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The global thin film photovoltaic (PV) market, despite of caution in the overall PV industry, is expected to experience an overwhelming growth in coming years. Thin film production market share in the global solar PV market grew from a mere 2.8% in 2001 to 25% in 2009, thus dictating a growing share in the future. GBI Research estimates that thin film solar PV, is set to increase its share to ~38% by 2020. Expectations are that, in the long- term, thin film solar PV technology would surpass the dominating conventional solar PV technology, thus enabling the long sought-after grid parity objective.
The major thin film producing countries, Japan, China, and the US are announcing aggressive support for renewable energy expansion through incentives and regulations. In retrospect, the thin film module production is projected to grow at the rate of 24% between 2009 and 2020, to reach 22,214 MW production by 2020.
With over 160 companies producing thin-film solar cells and modules worldwide, the market includes a number of big players with many years of experience and expanding production capacities. CIGS technology is gaining more popularity than other thin-film technologies due to its higher efficiency and reduced manufacturing costs. The success of CIGS cells depends on the efficiency, and a faster and cheaper manufacturing process. The future of CIGS technology is encouraging as a lot of venture capitalist firms are investing in it.
ASU Receives $2.34 million To Study Next Generation Lasers & Photodetectors
The research will focus on deepening knowledge of the basic properties of materials used to construct lasers and infrared photodetectors, in particular antimonide-based compound semiconductors.
A team of Arizona State University researchers will receive support from the U.S. Department of Defense to aid development of the next generations of lasers and infrared photodetectors. The technology is widely employed in sensing and imaging for an array of defense and commercial applications.
The work will be funded by an Army Research
ASU’s Yong-Hang Zhang, David J. Smith and Shane Johnson will combine expertise in electrical engineering, materials science and physics to contribute to a project in which they will collaborate with colleagues at University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign, the Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of North Carolina.
The entire project has been approved for a grant of $6.25 million over five years. ASU’s team has been awarded $2.34 million for its part of the effort.
Zhang is a professor and Johnson is a senior research scientist in the School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering, one of ASU’s Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering.
Smith is an ASU Regents’ Professor in the Department of Physics in ASU’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
They’ll focus on deepening knowledge of the basic properties of materials used to construct lasers and infrared photodetectors. They’ll study the origins of defects in the materials and explore ways to reduce them.
Understanding how defects form at the nanometer scale will enable improvements in these materials, opening the path to advances in semiconductors, infrared photodetectors and imaging systems,
August/September 2010
www.compoundsemiconductor.net 69
Office grant through the defense department’s Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) program, which supports science and engineering endeavors involving research and technology development considered vital to national interests.
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