Fraunhofer shines the spotlight on photovoltaic innovations for US industry

On June 15, Fraunhofer presented the first German High Tech Champions (GHTC) Awards 2011 to Rodrigo Sáez-Araoz, Uwe Lommatzsch, David Killiani, and Andrés-Fabián Lasagni for their outstanding business cases in the field of PV.

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The four Champions came out as winners of the first call in a new series of nationwide GHTC competitions. To enter, candidates were requested to put forth tailor-made PV business cases to be presented at the Clean Technology Conference & Expo in Boston.

The GHTC Award Ceremony 2011 attracted a select audience – industry experts and agents, from the US and abroad. Aiming at exchanging information between scientists and industry as well as identifying R&D needs, the Champions presented their winning business cases at the Award Session. The GHTC Award is endowed with prize money of 10,000 Euros for each winning business case.

The Champions also took part in the Expo's Innovation Showcases on both June 14th and 15th, as well as in an exclusive business dinner on the evening of the Award Ceremony. All three events were an excellent opportunity for US industry specialists to receive first hand information and get in contact with the Champions and their promising research groups.

Dr. Rodrigo Sáez-Araoz

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The first GHTC Award for an excellent Business Case was presented to Rodrigo Sáez-Araoz from Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin. There, he is part of Professor Fischer's group at the Institute for Heterogeneous Materials Systems. Sáez has significantly contributed to the technical development of the patented Ion Layer Gas Reaction (ILGAR®) method, which is a non-vacuum thin film deposition technique developed at Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin. ILGAR technology excels the current chemical bath deposition process because it is well-suited for in-line production. Smooth, rough and nano-structured substrates can be coated with closed, adherent films or nano-dot films, or with multilayer structures. The process windows for process temperature and thickness are wider than in the conventional CBD process. Novel buffer materials like In2S3 can be used, thus replacing the standard toxic cadmium in the buffer layer. Jointly with industrial partners, the team develops prototypes for the up-scaling and in-line production of materials by the ILGAR technique. In his laudatory speech, Roland Schindler said that this process might well lead to a more sustainable and efficient production of thin film modules.
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Dr. Andrés F. Lasagni

???aural:Bildanfang???Andrés F. Lasagni © Frank Sciurba Photography for Fraunhofer???aural:Bildende???

Andrés Lasagni was honored as German High Tech Champion for his proposal to improve the efficiency of photovoltaic modules by incorporating mechanically stable micro/nano structures. Lasagni's work group at the Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology specializes on Direct Laser Interference Patterning (DLIP), which is used to create two and three-dimensional periodic architectures with applications in different technological areas such tribology and biotechnology. In addition, this technique can be used to facilitate the nano-structuring of thin PV modules. In his Business Case, Lasagni and his team suggest implementing DLIP to create textured substrates that increase the optical path of the incoming light in organic solar cells. The new technology allows fabricating micro or nano-patterns with precisely controlled topography on large areas at high production speed. As Lasagni pointed out, his proposal has several concrete advantages, ranging from the flexibility of the process, and the ability to integrate it in a high speed production line, to compact device design.
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Dr. Uwe Lommatzsch

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Uwe Lommatzsch was honored as German High Tech Champion for his Business Case on the environmental protection of solar cells and modules. Lommatzsch, head of the plasma group at the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Applied Materials Research, develops materials with exciting new properties by employing plasma technology. Recently, his team has published results which show that a plasma deposited mixture of carbon nanotubes and polymer may afford aircrafts a better protection against lightning strikes. At the Clean Technology Conference & Expo, Uwe Lommatzsch proposed atmospheric pressure plasma jets for fast deposition of protective coatings with the prospect of improved reliability and lifetime of cells and modules. This technique would also facilitate very localized depositions and may even lead to new module architectures.
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David Kiliani

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David Kiliani, a Ph.D. fellow at the University of Konstanz and part of their renowned PV group, received the German High Tech Champions Award for his Business Case on Transient Photoluminescence Imaging to produce reliable, absolute lifetime maps of silicon wafers. Luminescence imaging can be used to characterize defects in a solar cell, which limit the efficiency or lifetime of the cell. An advanced technique facilitates a fast characterization of intrinsic material and solar cell parameters like minority carrier lifetime. The time resolved photoluminescence measurements simplify sample preparation and add spatial resolution. Both material and cell developers were interested to hear that time-resolved photoluminescence can deliver high quality images even at the short exposure times required for in-line measurements in solar cell mass production.
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GHTC in retrospect – voices from the audience

???aural:Bildanfang???Claudia Schütt © Frank Sciurba Photography for Fraunhofer???aural:Bildende???

“The concept of the German High Tech Champions competition convinces with its fresh approach to presenting application oriented technologies," said Claudia Schütt, Deputy Consul General at the German Consulate General in Boston. "Here in the US, the audience expects to learn how a new technology can be implemented, how quickly and easily, and at what cost. The time the Champions took to prepare these aspects was well invested. The combination of conference and dinner worked well to resume and intensify discussions with potential investors. I am glad these kind of events draw more attention to one of Germany’s major strengths, and that is translating research findings and developments into problem-solving, market-ready products.”

Claus Habermeier, Director of the Germany Trade and Invest New York Office, let the Fraunhofer Organization Committee know: “I want to thank you again for inviting me to the German High Tech Champions Award. I found this session very informative and well done. The presentations were great and the technology developments presented were fantastic. It truly puts Fraunhofer and German innovation in a great spotlight.”

In her opening address, Joann Halpern, Director of the German Center for Research and Innovation (GCRI), highlighted the fact that the US and Germany are longstanding partners, both committed to long-term investment in research and development. In its role as facilitator for collaboration between international experts from academia, industry and government, GCRI supports the German High Tech Champions by providing more information and contacts.

???aural:Bildanfang???Dr. Roland Schindler © Frank Sciurba Photography for Fraunhofer???aural:Bildende???

Dr. Roland Schindler, Executive Director of the Fraunhofer Center for Sustainable Energy Systems (CSE) spoke in his laudation of the need of US and European PV industry to compete by cost reduction and quality improvement. He emphasized that technological advances and technology transfer played a critical role in confronting tomorrow’s challenges. In reviewing the winning business cases, he found they represented "a good variety of technologies geared towards better quality, increased efficiency, and less environmental hazards."

Fraunhofer is Europe’s largest application-oriented research organization. The German High Tech Champions Award is a constituent part of the collaborative project »International Research Marketing« which is a joint initiative by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the German Academic Exchange Service, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft and the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. All activities within the project are part of the “Promote Innovation and Research in Germany” initiative under its brand »Research in Germany«. The initiative is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.

For information about this event contact:
Natalie Percsy & Vera Baumgartl
Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft
International Business Development

Hansastraße 27c
80686 München
Germany

Contact via E-mail: ghtc@fraunhofer.de

www.research-in-germany.de/ghtc

www.research-in-germany.de/ghtc-wettbewerb