VCSELs are well mastered epi-structures, and today most of the technological barriers concerning their industrialization have been removed. The growth mechanisms are known but the production yield is currently too low to meet the more demanding specifications of all the new growth markets such as LIDAR sensors or 3D detection.

The wide deployment of VCSELs in recent years for consumer applications is pushing towards greater automation and real-time control of manufacturing methods, primarily epitaxy.

Multi-junction cells are made up of a stack of complex layers based on III-V semiconductors which allow to convert a larger part of the solar spectrum and thus to obtain very high conversion efficiency.

The difficulties in growing such an architecture coupled with the requirement for high quality materials mean that this technology remains expensive to produce. The major challenge for this approach, currently reserved for space applications, is to reduce manufacturing costs by improving the control of growth by epitaxy to make it more competitive and extend it to emerging applications for space and terrestrial photovoltaics

Based on the development of these advanced components, Epicentre aims to make decisive advances in the control and automation of processes, enabling a qualitative leap in the yield and quality of the materials produced