The field
High-brightness supercontinuum and spectrally tunable UV lasers have a wide range of applications in scientific and industrial markets, including solar cell and semiconductor manufacturing, microscopy and lithography. Current supercontinuum lasers are limited to the visible and infrared spectral range. This project will be groundbreaking for Danish research and open up a wide range of UV applications by bringing the UV range all the way down to 150 nm into play. This is conceptually done by filling the noble gas argon into a hollow optical fiber and pumping it with high energy pulses from a laser module. By varying the parameters in the system, the output wavelength can be adjusted, just as it is also possible to produce a broad-spectrum output that can be used in e.g. microscopy.
Valuable research to society
When laser light is used as either an imaging or processing tool, the wavelength of the laser is an expression for how fine details the imaging tool can see and how fine structures the processing tool can produce. By going down in wavelength, finer e.g. semiconductor structures can be imaged and processed. This has an impact on how powerful and compact the electronics we all use in everyday life can become. In this project, the technology is used, among other things, in the processing of solar cells, where the technology allows the waste area of the conductor paths, which must lead the current out of the solar cells, to be much smaller. This way the solar cell achieves a higher efficiency, which is positive for the green transition.
Future of the field
The project brings researchers from laser research at DTU Electro and scatterometry and microscopy imaging research at the Danish National Metrology Institute (DFM) together with researchers in solar cell applications at Aarhus University and DTU Electro. This provides a unique opportunity to steer the research into the laser source itself towards solving the technologies' biggest challenges by enabling tailoring of the imaging and processing tools. This can create Danish scientific leadership positions within these important areas. The market pull is ensured by NKT Photonics, who leads the project and will commercialize the solution. At the same time, the commercial actors and potential end customers such as TopSil and Austrian Sunplugged will ensure that the scientific solutions are aimed towards large-scale production and the requirements connected to this.
Expected gain from the grant
With the project, the leading Danish research and development within supercontinuum lasers is expected to contribute to new commercial applications, because it will leap the technology far down into the deep UV range. In addition to conquering market areas within solar cells, microscopy applications will also be investigated in collaboration with the company DeltaPix. The semiconductor industry will therefore also receive a fantastic tool enabling continuously cheaper and better development of electrical products with Danish technology in the key positions.
Facts
- Innovation Fund investment: 20,4 mio. DKK (7 mio. for DTU Electro)
- Total budget: 28,3 mio. DKK
- Duration: 3 years
- Official title: UVSOLAR - Ultra-Violet supercontinuum sources and pulsed lasers for the solar cell and semiconductor industry
