Thin Film PV Partnership

Primarily a subcontracted program that helps to develop solar cells and modules based on extremely thin layers of both active PV materials and other essential materials such as contacts. Thin films are being developed because of their high potential for low-cost solar cells.

A research team led the way with a 16.5%-efficient cadmium telluride (CdTe) PV cell and device structure that surpassed the former world record by 0.7%, absolute.

The leading thin-film materials (or technologies) are amorphous silicon, cadmium telluride, copper indium diselenide, and thin-film silicon. A national team for each thin-film technology comprises the nation's best research and engineering talent drawn from industry, universities, and the national laboratories. In addition, a crosscutting national team, begun in 2002, addresses packaging issues of thin-film modules. Key challenges in thin-films research include improving every aspect of active-layer manufacturing to reach low-cost production, improving commercial module efficiencies, and ensuring outdoor reliability of devices and modules.

Crystalline Silicon Module Reliability

Addresses performance, reliability, and testing of crystalline silicon modules. We perform outdoor durability testing and accelerated testing, as well as failure analysis, on modules to determine areas for further R&D and improvement. Modeling supports experimental procedures to help understand and solve reliability issues.

PV Manufacturing R&D

A subcontracted program designed to improve PV manufacturing processes and products. The goals include reducing costs, providing a technology foundation that supports significant manufacturing scale-up, and positioning the U.S. industry to meet rapidly emerging opportunities for large-scale deployment.

Individual manufacturers, building on their own unique approaches, perform the R&D. Projects focus on improvements in the following:

• Module-manufacturing processes to increase module reliability

• System and system-component packaging, system integration, manufacturing, and assembly

• Flexibility of product manufacturing

• Balance-of-systems development, including storage and quality control

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