoltech (solar cell producer), and Schott Solar
(solar cell producer). The goal of the agreement is
to reduce the cost of solar energy with crystalline
silicon cells by reducing the use of silicon as base
material and by increasing the efficiency of the cells.
This research is done in the frame of imec’s IIAP on
crystalline silicon solar technology. Other partners in
this program are material and tool suppliers MEMC
Electronic Materials Inc., Leybold Optics Dresden
GmbH, Roth & Rau AG, and Mallinckrodt Baker B.V.
Next to the IIAP, imec has bilateral collaboration
agreements in solar technology with important
players such as BP Solar and Kaneka.
48
02
GaN IIAP
launched
In 2009, imec has launched a new industrial affiliation
program (IIAP) on GaN. In this program, imec and its
partners work on GaN technology for both power
conversion and solid-state lighting.
For power electronics, the IIAP aims at developing
high-voltage, low-loss, high-power switching devices.
Potential applications include high-power switching
in solar converters, motor drives, hybrid electrical
vehicles or switch mode power supplies. An important
goal of the program is to lower the cost of GaN
processing by using large-diameter GaN-on-Si.
The program also exploits GaN-on-Si for high-efficiency
high-power LEDs. A key issue that is addressed is
the enhancement of external and internal quantum
efficiencies for enabling high-power LEDs.
SiN/AlgaN/gaN field effect transistor