POLYCRYSTALLINE THIN-FILM PHOTOVOLTAIC TECHNOLOGIES: PROGRESS AND TECHNICAL ISSUES

Polycrystalline thin-film materials based on copper indium diselenide (CuInSe2, CIS) and cadmium telluride (CdTe) are promising thin-film solar cells for various power and specialty applications. Impressive results have been obtained in the past few years for both thin-film copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) solar cells and thin-film CdTe solar cells. NCPV/NREL scientists have achieved world-record, total-area efficiencies of 19.3% for a thin-film CIGS solar cell and 16.5% for thin-film CdTe solar cell. A number of technical R&D issues related to CIS and CdTe have been identified. Thin-film power module efficiencies up to 13.4% has been achieved thus far. Tremendous progress has been made in the technology development for module fabrication, and multi-megawatt manufacturing facilities are coming on line with expansion plans in the next few years. Several 40-480 kW polycrystalline thin-film, grid-connected PV arrays have been deployed worldwide. Hot and humid testing is also under way to validate the long-term reliability of these emerging thin-film power products. The U.S. thin-film production (amorphous silicon[a-Si], CIS, CdTe) is expected to exceed 50 MW by the end of 2005.