IMEC, Europe's leading nanoelectronics research center, and Kaneka Corporation, the leading Japanese manufacturer of chemical specialties and solar cells, entered into a bilateral cooperation. Under the agreement, Kaneka will incorporate its European Photovoltaics Laboratory at IMEC in Leuven, Belgium. Working in IMEC's facilities and collaborating with IMEC's experts will allow Kaneka to further improve its current thin-film solar cells and to develop next generation cells.

This agreement fits in the strategy of Kaneka to examine the expansion of its solar cell manufacturing capacity to 1 Giga Watt by 2015. The decision to establish a European lab was motivated by the need to have a presence, and in future also a production facility, close to the rapidly growing European PV market.

Kaneka's European Photovoltaics Laboratory will be the first R&D lab of a Japanese solar cell manufacturer outside of Japan. Under the agreement, a team of engineers of Kaneka and IMEC will install and operate Kaneka equipment in IMEC's photovoltaics labs.  The team plans to develop a new industrial hetero-junction solar cell technology.  To enhance Kaneka's amorphous silicon microcrystalline silicon (a-Si/uc-Si) solar cells, IMEC's silicon wafer process and device technology and its expertise in optics, micromachining and photonics will be combined. The cooperation will result in a new industrial a-Si:H hetero-junction based high-efficiency solar cell technology, with an envisaged efficiency of beyond 20% for large cells in an industrial process.

Kenji Yamamoto, Kaneka and Luc Van den hove, IMEC CEO

Kaneka's Kenji Yamamoto will be managing the new laboratory venture

IMEC is headquartered in Leuven, Belgium, and has offices in Belgium, the Netherlands, Taiwan, US, China and Japan. Its staff of more than 1,650 people include over 550 industrial residents and guest researchers. In 2008, IMEC's revenue was 270 million euro.  IMEC's research bridges the gap between the fundamental research at universities and R&D in the industry.

Kaneka was established as Kanegafuchi Chemical Industry Co., Ltd. in 1949. It is headquartered in Osaka, Japan and employs about 7,300 people worldwide (including consolidated subsidiaries). Kaneka's activities span a broad spectrum of markets ranging from photovoltaics, plastics, EPS resins, chemicals and foodstuffs to pharmaceuticals, medical devices, electrical and electronic materials and synthetic fibers. Kaneka has subsidiaries in Belgium, the United States, Singapore, Malaysia, China, Australia and Vietnam.

Contact:
Kimikazu Sugawara, president Kaneka, www.kaneka.com
Luc Van den hove, president and CEO, IMEC, www.imec.be