EU Projects

The advancement of e-mobility is a key part of the green energy transition. Together with its direct role in reducing emissions, the adoption of e-mobility also has a crucial indirect role as a grid stability element. E-mobility accelerates the transition to wind and solar energy production, and thus reduces the use of fossil fuels in the energy mix.

The Energy ECS (Electronics, Components and Systems) project, launched in June 2021, responds to these needs by developing a set of ECS technologies to improve the digitalisation of e-mobility systems. The aim is to enable European know-how and business based on manufacturing capabilities combining hardware, software, services and data. This combination enables interaction with other vehicles and smart mobility infrastructure: connection to the grid, intermodal transport, autonomous driving, data generation, and vehicles as service providers. This project also aims to mitigate the challenges that electric vehicles pose on the energy system.

The Energy ECS project will build on six use cases that represent different angles on future mobility and energy: enablers of new logistics modes, energy-independent intermodal transport, charging technologies and opportunities, grid stability responding to bi-directional charging, and enablers of safe autonomous driving. The goal is for the new technologies developed in the Energy ECS project to generate turnover for the participating companies by 2030. In addition, the project is aimed at enabling increased market share and market leadership for the 24 partners. Other intended outcomes include dozens of new collaborations, hundreds of new jobs, and additional investments.

Applied Materials will participate in several use cases, providing a shingled module for drone charging, screen printing for flexible electronics-based antennas. and printing and packaging technologies to build the interconnects of flexible PCBs.

The project began on June 1, 2021 and will conclude on May 31, 2024.

CHALLENGES aims to develop innovative Non-Destructive Techniques (NDTs) for reliable inline multiscale measurements down to the nanoscale and fully compatible with different factory environments. The developed metrology technologies will enable the increase of speed, resolution, sensitivity, spectral range and compatibility within different nano-related production environments, finally improving products performance, quality and reliability, with the consequent bosting of competitiveness.

The CHALLENGES' innovation will be developed exploiting the plasmonic enhancement of optical signals. It will provide a non-destructive approach based on multipurpose nano-optical techniques to enable a reliable real-time nanoscale characterization in the factory floor, using plasmonic enhanced Raman, InfraRed (IR) and Photoluminescence signals.

The project began on April 1, 2020, and will conclude on March 30, 2023. We will update this website with the project results.

Applied Materials Italy will receive a grant from Europe and the Ministry for Economic Development (MISE) to participate in CHARM. CHARM will develop condition monitoring, predictive maintenance, automation, real-time manufacturing control and optimization, and virtual prototyping system demonstrators and test them in industrial settings to tackle real industrial challenges and needs from different end-use industries. The synergies and impacts arise from similarities in technology solutions serving various applications and industrial sectors.

The CHARM Use Cases (UCs) include six different industrial sectors. The majority of them are represented by innovative, cutting-edge large enterprises that belong to their sectors' worldwide market leaders – but are still newcomers to the Electronic Components and Systems for European Leadership (ECSEL) ecosystem.

The project began on June 1, 2020, and will conclude on May 31, 2023. We will update this website with the project results.

To achieve this, the HighLite project focuses on thin (down to 100 microns) high-efficiency crystalline silicon solar cells with passivating contacts and capitalizes on the learnings from previous large funded projects. In HighLite, a unique consortium of experienced industrial actors and leading institutes will work collectively to develop, optimize, and bring high technology readiness levels (TRL 6-7) innovative solutions at both cell and module levels. In practice, HighLite will demonstrate high-efficiency quarter size (or smaller) cut solar cells (silicon heterojunction cells with efficiency η ≥ 23.3%, interdigitated back-contact cells with η ≥ 24.3%; only 0.2% less than full-size cells) in pilot-line manufacturing.

Industrial equipment will be developed in the project for assembling these cut-cells into high-efficiency modules tailored for various distributed generation (DG) applications. More specifically, the following developments will take place: (1) building-Applied PV modules with η ≥ 22% and a carbon footprint of ≤ 250 kg-equivalent CO2/kilowatts peak (kWp,) (2) building-integrated PV modules with η ≥ 21% and improved shading tolerance, and (3) 3D-curved vehicle-integrated PV modules with η ≥ 20% and a weight ≤ 5 kg/m2.

Finally, HighLite aims to show improved cost and performance (both through indoor and outdoor demonstrations) against state-of-the-art commercially available modules. Altogether, it is expected that the solutions developed in HighLite will: (1) create more demand in Europe and worldwide for such DG products, (2) significantly improve the competitiveness of industrial actors that are part of the consortium, and (3) trigger significant investment in the EU PV industry.

The project began on October 1, 2019 and will conclude on September 30, 2022. We will update this website with the project results.

Applied Materials Italy has received a grant from the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR) to participate in the BEST4U project. The objective of the industrial research project is to increase the efficiency of photovoltaic modules above 25 percent and improve bifaciality. To help achieve this, the consortium proposes the concept of a 4-terminal photovoltaic module having a bifacial silicon heterojunction cell as the bottom cell and a wide bandgap semiconductor cell as the top cell.

Within the project the consortium will demonstrate a bifacial photovoltaic field optimized for ground albedo efficiency with a kilowatts hour (kWh)/kilowatts peak (kWp) productivity of ≥ 20% compared to a monofacial system.

Special thanks to MIUR and the EU for supporting the project. Please visit www.ponricerca.gov.it for further details.

L’obbiettivo del progetto BEST4U è ricerca industriale finalizzata a trovare soluzioni per incrementare l’efficienza dei moduli fotovoltaici oltre il 25%, e migliorare la bifaccialità, con cella / modulo a 4 terminali in cui la bottom cell è una cella di Si a eterogiunzione di tipo bifacciale e la top cell è una cella a semiconduttore wide band gap.

Verrà inoltre realizzato un dimostratore di campo fotovoltaico bifacciale ottimizzato per lo sfruttamento dell’albedo del terreno con una produttività in kWh / kWp maggiore del 20% rispetto al sistema monofacciale.

Questo progetto è stato reso possibile dal finanziamento del MIUR e della Comunità Europea tramite il fondo sociale europeo. Per ulteriori dettaglia visitare il sito: www.ponricerca.gov.it.