MiaSolé boosts its CIGS PV cell efficiency to 20.56%

Copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) thin-film photovoltaic solar cell and panel maker MiaSolé of Santa Clara, CA, USA (which was founded in 2004 and acquired by Beijing-based renewable energy firm Hanergy in December 2012) says that the US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has independently confirmed a 20.56% cell efficiency for a thin-film device (0.86cm2) deposited on a stainless-steel foil (a new internal record for MiaSolé).

The films were produced directly from the MiaSolé Roll Coater production line in Santa Clara using a process that incorporates multiple breakthroughs for delivering select alkali elements as well as precise compositional control of the silver (Ag)-alloyed CIGS absorber. The processes that enabled this high-efficiency device are directly transferrable to high-volume manufacturing, says the firm.

“Our innovative continuous deposition system enables us to rewrite the process development playbook,” says Dr Neil Mackie, senior director of process development. “By experimenting at the manufacturing scale, we can bring high-efficiency thin-film solar cells into production at a faster rate,” he adds. “Seamless integration of manufacturing methods into advanced process development is already enabling the next generation of high-efficiency and high-reliability thin-film solar products from MiaSolé.”

Large-area CIGS module efficiency record raised to 17.44%

Earlier in July, MiaSolé said that Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE) had independently confirmed a 17.44% aperture-area efficiency on a commercial-size PV module (with an aperture area 1.08m2). This has been recognized as a new certified record large-area CIGS module in the latest Progress in Photovoltaics compendium of PV records (Prog Photovolt Res Appl. 2019;27:565–575).

The cells and record module were made using MiaSolé’s production lines in Santa Clara. The firm’s cell manufacturing process deposits CIGS on a flexible substrate using high-speed physical vapor deposition (PVD) that produces high-efficiency solar cells in a continuous and high-throughput process.

“This achievement is the result of our targeted focus in research and development to increase conversion efficiency and to provide durable, high-power, flexible and lightweight products,” says chief technology officer Atiye Bayman.

Tags: MiaSolé Hanergy CIGS

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