[EU PVSEC] Fujifilm Achieves 17.6% Efficiency with Flexible CIGS PV Cell

Sept 13, 2010 14:23 Motonobu Kawai, Nikkei Electronics

Fujifilm Corp formed a CIGS photovoltaic (PV) cell on an aluminum flexible substrate and achieved a conversion efficiency of 17.6% with an aperture area of 0.486cm².

Also, Fujifilm confirmed a conversion efficiency of 12.5% with an aperture area of 72cm². The company made this announcement together with Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST).

As for CIGS PV cells, an efficiency of 13.2% with a metal foil and an efficiency of 7.5% with a resin film have so far been announced by researchers in the world. However, it is difficult to ensure electrical insulation with a metal foil while resin films cannot withstand high-temperature processes.

This time, Fujifilm used anodic oxidation coating to form an aluminum oxide (Al₂O₃) layer on an aluminum foil to make a substrate that has the heat resistance of a metal foil and the insulating property of a resin film. On the substrate, a molybdenum (Mo) layer, CIGS layer, cadmium sulfide (CdS) layer and zinc oxide (ZnO) layer are stacked.

Furthermore, Fujifilm used sodium doping to increase conversion efficiency. As for patterning, it employed mechanical scribing in addition to laser scribing. For the future, the company plans to further improve the conversion efficiency and prototype a larger sub-module.

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