IMEC to House Kaneka’s European Photovoltaic Lab

Leuven, Belgium: In a bilateral cooperation agreement between nano research center IMEC and Kaneka Corp., a Japanese manufacturer of chemicals and solar cells, Kaneka will incorporate its European Photovoltaic (PV) Laboratory at IMEC in Leuven, Belgium.

This agreement fits with the development strategy of Kaneka to expand its solar-cell manufacturing capacity to 1GW by 2015. Establishing a European lab was motivated by the need to have a presence, and a production facility, close to the European PV market.

To enhance Kaneka’s amorphous silicon microcrystalline silicon (a-Si/ uc-Si) solar cells, IMEC’s silicon wafer process and device technology along with its expertise in optics, micromachining, and photonics will be utilised. Their ultimate goal is a new industrial a-Si:H heterojunction- based, high-efficiency, solar-cell technology.