Technical Insight
XsunX 'close to replacement of Si solar cells'
XsunX has announced it is close to commercial production of a new co-evaporation processing chamber for its solar panels.
Advanced, thin-film photovoltaic (TFPV) solar cell developer XsunX has announced it is close to the production of a co-evaporation processing chamber for its solar panels that could replace existing silicon-based units.
The technology will enable the firm to deliver 125 mm x 125 mm production-sized Copper Indium Gallium diSelenide (CIGS) substrates for a solar cell s absorber layer, drastically reducing costs and forming an integral part of the company s future full commercial production toolset.
"This development is crucial to both the equipment and process technology side of our efforts," said Tom Djokovich, chief executive officer of XsunX.
Co-evaporation technology is currently at the forefront of innovation within the TFPV sector, with a number of high-profile institutions investing heavily in its development - such as the National Renewable Energy Laboratories and the Institute of Energy Conversion in the US.
These organisations have shown that co-evaporation technology can deliver world-class efficiency conversion capabilities, making the announcement by XsunX all the more important for the TFPV industry in general.
Chief technical officer of XsunX Robert Wendt commented: "We believe that a key component to our success lies in our use of the co-evaporation process on individual small-area substrates, or wafers similar in size to silicon wafers, to produce the solar absorbing portion of the solar cell."
The firm specialises in the development of TFPV technologies and manufacturing processes and the development of this new co-evaporation processing chamber will be integral to the company s aim of providing low-cost, high-yield front-end CIGS solar cell manufacturing methods in the future.
Applications for the chamber upon its completion will include allowing the upgrade of existing solar infrastructure, as well as establishing new large-scale solar manufacturing capacity for the production of CIGS solar cells.
The announcement is the culmination of the firm s efforts in a range of fields to create technologies fundamental to the delivery of next-generation TFPV cells.
