Leibniz Institute - Increased Efficiency for CIGS Solar Cells

Ref: http://www.nanowerk.com/news/newsid=20023.php

Posted: Feb 7th, 2011


Increased Efficiency for CIGS Solar Cells

(Nanowerk News) Scientists at INM — Leibniz Institute for New Materials developed a barrier layer that separates the metal carrier from the absorber film and thus increases the efficiency of metal-based CIGS solar cells. For the first time, the INM program division "Optical Materials" presents this development in the German Pavilion at the international trade fair "nano tech 2011" and also nationwide at the Hannover Messe 2011.

Corrosion and poor isolation between substrate and carrier material cause a lower efficiency for CIGS solar cells apart from other influences. Solar cells consist of copper (C), indium (I), gallium (G), and sulphur (S). Glass as carrier material and the low efficiency prevent the flexible application of these future solar cells in the automotive industry, for example.

The developed layer is glass-like. "It works as iron diffusion barrier and thus prevents corrosion and oxidation of the carrier", explains Peter William de Oliveira, head of the program division. "At the same time, the barrier works as insulating layer and reduces unintentional electrical currents from the absorber to the carrier", says Oliveira. Both functions increase the efficiency of metal-based CIGS solar cells by up to 13 percent.

The glass-like diffusion barrier is applied on the metal carrier by means of the sol-gel process. It is transparent and flexible and has a thickness of only a few micrometers. The INM scientists developed both the layer and up-scaled process. By means of dip coating and slot coating they produced foils in a DIN A3 size. The traditional roll-to-roll printing process allows the production of continuous layered foils up to a length of 50 meters and a width of about half a meter.

These and other applications are exhibited by INM at the international trade fair "nano tech 2011". Included are coatings with special properties, as for example transparent conductivity, antiadhesive, scratch-proof, antireflective or self-cleaning function, or layers for friction reduction or corrosion protection. Multifunctional coatings, which combine several of these properties, also belong to the INM research portfolio. The INM – Leibniz Institute for New Materials presents itself in the German Pavilion (Booth E-18-24) at the nano tech 2011 in Tokyo from 16th to 18th February 2011.

At the Hannover Messe, too, INM will present its skills and competencies at the Booth A-50 in Hall 2 – the Leading Trade Fair for Research and Technology and the International Leading Trade Fair for Research, Development and Technology Transfer.

The INM — Leibniz Institute for New Materials, situated in Saarbrücken (Germany), engages in fundamental and applied materials research – from molecules to pilot production. In interdisciplinary cooperation, the work of INM includes the fields of chemical nanotechnology, interface materials and materials in biology. Its focal research fields are chemical synthesis, physical analysis of surfaces, coatings and interfacial materials.


Background:

A recently published study of Lux Research Inc. confirms that the cost of goods sold for CIGS solar cells will rapidly decrease over the coming years. According to this study, an increased efficiency, among other things, will contribute to a gross margin of over 30 percent.

Contact:

Diffusion barrier, conductive transparent coatings, multifunctional coatings:
Dr. Peter W. de Oliveira
INM — Leibniz Institute for New Materials
Phone +49 681 9300 148
Email: peter.oliveira@inm-gmbh.de


Anti-adhesive coatings, scratch-proof coatings, coatings for friction reduction, multifunctional coatings:
Dr. Carsten Becker-Willinger
INM — Leibniz Institute for New Materials
Phone +49 681 9300 196
Email: nanomere@inm-gmbh.de


Source: INM - Leibniz Institute for New Materials


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Materials to Research On (Polycrystalline Silicon)

Silicon Tetraflouride

Silane

Sodium Aluminum Tetrafluoride (SAF)

Silicon Powder

Polycrystalline Silicon

Doped Polycystalline Silicon

Crystalline Silicon - Arsenic Doped

Hemlock Semiconductor raises US$3 billion to build chip and solar cell materials

Via Venture Beat, CleanTech:

Dean Takahashi | 15 December 2008


Ever since solar cells took off a few years ago, there has been a shortage of silicon in its purest form. That’s because polycrystalline silicon is used to make both semiconductor chips and most solar cells.

Because of that, the Hemlock Semiconductor Group has been able to raise $3 billion to expand the production of polysilicon at two major manufacturing sites. The group will invest that money to build a new factory in Clarksville, Tenn., and to add to another one in Hemlock, Mich.

About $1.2 billion will go toward the new site in Clarksville, and another $1 billion to the Hemlock plant. The rest of the money will fund further expansions. Together, those factories will be able to produce 34,000 metric tons of polysilicon per year. Construction will begin immediately.

The numbers involved give you a sense of the scale of the business and a sense for how much polysilicon is needed to fuel the world’s growing appetite for solar power. Altogether, the Hemlock Semiconductor Group has announced investments of $4.5 billion in the past five years. From 2005 to 2015, the company will have increased its production capacity ten-fold.

