Protection of Technological Innovation and Risk Management of Intellectual Property Rights

Continuous expansion of photovoltaics and the sustainable development of manufacturing capacities for solar cells and modules require ongoing technological advancement and effective competition on international markets. Experience has shown that unique technological features do not increase competitiveness in the long term unless they are accompanied by effective patent protection: Inventions in solar cells can be easily copied, but infringements of property rights are not readily apparent. The current market activities of manufacturers increasingly take into account the legal and technological protection of intellectual property (IP) for existing and future solar cell technologies (PERC, TOPCon, multi-junction solar cells, perovskite tandems). The availability of practical (quantitative, fast, reliable) and legally sound material analysis methods for assessing infringements of property rights is therefore of great interest to the PV industry and a prerequisite for the sustainable industrial exploitation of results from current and future research projects. This applies to finished solar modules on international markets, the use of solar cells and semi-finished products along the value chain, and the protection of future patents in advance development.

This project aims to develop (1) new preparative methods and (2) analytical techniques for high-resolution material and thin-film characterization for next-generation solar cell technologies with a focus on interfaces. The aim is, for example, to develop innovative methods for the large-scale preparation and high-resolution characterization of encapsulated layers, for the localization of microscopic current paths, and for the evaluation of local passivation properties. These methods will be correlated with simplified and rapid measurement methods and made suitable for routine application.