The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE is the largest R&D-institute in Europe devoted to solar energy. It was established in 1981 and currently has a staff of 560 and an annual turnover of over € 30 million. It is certified according to DIN EN ISO 9001:2000. Fraunhofer ISE conducts research in the areas of the thermal use of solar energy, solar cells, electrical power supplies, chemical energy conversion, solar building, energy storage and the rational use of energy. The institute has a core focus on PV technology. Fraunhofer ISE is well-known for crystalline and thin film Si-technologies, grid-connected as well as off-grid applications and it has a long experience in electronic engineering.

Besides the silicon technologies, the institute is very active in III-V solar cell research and holds the European record efficiency for solar-electric energy conversion of 35 % under concentrated sunlight. Approximately 30 people, including 11 PhD students, are currently employed in the field of III-V compound semiconductor material development and concentrator photovoltaics. This includes research on theoretical device modeling, material development by metal organic vapor phase epitaxy, device technology, solar cell characterization, device packaging technology and development of new concentrator systems. In co-operation with manufacturers and international research partners, materials research is carried out and the production technology for silicon and III-V photovoltaic cells are developed.

Web link: Fraunhofer ISE

The Computational Electronics and Photonics Group (CEP) is part of the electrical and computer engi-neering department of the University of Kassel. The CEP group consists of 4 PhD students, 2 senior re-searchers, and Prof. B. Witzigmann as head. The group activities recently have moved from ETH Zürich (former Computational Optoelectronics Group) to Kassel, and it continues and expands the successful research in the field of computational modeling originating from the Zürich group.

During the tenure at ETH Zürich, Prof. Witzigmann's group has established an international reputation in computational methods for optoelectronics in the past 6 years. This comprises the relevant aspects in TCAD (= Tech-nology Computer Aided Design) of nano- and optoelectronics. The focus is on multi-physics simulation and modeling of devices, covering electromagnetic or quantum-mechanical properties, and light-matter interaction, as well as physical characterization of technologies and devices. TCAD research activities are supported by dedicated compute-servers (300 CPUs and up to 32 Gbytes memory/8 processors per compute-server), access to the inter-university GRID supercomputing center (800 highend CPUs).

Web link: University of Kassel

Web link: Sol Voltaics

The Johannes Kepler University Linz has a main focus on nanoscience and technology. Resources of the Institute for Semiconductor and Solid State Physics include a cleanroom with facilities for epitaxial growth (MBE, MOCVD), nanostructuring (e-beam, imprint and holographic lithography), characterization (XRD, PL, TEM, STM, AFM, transport at low temperatures and high magnetic fields), and device processing. The group is experienced in structural analysis using synchrotron radiation. Material systems are Si/SiGe, IV-VI compounds, and group III nitrides. The institute has been involved in several EC re-search projects as partner or coordinator.

Web link: Johannes Kepler University

The Technical University of Denmark (DTU) was founded in 1829, and currently has 7000 undergraduate and Masters students, 700 PhD students, 4500 employees, an annual turnover of 3.1 billion DKK (¤420M) and organizes 21 Bachelor degree programmes, 33 Masters programmes and 4 PhD programmes. It is the leading Technical University in Scandinavia and is ranked no. 2 in Europe in the field of Science and Technology research. DTU recently merged with the Risø National Laboratory.

The newly-established Center for Electron Nanoscopy (CEN) in the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) provides access to an extensive range of new transmission and scanning electron microscopes, including probe and image aberration corrected FEI Titan TEMs equipped with monochromators, Tridiem imaging spectrometers, Lorentz lenses and HAADF electron tomography and off-axis electron holography capabilities. A wide range of TEM specimen holders allows samples to be examined at temperatures of between 5 and 1300 K and electrical currents to be passed through working devices in situ in the TEM. One of the monochromated aberration-corrected Titan TEMs is equipped with a gas reaction cell. Other instrumentation at CEN-DTU includes two dual-beam focused ion beam microscopes, a field emission SEM and an X-ray diffractometer with a high pressure gas reaction cell and both gas and vacuum transfer capabilities to the electron microscopes.

Web link: Technical University of Denmark