Work Packages 2

Work package 2: Critical materials, reduction and substitution

In this part of our project we want to use less of the rare materials indium (In), gallium (Ga) and germanium (Ge). For this purpose, we use a special method called "metal organic vapor deposition" (MOCVD) to develop special layer structures. Normally, highly efficient solar cells are produced on germanium (Ge) substrates. If we manage to remove the Ge substrate after production and reuse it or replace it with a silicon (Si) substrate, we could significantly reduce global Ge consumption and lower production costs. We can often avoid expensive experiments by predicting the properties of these innovative structures in advance using theoretical models.