Plasmatechnik in der Photovoltaikindustrie

Application of Plasmatechnology in Photovoltaic Industry Ever since the introduction of attractive feed‐in tariffs for photovoltaic electricity generation, there has been a huge surge in all kinds of photovoltaic applications. Products based on multicrystalline wafers still have the largest market share with thin film products picking up in recent times. Manufacturers of thin film products have increased their production volume. In the meantime, production technology for wafer based solar cells has been improved. With the second generation of tools a trend towards standardization is to be noticed. Both in wafer based as well as in thin film solar cells a number of plasma processes are applied in the production process. These processes include conventional magnetron sputtering or PECVD as well as plasma chemical etch processes. In terms of thin films the portfolio ranges from the rather well known silicon nitrid or ITO films to rather more complex binary films. We will present but a few examples from the afore mentioned applications and discuss open question with respect to vacuum and machine technology.