High-Speed Vapour Deposition of Metal Halide Perovskites for Scalable Applications

Objective

Metal halide perovskite solar cells have rapidly progressed from a research breakthrough to a commercially viable technology, recently making their market debut. Their excellent performance and cost-effectiveness make them strong contenders for next-generation photovoltaic applications, especially when paired with traditional silicon in tandem configurations. However, scaling up for widespread deployment requires manufacturing approaches compatible with industrial needs. Vapour phase deposition offers many advantages for perovskite fabrication as a solvent-free, scalable method of high industrial relevance. Nonetheless, current vapour-based methods suffer from low deposition rates, posing a significant challenge to achieving the high-throughput production needed for commercial-scale implementation. In the SpeedUp project, we will develop a high-speed vapour deposition method for metal halide perovskites. While current approaches primarily focus on the co-evaporation of multiple perovskite precursors from standard sublimation sources, which are thermally heated to achieve a specific deposition rate (typically between 1 and 10 nm/min), we will utilize electron beam evaporation from a single source to deposit high-quality metal halide perovskite layers rapidly. The overall goal is to demonstrate a proof-of-concept process that reaches 500 nm/min deposition rates without compromising the perovskite layer quality and performance in solar cells for various perovskite compositions. Through this breakthrough development, complemented with an analysis of the technological and commercial landscape, we will lay the foundation for a high-throughput manufacturing approach for metal halide perovskites for scalable applications and decisively facilitate their industrialisation.