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ZSW Researchers Break Own CIGS Efficiency Record and Hit 20.3%
The scientists based in Germany have produced a thin-film Copper Indium Gallium di-Selenide (CIGS) solar cell with 20.3 % efficiency, a 0.2% increase over their previous record.
Scientists at the Zentrum für Sonne- nenergie- und Wasserstoff-Forschung Baden-Württemberg, Germany (Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research, ZSW) have again achieved a success in striving to increase the electricity yield of solar cells.
They have again beaten their own record of 20.1 % efficiency. The Stuttgart researchers say that with this performance, they need to only increase the efficiency by another 0.1 % for CIGS to compete with multi-crystalline solar cells which are currently the most popular on the market.
The new record-breaking solar cells from ZSW are made of extremely thin layers of the CIGS alloy.
The researchers boast that the new results should significantly improve the cost-effectiveness of CIGS thin-film photovoltaics over the medium term. The area of the world record cell is 0.5 square centimetres. The semi- conducting CIGS layer and the contact layers have a total thickness of only four thousandths of a millimetre, making them 50 times thinner than standard silicon cells.
“Our researchers have made the cells in a CIGS laboratory coating plant using a modified co- evaporation process, which in principle can be scaled up to commercial production processes,” said Michael Powalla, Member of the Board and Head of the Photovoltaics Division at ZSW.
The Fraunhofer ISE in Freiburg, Germany has confirmed the new results. However, it could take a while before the increased efficiency of CIGS solar cells can be commercially utilized, admitted Powalla.
Ixys Combined SiC & MOSFET Device is Super Cool
Ixys says its latest device in an isolated integrated package will enable an increased power density and higher efficiency in fast switching power supplies and solar inverter applications.
Ixys Corporation has successfully integrated Silicon Carbide (SiC) technology and the latest super junction MOSFET technology into a single user friendly package. This will enable an increased power density and higher efficiency in fast switching power supplies and solar inverter applications.
“Currently the system designers in high frequency, high efficiency applications are forced to consider using separate discrete devices, often from different suppliers complicating mechanical layouts and time to market. The MKE range of products released by IXYS effectively integrates these technologies into one part thereby reducing parasitic inductance and its associated losses,” stated Bradley Green, VP of International Sales for IXYS.
“Our patented ISOPLUS i4TM package, with its proven ruggedness based on the internal DCB construction, enables the co-location of the MOSFET and SiC diode, thus also reducing real estate requirements in power switching topologies that are getting far more focused on not only reducing power losses, but also challenging the traditional restraints on power supply size. It has better thermal impedance with lower weight than alternative solutions that use a heavier copper lead frame and bulky modules.”
The first product in the MKE range of devices is an ultrafast boost chopper which integrates a super junction COOLMOS CP MOSFET and a SiC boost diode integrated in the IXYS ISOPLUS i4TM package.
The ISOPLUSTM technology gives the designer a discrete package with ceramic, Direct Copper Bonded (DCB) isolation. This isolation has low thermal impedance and a higher reliability in power cycling than standard copper based solutions and non-isolated products.
An example of this technology is the MKE11R600DCGFC which integrates a 600V, COOLMOS MOSFET and a 12A 600V SiC diode in
August/September 2010
www.compoundsemiconductor.net 139
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