Manufacturing challenges facing
CdTe and CIGS
Markus Beck
NSF Workshop – Catalyzing Innovation in PV Manufacturing, May 6-7, 2010, Golden, CO
Our Mission
To create enduring value by enabling a world
powered by clean, affordable solar electricity.
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Outline
• Brief market overview
• Current status
• Opportunities in TF PV manufacturing
– Technological Improvements
– Labor force characteristics
• Conclusions
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Global Cumulative Installed Capacity of PV
Selected IEA countries
14
13.2
0.6
0.4
Cumulative Installed Capacity (GW)
12
1.2
Rest of World
10
7.7
8
6
3.9
4
2.8
2
0.1
0.1
0.2
0.2
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.7
1.0
1.3
5.3
0.4
0.8
0.7
0.6
1.7
3.4
Italy
1.9
2.8
USA
Spain
Japan
Germany
1.4
1.8
Korea
3.8
5.3
0
1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Source: “Trends in photovoltaic applications”. IEA PVPS. September 2009.
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Long-term View of the Solar PV Industry
A complex marketplace
Source: “Solar Photovoltaic Industry”, Deutsche Bank, May 2008
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PV Technologies
2008 Technology mix
Source: “Clean Technology Primer”, Jeffries Research, March 2
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"Copy Smart" Production Capacity Growth
Driven by increasing efficiency, run rate, and yields
1,709 MW
107
France
1282
1282
Malaysia
214
214
214
Germany
Ohio
First Solar 2009 Market Share*
15%
1,228 MW
716 MW
854
1,816 MW
1,282 MW
Plant
5&6
854
* - based on Analyst estimated 7.3 GW global installs in 2009
308 MW
Capacity 25 MW
2005
382
176
191
214
99
132
143
160
214
214
214
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
100 MW
2005 & 2006 based on Q406 run rate; 2007 based on Q407 run rate; 2008 based on Q408 run rate; 2009 – 2012 based on Q409 run rate
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Products & Performance
Proven Record of Increasing Module Conversion Efficiencies
4,500,000
Modules Produced
4,000,000
Conversion Efficiency
3,500,000
3,000,000
12.0%
10.0%
8.0%
2,500,000
6.0%
2,000,000
1,500,000
4.0%
1,000,000
2.0%
500,000
0
Q1'02
Q2'02
Q3'02
Q4'02
Q1'03
Q2'03
Q3'03
Q4'03
Q1'04
Q2'04
Q3'04
Q4'04
Q1'05
Q2'05
Q3'05
Q4'05
Q1'06
Q2'06
Q3'06
Q4'06
Q1'07
Q2'07
Q3'07
Q4'07
Q1'08
Q2'08
Q3'08
Q4'08
Q1'09
Q2'09
Q3'09
Q4'09
Q1'10
0.0%
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Conversion Efficiency Potential
18%
Practical Potential
15.3%
13.5%
12.5%
11.1%
Research
~2014
Development
~2012
Process Integration
Q410
Current Production
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High-Confidence Roadmap to >12.5%
• 12.5% requires closing the gap between CdTe product and lab record performance
–
–
–
–
NREL “hero” CdTe Cell is 16.5%
Best module is 80% of "hero" cell
Production average is 90% of best module
16.5% hero-cell corresponds to ~13% production
• Pathway is mostly improved light transmission into existing device
– NREL Jsc demonstrates upside of 1.3% absolute
– Many opportunities for improvements in current
– Technology challenge is to make these improvements manufacturable
– Reducing thickness of CdS
– Proprietary improvements to TCO
– Proprietary improvements to glass transmission
• FSLR Leveraging current leadership for sustained competitive differentiation
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1,000 Pathways to >16% and Beyond
• Multiple approaches to driving
performance
Optical Engineering
• Renewed excitement in the
technical field
Contact Engineering
• Fundamental device physics and
materials science
Grain-boundary Engineering
• TF-CdTe still has enormous
headroom
Band-Engineering
Dopant Engineering
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Opportunities in TF PV Manufacturing
1. Technological Improvements
2. Labor Force Characteristics
Key Criteria
i.
ii.
R&D needs to be compatible to HVM – i.e. takt times, CapEx, OpEx,
environmental impact (toxicity, CO2 footprint)
No need to fix what isn’t broken/reinvent the wheel
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Technological Improvements
• Increased fundamental understanding of semiconductor system and interfaces
• Novel in-situ, on-line, and off-line metrology
– compositional control
– key opto-electronic properties
– module scale solar simulators and QE
• Equipment engineering
– P1 through P3 laser scribing for CIGS
– thermal processing
• Reliability
–
–
–
–
fundamental understanding of device & material degradation mechanisms
new packaging materials
energy rating standards, methods and algorithms
accelerated stress test protocols representative of multiple climatic regions
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Technological Improvements cont.
• Novel materials for encapsulation and device stack
– ohmic back contact
– TCO
• Recycling methods for CIGS
• BOS optimization
– inverters optimized for TF PV
– NEC revision enabling > 600V system voltage
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Labor Force Characteristics
• Solid state and theoretical physicists trained in polycrystalline compound
semiconductor systems
• Analytical and physical chemists as well as process engineers understanding TF
deposition technologies
• Materials Scientists skilled in materials characterization and failure analysis
• Electrical engineers and physicists trained in device characterization and
instrumentation
• Mechanical engineers with focus on large area, HVM deposition and
automation equipment
• Computer scientists
• Sound understanding of basic principles in physics, chemistry, and engineering
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Conclusions
• PV historically too expensive; conventional electricity rising in price; PV
reducing cost
• Grid parity leading to inflection in price elastic demand; exponential demand
leading to continued growth of PV
• CdTe clear leader in LCOE from PV; c-Si will continue to play a major role; CIGS,
if commercial scale will prove viable, can emerge as competitive on cost to c-Si
• Better understanding of fundamentals for CdTe and CIGS required
• Technology/engineering challenge is to make R&D improvements
manufacturable
• Need for a wide array of experts – mechanical as well as electrical engineering,
physics, chemistry, materials science, and computer science
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Career Opportunities at First Solar
http://www.firstsolar.com/en/careers.php
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First Solar Locations
Global Headquarters
Tempe, Arizona, USA
Manufacturing
Frankfurt (Oder), Germany
Kulim, Malaysia
Perrysburg, Ohio, USA
Europe
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Berlin, Germany
Brussels, Belgium
Madrid, Spain
Mainz, Germany
Paris, France
North America
Bridgewater, New Jersey, USA
Oakland, California, USA
New York, New York, USA
Sarnia, Ontario, Canada
Asia/Pacific
Sydney, Australia
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