industry news ♦ Solar
expansion within China’s insatiable energy market needs.
Collaborators of Sol Array are based in the USA, Europe and China, with tailored vacuum deposition facilities aimed specifically for mass scale production. Institutions include universities, electro-optical & environmental testing facilities and materials suppliers.
The core management of Sol Array has been shifted from the former thin-film flat panel display company, Lite Array where the cross fertilization of the founding team, between the thin-film display industry and the thin-film solar industry, ensures the Company a high yield, high volume and highly cost- effective solar cell production process.
For a commercially viable production process and to attain Alpha Phase CIGS thin-films, Sol Array has overcome a number of challenges. The pulse DC sputtering process is ideal for repeatability in the thin-film stack thicknesses and uniformity. The combined thickness of the active layer is less than 1.8 microns, with the thinnest layer less than 50 nanometers.
Repeatability in stoichiometry among each thin-film layer is equally critical; the experiments carried out in an affiliated research institute, employing Pulse DC Sputtering for all 4-elements compound deposition and without selenization, has proven successful, delivering a high density, pin-hole free thin-film stack.
The percentage proportion of each of the 4-element compound active layer: in copper, indium, gallium and selenium, where Alpha Phase CIGS can tolerate no more than 0.5% deviation in atomic weight of any particular element content is equally critical - none other than a fully automatic controlled process can come close to delivering the repeatability of such objectives says Sol Array.
Repeatability in the crystal lattice arrangement is a difficult requirement to meet for conventional evaporation techniques but the firm’s PVD method makes it easier to fulfill.
Furthermore, the process is claimed to ensure a consistent interface between the p-type CIGS absorbing layer and the doped surface n-type layer near the interface CdS buffer layer.
A 20 MW pilot production line, employing the aforesaid process and system engineering, will commence in early spring 2011 pending infusion of addition capital to be raised from various on-going funding activities.
Sol Array is an international player in solar photovoltaic R&D, product development, scale up production and system design. Collaborations presently extend through the USA, UK & China, with vacuum deposition facilities, university liaison & materials suppliers. Other institutions are also involved in the electro-optical & environmental testing of modules.
Solar3D Breaks Through With 3-D Solar Cell
The company’s re-engineered solar cell aims to achieve high efficiency silicon at the low cost of thin film.
Solar3D, a developer of a breakthrough 3-dimensional solar cell technology to maximize the conversion of sunlight into electricity, today announced that the Company has filed a patent application for its innovative solar cell design and methods of fabrication.
“With the filing of this patent, we are poised to create something truly exciting,” said Jim Nelson, CEO, Solar3D. “Many industry observers and analysts have said that for the solar industry to truly make a difference, the developers of the next generation solar technologies will have to step up. This application represents our intention to step up and make a real difference in the world.”
Inspired by light management techniques used in fiber optic devices, the company’s innovative solar cell technology utilizes a 3-dimensional design to trap sunlight inside micro-photovoltaic structures where photons bounce around until they are converted into electrons. The company’s management believes that this breakthrough solar cell will be dramatically more efficient, resulting in a lower cost per watt that will make solar power affordable for the world.
According to Mr. Nelson, “Our objective is grid November/December 2010
www.compoundsemiconductor.net 105
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