Award recipient 2008

The recipient of the 2008 SolarWorld Junior Einstein Award is the Dutchman Bram Hoex. In his doctoral thesis the physicist who started his academic career at the Technical University of Eindhoven investigates alternative coating technologies for the production of silicon-based solar cells. By using aluminum oxide instead of silicon nitride for the passivation of the surface it was possible to reduce the electrical losses which could then be translated into an improvement of the overall efficiency of the solar cell to 23.2 per cent in cooperation with some research institutes. It is true that the positive properties of aluminum oxide have been known for a long time, but Bram Hoex was the first to succeed in creating such layers and in putting this idea into industrial practice. It is another step towards making solar power more competitive. The jurors considered this to be worthy of an award.