Pilot line production of CIGS modules: first experiences in processing and further developments

Author

Powalla, M. ; Lotter, E. ; Waechter, R. ; Spiering, S. ; Oertel, M. ; Dimmler, B.

Author_Institution

Zentrum fur Sonnenenergie- und Wasserstoff-Forschung, Stuttgart, Germany

fYear

2002

fDate

19-24 May 2002

Firstpage

571

Lastpage

574

Abstract

In order to advance the Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ (CIGS) thin-film technology to mass production maturity, ZSW and Wuerth Solar are running two lines: Wuerth Solar´s pilot production line for 0.7 m² modules gives experience in industrial processing and the ZSW line for 0.09 m² modules is flexible enough to test new materials and processes. Baseline processes regularly produce CIGS thin-film modules with over 74 W_p. Failure mechanisms like local shunts and ohmic losses are investigated by thermographic imaging. New process variations (atomic layer chemical vapor deposition (ALCVD) Cd-free buffers, reactively sputtered ZnO:Al) already result in module efficiencies >10% in the ZSW line.

Keywords

copper compounds; gallium compounds; indium compounds; infrared imaging; semiconductor device manufacture; semiconductor device measurement; semiconductor device reliability; semiconductor thin films; solar cells; ternary semiconductors; 10 percent; CIGS modules; CIGS thin-film technology; Cu(InGa)Se₂; efficiency; failure mechanisms; local shunts; ohmic losses; pilot line production; thermographic imaging; Atomic layer deposition; Buffer layers; Costs; Failure analysis; Mass production; Materials testing; Sputtering; Statistics; Substrates; Windows;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 2002. Conference Record of the Twenty-Ninth IEEE

ISSN

1060-8371

Print_ISBN

0-7803-7471-1

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/PVSC.2002.1190629

Filename

1190629