SERIS has established state-of-the-art facilities for: Characterisation of photovoltaics (PV) materials and devices Solar cell R&D (silicon wafer cells, silicon thin-film cells and organic (plastic) solar cells) Solar and energy efficient buildings R&D PV module performance analysis (PVPA) Including office space, SERIS occupies approximately 4,800 m2 on the NUS campus.

SERIS' building E3A on the NUS campus

PV characterisation and calibration laboratory:
This 200 m² laboratory is housed on level 2 of the E3A building. The PV characterisation laboratory is capable of analysing silicon wafers materials, silicon wafer solar cells, silicon thin-film solar cells, and solar cells based on organic or dye materials. Currently, the calibration laboratory is in its ramp-up phase. For details on services offered to industry and research organisations, please visit Our services (Characterisation of PV materials and cells).

Silicon photovoltaics laboratory and pilot lines:
A fully-serviced class-10,000 cleanroom laboratory comprising approx 1400 m² of floor space split over levels 1 and 2 in building E3A is established for industrially relevant R&D work on both wafer-based and thin-film silicon solar cells. This cleanroom laboratory houses a pilot line for industry-size silicon wafer solar cells and a pilot line for silicon thin-film solar cells on A3-sized glass substrates. The wafer cells are processed using industrial grade equipment and can be metallised with a range of technologies, including screen printing and electroplating.

For thin-film work, a versatile 5-chamber cluster tool will be available for low-temperature deposition of silicon films and dielectrics onto glass substrates. An area of approximately 100 m² in the cleanroom is reserved specifically for industry for test-bedding of novel PV production equipment on our pilot lines with excellent access, high ceilings (8 m), and high floor loading capability 12.5 kN/m². SERIS will be capable of test-bedding of novel, industrial-scale tools for silicon wafer and thin-film photovoltaics.

For details on services offered to industry and research organisations, please visit Our services (PV R&D pilot lines).

Organic (plastic) solar cells laboratories:
SERIS has established small scale device and characterisation laboratories for organic & hybrid solar cells at building E3A on the NUS campus. New laboratories for organic (plastic) solar cells (200m²) and liquid based functional coating technology (80m²) are in full operation.

Solar and energy efficient buildings laboratories:
200 m² of laboratories support the research and service work for the cluster ‘Solar and Energy Efficient Buildings’. This includes lab-based and mobile systems to measure the optical, thermal and electrical properties and performance of building components such as glazing and building integrated PV modules, and a Digital Space Lab for holistic building energy modeling, visualisation and simulation.

For details on services offered to industry and research organisations, please visit Our services.

Outdoor facility:

In addition to its laboratories, SERIS operates experimental outdoor installtions:

• Large rooftop spaces for outdoor testing of solar technology (in total ca. 500m²)

• Meteorological station (15 m² rooftop area)

Off-Campus facilities

PV module and performance analysis (PVPA) facility:
This facility is located off-campus and occupies over 1000 m² of space, including roof-top space for outdoor measurements and test bedding purposes. The majority of the space is used for certification testing of commercial PV modules according to recognised international standards. The facility is established in close collaboration with Fraunhofer ISE in Germany which operates a similar facility at its Freiburg site.

Test facilities for module development and PV related R&D:
With a full suite of test equipment, the off-campus test laboratory conducts the evaluation, advance aging and stress testing of novel materials that can be employed in the manufacture of PV modules. In addition, we have a team of researchers who works on national energy programs

e.g. SERIS was awarded a few programs under the Clean Energy Research Program (CERP) for customised PV modules to attain optimum performance.

For details on services offered to industry and research organisations, please visit Our services.