The shortage of polysilicon has driven up prices for various kinds of chips and driven a lot of solar start-ups to focus on thin-film technology that doesn’t use polysilicon. The Michigan expansion will add 13,000 tons of capacity to the site, creating 300 permanent jobs and 8u0 construction jobs. The expanded plant is expected to begin production in 2011. In Clarksville, the factory will initially produce 10,000 tons of polysilicon. The site is expected to employ 500 people at first and then 800 at full production of 21,000 tons a year. The construction will create 1,000 jobs.

Most of the production will go toward solar cell production, but both factories will be able to make polysilicon for electronics as well.

Hemlock Semiconductor and Hemlock Semiconductor LLC are joint ventures of Dow Corning and two Japanese firms, Shin-Etsu Handotai Co. and Mitsubishi Materials Corp.

Solar vendors strive to lower costs amid setbacks

Via EE Times Asia:

7 October 2008

Amid uncertain markets and policies, solar panel makers are gearing up factories with an objective of pulling down costs to a competitive level.

One market watcher said she will review her forecasts for solar panels according to the financial crisis in the U.S., along with uncertainty about renewal of federal tax credits and a pullback of major solar plans in Spain.

"Without incentives, we don't have a market," said Paula Mints, principal analyst, Navigant Consulting, speaking at a solar event sponsored by the IEEE.

Other speakers also gave their insights about a lack of federal funds for research in solar energy. Tim Anderson, associate dean of research at the University of Florida, said he hopes this scenario will change soon.

"The impact in the academic community is that no one goes to do research in photovoltaics because there's no funding available," he added. "But the promise of more money to come is out there, and people are adjusting to take advantage of this," he noted.

Expansion toward better cost
On the commercial level, a group of companies is expanding production of solar cells toward driving mainstream costs. "We're building the equivalent of a large scale nuclear power plant per year," said Richard Swanson, president of SunPower Corp., one of the top 10 solar panel makers.

SunPower has recently completed a second plant capable of employing 400,000 wafers a day and has plans for plants in Malaysia that will use as many as a million wafers a day. "We know how to produce panels that cost $1.50 per watt by 2012, and we have detailed quarterly plans to achieve it," said Swanson.

Startup Signet Solar shipped its first solar panels in October from a new factory in Germany that will be able to develop by early 2009 sufficient panels each year to generate up to 130MW. The company plans to set up another plant in India soon.

"I think you will see a trend toward large 10MW to 20MW solar installations which will be very efficient," said Rajeeva Lahri, chief executive, Signet.

Applied Materials is supplying equipment to Signet and a handful of other panel makers now ramping up large scale operations, said Mark Pinto, chief technology officer and manager, energy group, Applied.

Waiting for a good cause
"It took 20 years to get to the point where a solar factory could produce 10MW of capacity a year, but by 2010 we will see gigawatt factories," Pinto said. "We are no longer a factor of 10 away from competing energy sources, we are within a factor of two or less today," he added.

Pinto discussed the outlook for Applied and the solar business in a video interview with EE Times.

"Although production has been rising rapidly, panel prices have actually increased in the last six years from historic lows from 2001 to 2002," said Mints.

"This is a market that was unprofitable until 2004," she said. "You can't blame them to hope for profits. The industry was willing to sell at a loss to keep share," she added.

New trends
Meanwhile, new and promising technologies are emerging. Russ Jones, business development manager, Boeing's Spectrolab, described his company's solar concentrators. They use 500 times optics to create solar cells as small as 1sqcm. "Lab versions of the gallium arsenide cells have hit record efficiency levels up to 40.7 percent, nearly twice the level of most commercial cells shipping today," he said.

"We believe 50 percent efficiency of the solar cells can be met in the coming decade," he added. "We think we have an interesting new vector to help solar cells succeed," he noted.

James Gee, founder and chief scientists, Advent Solar shared insights about a new design for cells and modules his company will create starting next year according to a research he conducted while at Sandia National Labs. The Ventura modules employ a pre-patterned electrical circuit sheet on the back of the module rather that a wire grid on its front to reduce manufacturing time and raise cell efficiency.

"Free power has been thrown away due to non-optimal designs," said Gee. "It's time for a completely new process that gets around the current fundamental limitations," he added.

- Rick Merritt

Plextronics Signs MOU to Supply Its Solar Cell Technology to Korean Manufacturing Company

Plextronics, Inc. announced today that it has signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Korea Parts & Fasteners (KPF) to create a research and development center for organic photovoltaic process development in Korea. The agreement specifies that Plextronics will focus on advancements in its active layer inks for solar cells and to provide certain baseline device and process technology to the new R&D facility, which will be built outside of Seoul.

Upon reaching a definitive agreement with Plextronics, KPF's role would be to develop advanced process technology using Plextronics' inks and device and process technology.

"Our strategy is to participate in R&D centers with manufacturing customers all over the world who we believe could be major manufacturers of OPV products," said Andy Hannah, CEO of Plextronics. "This venture with KPF is our first step in this strategy."

Jim Dietz, Vice President of Business Development at Plextronics, said, "We fully expect that the advancement of Plextronics' ink performance and design will help accelerate world-wide commercialization of OPV systems. That's very exciting for us and for our industry."

4th June 2008