Atla Industrial Mid-infrared lasers for fine material processing and sensing (AIM)

Offentlig prosjektsammendrag

The project aims to develop new technique for the kerf-loss-free cost-effective processing of thin silicon layers, wafers and related solar cells. The proposed technique based on a formation of a buried nano-cavities based layer upon focused laser treatments of silicon wafers/ingots. The core of the project is therefore a high energy ultrashort pulsed laser system developed by ATLA Lasers AS in cooperation with NTNU. Creation of thin exfoliated layers by a non-contact laser light on any suitable substrate will open an alternative way for the cost-effective processing of thin Si based solar cells (as well as any other semiconductor based micro-structure) avoiding usage of high temperature CVD. Moreover, thin semiconductor wafers with any desirable thickness will be processed without any kerf loss. The project is a collaboration between NTNU and ATLA Lasers AS connecting and utilising competence in the fields of silicon, advanced characterization, laser physics and nonlinear optics.