Extended Scientific Topics 2024

1. Sustainability, Life Cycle Assessments and Circularity

  • Life-cycle assessments - Eco-designs for cells and modules
  • Critical materials management (e.g. Ag, In, Bi, Pb) and possible routes for TW/y PV manufacturing

2. Silicon Materials

  • Silicon feedstock
  • Silicon crystallization, wafering and direct-wafer production
  • Material characterization and defect engineering

3. Silicon-based Tandem Cells and Emerging Silicon Technologies

  • Advanced light management, ultra-thin devices, novel cell architectures, alternative applications (e.g. space)
  • Novel passivating contacts and transparent materials, new metallization approaches
  • Si-based multijunction cells in combination with perovskites, III-V and alternative materials
  • High and record efficiency devices
  • Cell characterizations and simulations

4. Advanced Cell Manufacturing, Challenges for Industrial Devices

  • Inline inspection, data processing, digitalization and machine learning
  • Process integration, low-cost manufacturing & new manufacturing tools
  • Advances in industrial solar cells (e.g. PERC, SHJ, TOPCon, IBC): wet processes, light management, junction formation, surface passivation, metallization

5. Module Technologies and Challenges for TW scale Module Manufacturing

  • Interconnection, module processing and materials for TW scale manufacturing
  • Solutions & challenges for X-IPV (eg: buildings, vehicles, etc.)
  • Module characterizations and simulations

6. Energy Yield, Reliability & Cost

  • Cells and Modules reliability and degradation mechanisms
  • Energy Yield (field tests, modelling and forecasting)
  • Cost studies - Bankability