News Article
XsunX CIGS devices hit 16.3% efficiency
NREL’s official efficiency measurement supports XsunX’s manufacturing approach and the viability of single cell processing to compete with silicon.
CIGS solar cell manufacturer, XsunX, has announced that the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has certified a peak efficiency conversion of 16.36% for its CIGS photovoltaic devices.
XsunX is the developer of CIGSolar, a hybrid, thin-film photovoltaic (TFPV) solar cell technology process.
Overall efficiency of the tested samples ranged from 15.3% to 16.36% producing an average efficiency of 15.91%. The sample provided to NREL was part of a 125mm substrate which after deposition was sub-divided into quadrants to produce NREL device test structures and analytical equipment test structures. The purpose was to provide a statistically significant body of data in support of XsunX’s continuous process improvement efforts.
Robert Wendt, CTO at XsunX, commented, “NREL’s official measurement of 16.36% supports our manufacturing approach and the viability of single cell processing. We believe the efficiency levels that we achieved will provide an economically viable process that we can offer the market.” Wendt continued, “We are pleased with the results, but they are what we had planned for and expected. We believe that our approach lends itself to direct translation to production.”
The Company’s technology utilises co-evaporation for rapid deposition of final-sized cells to better control the complex management of the CIGS layer deposition process. The Company’s method, unlike other CIGS manufacturing technology, begins and ends using individual substrates sized to match silicon cells. In addition to providing for a smaller and more precise deposition environment, this also helps to avoid performance losses experienced when cells are either cut from rolls of CIGS material or mismatched electrically in monolithic assemblies.
“We focussed our efforts on the belief that high performance CIGS solar cells could offer an alternative to the use of more costly silicon technology – a $13 billion dollar market opportunity in 2010,” said Tom Djokovich, CEO, XsunX. “The official measurements conducted by NREL help to show that small area co-evaporation offers the necessary conversion efficiencies to compete with silicon. We are very excited about these results, the work we have accomplished, and the opportunities for our CIGSolar technology.”
