Kalpana Systems Increases Investment Towards a Revolution for Batteries and Solar Cells With Spatial Atomic Layer Deposition

A growing investment by Kalpana Systems aims to improve battery and solar cell performance using spatial atomic layer deposition.

Kalpana Systems, a company specialized in Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) and based in Delft (Netherlands), is collecting the results of their years of expertise in the ALD field.

Until recently, the process that makes atomic layer deposition coatings was only possible with low throughput speeds. Nowadays, Kalpana is developing a machine that can operate high volumes with an ALD application. 

The technology represents a revolution for batteries and solar cells worldwide and a crucial step in the energy transition. Towards this objective, the company received an investment of € 550,000 from the technology and entrepreneurship fund UNIIQ and a small group of private investors. Thanks to this capital injection, Kalpana Technologies can design and build its roll-to-roll spatial ALD machine prototypes.

Creating Functional Layers With Atomic-Level Precision:

Thin layers on flexible foils are found in many places, in both low-value applications, such as a bag of potato chips, and high-quality applications, such as in the semiconductor industry. Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) allows manufacturers to create functional layers of just a single atom thickness with perfect coverage, one atom per time, delivering a superior coating conformality, density, and stoichiometry while the product remains at atmospheric pressure and low temperature.

This unique technique is mostly used in applications where perfect coverage is necessary, without defects. The thin atomic layer is of paramount importance for the operation of a covered flexible product and usually leads to better product performance. 

Nonetheless, the large-scale application was not yet economically viable due to low throughput speeds. ALD is a time-consuming process and is mainly used for high-quality applications, such as in the semiconductor industry. Kalpana's roll-to-roll machines plan to change the market and make this technology economically viable. 

By making this process economically viable, Kalpana ensures that batteries can have double charging speed and flexible solar cells can become cheaper, lighter, and more efficient. These are crucial developments to kickstart the next generation of energy technologies and thus make a significant contribution to the energy transition.

High-Volume Spatial Atomic Layer Deposition:

Kalpana Systems is developing a machine that can execute high-volume Spatial ALD. 

Image - Three areas in which spatial ALD technology can be applied.

Due to an intelligent innovation of the transport system of the flexible substrate, continuous production can be applied at high speeds, which radically reduces the costs per square meter of atom layer. The design allows the machine to be integrated into manufacturers' production lines. 

This makes it suitable for a wide range of applications. Kalpana Systems wants to help companies to integrate the proven applications of ALD into production processes in a scalable and cost-effective way by using its superspatial precursor separation technology in a new solution that outperforms all competition in throughput as well as uptime.

The company states that the machines are the product of years of experience in ALD and mechanical engineering, which has led to the development of the patent-pending innovation.

Kalpana team

On that note, Diederick Spee, Co-Founder of Kalpana Technologies said that Kalpana's team has extensive experience in mechanical engineering. 

He also stated that they have personally experienced the limitations ALD still has for flexible applications and how difficult it is to remove these limitations: 

“We are convinced that our technology will accelerate the adoption of ALD among producers of energy technologies such as batteries and solar panels.”- _{Diederick Spee, Kalpana Co-Founder}

The co-founder continues affirming that the investment enables Kalpana to work towards a working prototype in order to convince potential customers. We are removing the 'traditional' objections to using ALD." Moreover, Hans Dreijklufft, a Fund Manager from UNIIQ, affirmed that Kalpana Technologies is another excellent example of how we, as Early Phase Financing powered by UNIIQ, accelerate innovation by enabling entrepreneurs to deliver a proof-of-concept. 

He also said that they are proud to be able to add a technology that the Netherlands is ahead of in the world to the portfolio: “We are confident that the Kalpana team's technology will be an important enabler of, among other things, new solar cell architectures, which in turn will help make the world cleaner.”