Key takeaways:
VON ARDENNE presented PVD coating platforms for crystalline silicon, perovskite, and flexible PV manufacturing
The GIGANOVA platform supports TOPCon, BC, and HJT cell production, while also serving perovskite processes
The company has expanded its offering to include sputtering targets alongside production equipment
Germany-based VON ARDENNE GmbH, a family-run company that offers cell production equipment, especially physical vapor deposition (PVD) tools, presented its coating technologies and tool platforms at Intersolar 2026. The company specializes in magnetron sputtering, laser arc evaporation, electron beam technology, and evaporation technology.
The company presented its GIGANOVA PVD platform for PV cell processing. It is a horizontal wafer-coating system, currently scaled to a 1.5 GW production capacity, and is compatible with TOPCon, BC, and HJT cell technologies.
Sebastian Gatz, the company’s Vice President of Renewable Energies & Strategic Partnerships, emphasized the advantages of PVD over CVD tools. The former leaves no coating wraparound, which eliminates an etching process step altogether. Gatz also stated that PVD does not use toxic or highly inflammable gases such as phosphine, silane, and ammonia, which are commonly used in CVD processes. This adds to the safety and lower cost of the PVD process.
Within the GIGANOVA platform, the company launched additional processes for perovskite PV production, which are currently in pilot production and may enter the market in 2028. The depositions take place using magnetron sputtering and thermal evaporation, which enables a dry or hybrid perovskite process route. The company claims low or damage-free deposition to the underlying perovskite layer with this route.
The company also introduced a process tool, FOSA MX, which is a roll-to-roll vacuum web coating system, specifically meant for flexible PV production. It is a multi-chamber high-volume production tool, which is compatible with substrates such as PET, PE, PI, TAC, et cetera.
In addition to the tool platforms, VON ARDENNE now also offers consumables such as sputtering targets for TOPCon, BC, and HJT cell processing.
