Taiwan-based CIGS thin-film producer, TSMC Solar has attracted Dr. Rommel Noufi, a leading CIGS technologist and pioneer at the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to consult with the company on future R&D activities.
Although TSMC Solar has reported 15.7% module efficiencies, thin-film technologies are being pushed to compete with conventional c-Si technologies on all key metrics of efficiency, yield and cost.
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TSMC Solar President Ying-Chen Chao said, “Dr. Noufi played a key role in the development of CIGS as a leading photovoltaic material. The addition of his deep CIGS experience to our R&D effort puts us on solid footing to maintain our rapid improvement of module efficiency over the next several years”
According to Dr. Noufi, lab-based CIGS efficiencies have reached 20.9%, while pushing efficiencies to 23% are expected to be realised in the future.
However, the key will be taking lab efficiencies to the fab and accomplishing such milestones in shorter cycle times for CIGS to remain competitive.
Conventional multicrystalline silicon module efficiency gains are slowing but it is becoming increasingly clear that manufacturers are considering a greater shift towards both P-type and N-type mono wafers to boost conversion efficiencies to the 20% range while retaining existing and low-cost processing techniques.