Solar Cells Info

by Tom Cheyney, PVTech, 26 May 2009
http://www.pv-ech.org/chip_shots/_a/
exclusive_a_conversation_with_first_solars_bruce_sohn_part_ii–we_sell_elec/

Although First Solar has indeed ramped 23 module production lines across its three manufacturing sites (with the 24th soon to follow), the company remains notoriously guarded about the inner workings of its processes and manufacturing facilities as well as its R&D activities. Not coming close to taking the bait, Sohn won’t answer any specific questions about film thickness uniformities or process temperature ranges or whether the research team is working on next-generation tandem-junction CdTe or even its own version of copper-indium-gallium-(di)selenide (CIGS). Nevertheless, he does shed some light on the company’s overall approach. (more…)

by Tom Cheyney, PVTech, 25 May 2009

http://www.pv-tech.org/chip_shots/_a/an_interview_with_first_solars_bruce_sohn_part_I/

At First Solar’s corporate headquarters in Tempe, Arizona, a morale-boosting slogan adorns posters stuck to the outside of cubicle partitions: “MILESTONE MADE! TEN ONE ONE.” That’s “Ten,” for 10 years in business–at least in the company’s First Solar incarnation. The original firm Glasstech Solar, led by visionary Harold McMaster, actually set up shop in 1984, then became Solar Cells, Inc. in 1992, which begat the present entity in 1999. The middle “One” stands for the gigawatt’s worth of panels produced in the solar module factories in Ohio, Germany, and Malaysia – as well as the annual production capacity that will be ramped by the end of 2009. The final “One” stands for perhaps the biggest accomplishment of all–the dollar-per-manufactured-watt standard beaten by two cents by First Solar in the final quarter of 2008, a cost that has since shrunk to 93 cents per watt in the first quarter of 2009. But then, “Ten/One/0.93” doesn’t quite have the same ring. (more…)

By Paul Buckley, Winchester, UK, 20 April 2009
Source: EETimes/Power Management

Sunfilm, AG (Grossroehrsdorf, Germany) and Applied Materials, Inc., (Santa Clara, California) have revealed that the world’s first tandem junction SunFab Thin Film Line installed at Sunfilm’s Grossroehrsdorf facility has achieved factory acceptance.  Using 5.7m² substrates, the line passed final acceptance test certification, verifying that it has met specifications for producing solar photovoltaic modules with efficiencies of up to eight percent, as well as yield and overall annual capacity specifications. The line is now beginning volume production. (more…)

by Paul Buckley, Winchester, UK, May 25, 2009
Source: EETimes
http://eetimes.eu/germany/217600857

ENN Solar Energy Co., Ltd, the subsidiary of China’s biggest private energy provider, ENN Group, is launching new silicon thin film solar modules in the German market at InterSolar 2009 in Munich.  The Chinese company produces thin film solar modules with the innovative Tandem Junction technology that features two layers of amorphous and microcrystalline silicon applied to the glass substrate. (more…)

by Stephen Then, May 25, 2009
Source: Malaysia Star
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/5/25/nation/20090525153911&sec=nation

MIRI: Sarawak is to venture into the mass-production of solar cells. These solar cells will be the main component item in the tapping of solar energy. These cells will be used to convert heat energy – harnessed from the sun by solar panels – into electricity for use in industries and residential homes. Sarawak’s foray into this ”green technology” industry will be a pioneering effort in this state, said Deputy Minister of International Trade and Industry, Datuk Jacob Dungau Sagan. (more…)

by Aaron Hand, Executive Editor, Electronic Media
Source: Semiconductor International, 22 May 2009

Sanyo Electric Co. Ltd. (Tokyo) announced today that it has broken its own record for the highest energy conversion efficiency for a crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cell in a practical size (≥100 cm2). Sanyo’s proprietary HIT (heterojunction with intrinsic thin layer) photovoltaic cell conversion efficiency has been boosted from 22.3% to 23.0% at the research level, as validated by the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST). (more…)

by Christoph Hammerschmidt, EE Times Europe
05/25/2009 5:03 PM
Munich, Germany, 25 May 2009
Source: EETimes
http://eetimes.eu/germany/217600808

A team of researchers at the Stuttgart university has achieved an efficiency record for laser-processed solar cells based on crystalline silicon. The manufacturing process is fit for industrial volume production, the research group claims.  The postgraduate research group led by Jürgen Köhler managed to produce crystalline silicon solar cells with an efficiency of 19 percent. Hitherto, this technology was limited to 16 percent.  In the normal solar cell manufacturing, the pn junction is achieved in a high-temperature process in a diffusion furnace. The Stuttgart research group however used a pulsed laser beam instead in order to achieve the doping. (more…)

Moncada awards long-term contract to Linde Gas Italia for bulk and specialty gases supply systems
Munich, Germany, May 26,  2009
Source: Linde Gases press release
http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/ndmViewId=news_view&
newsId=20090526005296&newsLang=en

Linde Gases, a division of The Linde Group, today announced that it has been awarded the exclusive contract to supply high purity gases to Italy’s first thin-film solar module manufacturing plant. The Moncada Energy Group s.r.l., a leading private producer of renewable energy in Italy, is building the plant in Campofranco (Sicily).  Under this agreement, Linde Gas Italia, a member of The Linde Group, will provide Moncada with turnkey installation of the plant’s bulk and specialty gases supply systems. On an ongoing basis, it will also deliver nitrogen (N2), hydrogen (H2), silane (SiH4) and chamber cleaning gases which are essential to making thin-film solar cells. (more…)