Dynamic Hydride Vapor Phase Epitaxy Enables Low-Cost, High-Performance Solar Cells and Other Semiconductors Devices
Category: Process/Prototyping
Developers: National Renewable Energy Laboratory
United States
Product Description:III-V semiconductors are the best available for many telecommunications, energy and electronics applications. But high costs and low production volumes have long constrained this technology. For example, III-V solar cell manufacturing is measured in kilowatts/year (compared to gigawatts/year for silicon solar cells). The dynamic hydride vapor phase epitaxy (D-HVPE) process removes key barriers to the mass production of III-V semiconductors. Like many great inventions, D-HVPE is the result of re-envisioning a persistent problem as an opportunity. In the 1960s, HVPE was one of the first processes used to grow III-V semiconductors, but it was mostly abandoned because of its fast — and, therefore, difficult-to-control — growth. The D-HVPE team at National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Developers: National Renewable Energy Laboratory
United States
Product Description:III-V semiconductors are the best available for many telecommunications, energy and electronics applications. But high costs and low production volumes have long constrained this technology. For example, III-V solar cell manufacturing is measured in kilowatts/year (compared to gigawatts/year for silicon solar cells). The dynamic hydride vapor phase epitaxy (D-HVPE) process removes key barriers to the mass production of III-V semiconductors. Like many great inventions, D-HVPE is the result of re-envisioning a persistent problem as an opportunity. In the 1960s, HVPE was one of the first processes used to grow III-V semiconductors, but it was mostly abandoned because of its fast — and, therefore, difficult-to-control — growth. The D-HVPE team at National Renewable Energy Laboratory
A Dynamic Hydride Vapor Phase Expitaxy Reactor (lab-scale)