E3A campus facilities
| SERIS is establishing state-of-the-art facilities for characterisation and calibration of PV materials and devices, solar cell R&D (silicon wafer cells, silicon thin-film cells, nano-structured cells), solar building R&D, and PV module performance analysis. Including office space, SERIS will occupy approximately 4,800 m2 on the NUS campus. |
PV characterisation and calibration laboratory:
This 200 m2 laboratory will be housed on level 2 of the E3A building. The lab will be capable of analysing silicon wafers materials, silicon wafer solar cells, silicon thin-film solar cells, and solar cells based on organic or dye materials.
Silicon photovoltaics laboratory and pilot lines:
A fully-serviced class-10,000 cleanroom laboratory comprising approx 1300 m2 of floor space split over levels 1 and 2 in building E3A is being established for industrially relevant R&D work on both wafer-based and thin- film silicon solar cells. This cleanroom lab will house 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 will be 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.
Nano-structured solar cells laboratories:
Establishment of lab facilities for the nano-structured solar cells is planned to commence in 2010 at building E3A.
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, visualization and simulation
PV module and performance analysis facility:
This facility will be located off-campus and will occupy over 1000 m2 of space, including roof-top space for outdoor measurements and test bedding purposes. The majority of the space will be used for certification testing of commercial PV modules according to recognised international standards. The facility will be established in close collaboration with Fraunhofer ISE in Germany which operates a similar facility at its Freiburg site.
Off-Campus facilities
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Test facilities for module development and PV related R&D:
With a full suite of test equipment, the new off-campus test laboratory can start off with on 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 will commence 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.