IMEC

The TESTARE project is a 3-year Eu-funded project that commenced 1st January 2023 and running until 31 December 2025. TESTARE is a collaborative project of the Horizon Europe program under the category of Coordination and Support Actions (CSA) which target to improve cooperation among EU and associated countries to strengthen the European Research Area including, for example, standardization, dissemination, awareness-raising, communication and networking activities, policy dialogues, mutual learning or studies. The project aims to address major challenges in hybrid organic-inorganic perovskite-based photovoltaics (PV).

The project consortium comprises 4 organizations from 4 different countries: Cyprus, Belgium, Germany, and Israel. The project coordinator is University of Cyprus (UCY - Cyprus), while the project partners are Interuniversitair Micro-Electronica Centrum (IMEC - Belgium), Fraunhofer Gesellschaft zur Foerderung der angewandten Forschung e.V. (Fraunhofer – Germany) and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU - Israel). The project title is «Twinning for excellence in TEsting new generation PV: Long-term STAbility and field REliability».

Imec, partner in EnergyVille, in collaboration with the University of Cyprus, has demonstrated long-term outdoor stability of perovskite solar modules. Mini-modules of 4 cm², developed at imec/EnergyVille, were comprehensively evaluated over two years in real-world conditions in Cyprus, with a remarkable power efficiency retention of 78% after one year, which current perovskite solar modules only retain for weeks. These promising findings are among the first real-world results to address the stability issues that currently hinder perovskite solar cells from commercialization.

Standard indoor testing in a controlled environment, which continuously mimics sun irradiation, only serves as a proxy for real-world performance. Environmental conditions, such as varying light, temperature and weather, impact cell performance. Despite this, only a handful of research groups have investigated outdoor performance of perovskite PV, focusing primarily on small cells rather than modules. Over the last two years, imec conducted a comprehensive study of the outdoor performance of their perovskite PV modules. 

Researchers at Imec have reported a metal halide perovskite LED (PeLED) stack that emits 1,000x more light “than state-of-the-art OLEDs”. The team developed a transparent PeLED architecture, that combines low optical losses with excellent current-injection properties. 

In this work, the team showed that perovskite semiconductor optical amplifiers and injection lasers are within reach using this type of transparent PeLED.

A research team led by Imec, that also included teams from Hasselt University and Kuwait University, has fabricated a perovskite solar module based on a scalable, stable device stack that can be processed with industry-compatible techniques, such as sputtering, evaporation, and slot-die coating.

The panel is based on 17%-efficient perovskite solar cells built with a p-i-n configuration, an electron transport layer made of nickel(II) oxide (NiOx), a perovskite layer deposited via slot-die coating, an electron transport layer made of buckminsterfullerene (C60) and lithium fluoride (LiF), a bathocuproine (BCP) buffer layer, and a copper (Cu) electrode.

imec, the world-leading research and innovation hub, recently presented an impressive thin-film tandem solar cell at the EU PVSEC conference. The cell consists of a top perovskite cell developed by imec within the partnerships of EnergyVille and Solliance, and a bottom CIGS cell from the Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research (ZSW, Stuttgart, Germany). The tandem cell resulting from this collaboration achieves a record efficiency of 24.6%.

The perovskite top cell in the tandem uses light in the visible part of the solar spectrum, while the light in the near-IR spectrum that passes through the perovskite cell is harvested by the underlying CIGS cell. In this way, the tandem cell significantly outperforms the stand-alone perovskite and CIGS cells. Moreover, both perovskite and CIGS cells are thin-film solar cells, paving the way to high efficiency flexible solar cells and building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) solutions.

Imec, the leading research and innovation hub in nanoelectronics, energy and digital technology, within the partnership of EnergyVille, announced a record result for its 4-terminal perovskite/silicon tandem photovoltaic cell. In fact, with a reported power conversion efficiency of 27.1%, the new tandem cell tops the most efficient standalone silicon solar cell. Further careful engineering of the Perovskite material will bring efficiencies over 30% in reach.

Imec's new record tandem cell uses a 0.13 cm² spin-coated perovskite cell developed within the Solliance cooperation, stacked on top of a 4 cm² industrial interdigitated back-contact (IBC) silicon cell in a 4-terminal configuration, which is known to have a higher annual energy yield compared to a 2-terminal configuration. Additionally, scaling up the tandem device by using a 4 cm² perovskite module on a 4 cm² IBC silicon cell, a tandem efficiency of 25.3% was achieved, surpassing the stand-alone efficiency of the silicon cell.

Australia-based RRAM developer 4DS Memory announced that it has signed an agreement with Belgium-based imec to develop a transferable manufacturing process for its technology. As part of the agreement the two parties will demonstrate the process with a 1Mbit test chip.

The 4DS memory cell is constructed using an advanced perovskite material, which has the same crystal structure as the inorganic compound calcium titanium oxide. The cells have no filaments and are so claim to be easier to scale compared to filamentary RRAM.

Belgian research centre Imec has announced that it has boosted the performance of its its 4 cm2 perovskite/silicon tandem photovoltaic module to a power conversion efficiency of 23.9%. According to Imec, this is the first time that a module-on-cell stack structure has outperformed a standalone silicon solar cell.

'Two innovations are key to this achievement,' said group leader for thin-film photovoltaics at imec and perovskite PV program manager at Solliance. 'First, a different perovskite material (CsFAPbIBr) was used, largely improving the stability and conversion efficiency of the 4 cm 2 semi-transparent perovskite module to 15.3%. Second, the architecture of the stack was optimized for minimal optical losses by adding an anti-reflection texture on top of the module and a refractive index matching liquid between the perovskite module and the Si solar cell.'

Imec, a leading research and innovation hub in nano electronics, energy and digital technologies, and partner in Solliance, announced that it has improved its 4x4cm² perovskite module achieving a certified conversion efficiency of 12.4%.

The module efficiency was measured under long-term maximum power point (MPP) tracking, testifying to its exceptional stability. At Solliance, this perovskite technology is developed with industrially-applicable processes and with a view towards a rapid market introduction of this promising source of renewable energy.

Researchers from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), ZSW and IMEC presented at the PSCO international conference a prototype of the new solar module using thin-film technology. According to the researchers, an efficiency of 17.8% has been achieved in this prototype of a perovskite/CIGS tandem thin-film solar module, exceeding the efficiency of individual perovskite and CIGS solar modules for the very first time.

To create the new solar module, the researchers used a stack module. By merging both perovskite and CIGS into one module, the new structure could benefit from the advantages of both technologies. The upper semitransparent layer of the model is made of perovskite, which absorbs high solar energy. Meanwhile, the lower CIGS layer is responsible for infrared conversion. Having an area of 3.67 square meters, the stacked perovskite/CIGS model is also designed to meet industrial needs. It features a monolithic interconnection scheme using 4 and 7 module cell stripes. Unlike other small-scale solar cells, the new stacked solar module can be interconnected for several square meters through laser processing.